SHIMMERING VIOLET
Now that summer is well and truly underway, the essential model from the Brassus watchmaker adorns its rose gold casing with a violet hue that is as resplendent as it is ever-changing under the caress of the light.
In lithotherapy, the amethyst is considered a powerful gemstone with strong purifying properties that soothes the mind, calms anxieties, and thus favors dreams, imagination, and intuition. In addition to its beneficial attributes, essential after nearly two years of pandemic, this mineral, which has an incomparable brilliance, oscillating between soft mauve and intense pink with sometimes a bluish hint, is featured on the bezel of the new Royal Oak Automatic Chronograph, a model from Audemars Piguet presented for the first time in 2019. This one is thus lined with 32 baguette-cut amethysts of approximately 2.85 carats, distributed in rows of four, punctuated by the famous flat-head screws.
The equally famous dial with its checkerboard pattern in relief known as “Grande Tapisserie” is finished in violet, a lasting and changing hue depending on the caress of the light, obtained through several successive layers of PVD. It houses three matching azure counters, indications are displayed in black, with the small seconds at 6 o’clock and the two counters responsible for keeping track of the minutes at 3 o’clock and the hours at 9 o’clock of the chronograph via the central second hand. The date, in the same color combination, appears in a window at 4:30. As for the hours and minutes, they are displayed by two Royal Oak hands hovering over a baton-type hour circle, all in faceted and luminescent pink gold.
These functions are driven by the self-winding 2385 caliber, a motor running at 4hz providing 40 hours of power reserve, housed in a rose gold case 38mm in diameter. This can be viewed on the wrist thanks to its link bracelet equipped with a folding clasp.
Price: CHF 75,500
By Sharmila Bertin