Two diamond-set hour-markers at twelve is the kind of detail that sounds trivial and is not. On a Royal Oak the twelve position is where the eye lands first, and marking it with stones rather than with a double baton or a different-shaped index is a way of signalling the watch quietly rather than declaring it. Everything else on this dial is conventional: rhodium-toned Grande Tapisserie, applied white gold markers, Royal Oak hands. The bezel is set with diamonds and so is the folding clasp, but the dial itself keeps almost all of its restraint, which makes this one of the more balanced gem-set references the collection produces. The case is white gold at 37 mm across and 9.8 mm thick, and it is no longer part of the current collection.
The case measures 37 mm across and 9.8 mm thick in white gold, which is a size the Royal Oak has used consistently for a wrist the 39 mm and 41 mm references do not fit. It is not a shrunken version of a larger watch: the octagonal bezel, the eight exposed hexagonal screws and the integrated bracelet geometry all have to be redrawn at this scale rather than proportionally reduced, because the screw heads and the bevels that give the case its character stop working if they are simply made smaller. The bezel is set with diamonds, and on an octagonal form that is a harder execution than on a round bezel, since the stones must run eight straight sections and negotiate eight corners while the spacing appears not to change. White gold beneath them shares the stones' colour temperature, so the bezel extends the case rather than sitting on it. The dial carries the Grande Tapisserie pattern, the larger of the two grids used across the collection, and rhodium-toned is a cool metallic grey rather than a colour, which keeps the dial neutral and lets the bezel and clasp carry the decoration. The applied hour-markers are white gold with two diamond-set markers at twelve. The strap is light grey satin-finished calfskin with a white gold folding clasp set with brilliant-cut diamonds, and satin-finished calfskin is a smoother and less demonstrative surface than alligator, which suits a reference already carrying stones in two places. Choosing a strap over the integrated bracelet is itself a decision worth registering, since the Royal Oak is defined as much by its bracelet as by its bezel and putting the case on leather deliberately breaks that. What it buys is weight and formality: a strap version is considerably lighter, sits differently, and reads as a dress watch where the bracelet version reads as a sports watch. On a 37 mm case with a set bezel, that is the more coherent direction, and the light grey satin finish keeps it from tipping into anything ceremonial.
The function set is hours, minutes, centre seconds and a date. Centre seconds distinguishes this from the Jumbo references, which run without a seconds hand entirely, and it is the arrangement the collection uses on its selfwinding models. Running the seconds from the centre rather than in a subdial keeps the tapisserie field unbroken, which matters on a dial where the pattern is the only texture present. The date is the single aperture accepted. There is no chronograph and no further complication, and at 9.8 mm the case has no room for one, which is the honest reason as much as the aesthetic one. What the reference offers is a complete, legible, everyday watch rather than anything to operate.
Within Audemars Piguet's structure the Royal Oak is the collection the house is built on, and the 37 mm selfwinding references sit between the 34 mm models and the 41 mm ones, forming the collection's middle size. They are the references most often chosen by buyers who find 41 mm too large and the Jumbo's absence of a seconds hand too austere. Within that group the variation runs through dial colour, case metal and the extent of gem-setting, and this reference sits at the restrained end of the set versions: bezel and clasp only, with the dial left almost entirely alone apart from the pair of markers at twelve.
This reference suits a collector who wants a set Royal Oak that still reads as a watch rather than as jewellery. That balance is harder to find than it should be, because the obvious move on a gem-set reference is to set the dial and the bracelet as well, and the results are usually read as decorative objects. Keeping the dial rhodium-toned with applied markers means this one is legible and sober from any distance and only reveals its setting on approach. The calfskin strap rather than a bracelet keeps it lighter and less formal than the fully integrated versions. Now that the reference has left the catalogue the production is closed. The buyer is someone who wanted the stones present and not in charge.
