Not all AP watches are Royal Oaks. If you are looking for something different, read our Audemars Piguet Jules Audemars Perpetual Calendar review to learn about this fine watch. Many people that think of Audemars Piguet will right away think about their iconic Royal Oak or Royal Oak Offshore watches, but AP has so much more to them than that. Today we'll be looking at a finer watch. Something less sporty and more dapper. The Jules Audemars Perpetual Calendar may be the kind of watch you won't want to wear every day and not because you can't pull it off. It's just a special kind of watch that you would want to wear on special events.
The watch featured here has a beautiful brown sunray dial, with rose gold index hour markers and hands. A finely printed seconds and minutes track appears among the applied rose gold index hour markers around the perimeter of the dial. The Calendar sub-registers really are a slightly darker brown and have a white printed typeface to point the day, date day of the week, and leap year indicator found at the center of the 12 o'clock sub-dial. In addition, a moon phase is displayed in vivid color in the 6 o'clock position. These calendar functions are adjusted via recessed pushers along the side of the case which we will discuss next. The 41mm 18kt rose gold case measures 9.1mm thick which is considered somewhat slender for any perpetual calendar watch like this. Small enough to tuck away beneath your sleeve but still thick enough to feel like a no-joking-around luxury watches. It has polished fixed bezel and lugs with a brushed finish on the side of the situation and side of the lugs.
The transparent sapphire case back is secured with 6 screws, 3 on top and 3 on the bottom. It reveals the magnificence from the in-house caliber. The movement features an ornately engraved and partially skeletonized solid gold automatic winding rotor. The rotor includes a skeleton frame depicting the letters “AP” and is engraved with words describing the different features of the movement such as “ADJ TO HEAT COLD FIVE (5) POSITIONS”, “ISOCHRONISM”, “THIRTY-EIGHT (38) JEWELS”, “SWISS AUTOMATIC”, ornately engraved design elements, and of course the Audemars Piguet logo. The mechanical movement that powers this watch is the one and only the Audemars Piguet caliber 2120/2802. A 38-jewel self-winding caliber with 343 parts, a +/- 40-hour power reserve, along with a heartbeat of 2.75Hz or 19,800. Not your standard beat.
Other engravings can be found around the case back. One such example is the name 'Jules Audemars' which is engraved in a recessed rounded and curved rectangle wherein which the letters are raised. The strap is made of a dark brown alligator leather which is thicker at the top where it connects to the lugs of the watch and it tapers down for the buckle. The strap includes a soft calf leather layer around the back of the band where it touches the wrist for additional comfortable wear. The strap uses brown stitching and is fastened to the wrist having a polished 18kt rose gold deployant (folding) buckle that's designed like a partially skeletonized AP logo. Additionally, the Audemars Piguet wordmark is engraved on the clasp itself.
The icing around the cake with this watch is it comes with a large beautifully lacquered Audemars Piguet winder box. The winder is run by a battery and can keep the watch tightly wound and ready to wear any time. It's very easy to keep a perpetual calendar watch on a winder since allowing the watch to chill involves not just resetting the time but the perpetual calendar. The box has a lock and a classic skeleton key. The watch also comes with a tool for setting the calendar functions. The Rose gold and brown dial look exquisite, yet it's still conservative enough to not seem like a flashy watch. Some AP watches are only for the bling; this one appears to be all about the horology and the craftsmanship. This AP watch took me by surprise. It doesn't have that big and chunky ROO look. It's more refined and has a perpetual calendar, a high complication that isn't typically available on an AP watch at this price.
The retail price on this watch is about $62,000 but you can buy one in a huge discount (new) for $29,500 here. It arrives with a 5-year warranty from AP (2 years plus an additional 3 years whenever you register it with AP).
