Audemars Piguet’s Newest Royal Oak Double Balance Wheel Openworked Models Look Good, Very Good

She’s a model and she's looking good.
I’d like to take her home, that's understood.
– from “The Model” by Kraftwerk

Certain vocabulary words and terms used in the horological universe make me think of, well, other things (a handful of those thoughts are definitely R-rated, so I’ll spare myself the embarrassment of mentioning them in this article).

One such example is the term “openworked,” which – and I’ll be aging myself greatly here – makes me think of a 1970s electronic band out of Düsseldorf, Germany, that went by the name of Kraftwerk.
 

Pioneers of electronic music, the “Sprockets-esque” band produced songs such as “Radioactivity,” “Computer Love,” and “The Model" (lyrics quoted above). It’s the latter of these three hits that played in my mind after receiving news about Audemars Piquet’s latest trio of Royal Oak Double Balance Wheel Openworked models.

After all, let’s face it, as “The Model” loosely states, they’re all looking good, and I’d like to take them home.

Before getting into the inner beauty and mesmerizing mechanics of the newest Royal Oaks, I felt it best to first discuss the materials making up their outer armor: black ceramic, stainless steel, and 18K yellow gold. Let’s start with the gold version.

Unless you’ve been living under your vast pile of watch boxes over the last several years, you already know that yellow gold is back in a big way as it pertains to timepieces, making the 41mm Royal Oak Double Balance Wheel Openworked in 18K yellow gold an ideal representation of stylish wristwear.
 

The openworked dial and the inner bezel are anthracite gray, while the case and bracelet are, as is usual with this particular model, decorated using both polished and satin-brushed finishing.

The stainless steel and black ceramic versions of the watch are adorned with openworked dials, inner bezels, and patented Royal Oak screws created in a pink-gold hue.
 

Both versions are also 41mm in diameter. Both are also outwardly decorated in contrasting finishes identical to that of the yellow gold version; however, the black ceramic Royal Oak Double Balance Wheel Openworked is a limited-edition piece, with only 150 being produced. All three are water resistant up to 50 meters.

An openworked dial isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. For me, an openworked dial is more like a glass of Oban 18 neat after an afternoon of bedroom delicacies, but that metaphor is for another publication entirely.

My point is that although some feel dials of this nature can come off as “busy,” there is a huge percentage of the collector community who, while maybe not owning a watch with such elaborate and intricate decoration, can respect the work that goes into creating one.
 

The process of creating the type of openworked dial like we see on these pieces consists of removing as much material as possible from the mainplate and bridges, and it is a skill that is not for the faint of heart. These are not the first Royal Oaks with dials like these, but that doesn’t make these newer versions any less special.

So, why go through all the trouble? That is simple: The purpose of an openwork is to show the majestic craftsmanship happening on the inside while allowing light in from the outside. Oh, and it can look super cool.
 

Sure, one can remove their watch and look at the movement through a sapphire crystal caseback (of course, that assumes the watch has a mechanical movement AND has a see-through back), but having a timepiece that allows the viewer to see what’s happening at first glance is the equivalent of a person wearing their heart on their sleeve.

Fortunately for us, the heart operating all three of the most recent Royal Oak Double Balance Wheel Openworked models – the self-winding calibre 3132 movement featuring a 45-hour power reserve, 245 total parts, and 38 jewels – is a pretty impressive one to observe at that.