This is the only way to have the anniversary signature dial in gold at 37 mm. Bleu nuit nuage 50 appears across the size more often than any other colour, but every other appearance is in steel: the plain steel reference, the diamond-set steel reference and their standard-catalogue continuations. In gold it exists here and in this reference's own standard counterpart and nowhere else, because the yellow gold versions of the plain 37 mm case carry entirely different dials and the fully gem-set references replace the dial with stone altogether. A collector who wants the colour the fiftieth anniversary was built around, in a precious metal, in the smaller case, has this reference and no alternative configuration to weigh against it.
The case is 37 mm across and 9.1 mm thick in rose gold, with the octagonal bezel set with diamonds. That height is identical to the plain 37 mm reference of the same generation, which is the useful comparison: setting the bezel costs nothing in thickness because the stones occupy metal that was already there, where the fully gem-set version of the same case reaches 10 mm since its dial and bracelet require channels cut throughout. The eight hexagonal screw positions survive and the run of stones is arranged around them rather than through them. The dial is Bleu nuit nuage 50 with the Grande Tapisserie pattern, the larger of the two grids the collection uses. On a deep blue ground the pattern reads as tonal depth rather than as flat shadow, with the recesses running toward black while the brushed square tops hold the colour, which is the specific behaviour the colour was formulated for. Rose gold applied hour-markers and Royal Oak hands sit above it, and warm metal against deep blue is the strongest colour and metal contrast in the rose gold tier, since the silver-toned and khaki green dials both sit closer to the case. The bracelet is integrated rose gold, tapering from the case with alternating brushed and polished surfaces, and closes on an AP folding clasp. Rose gold takes a warmer and brighter polish than steel, so the alternation of brushed and polished surfaces reads with more depth here than on the steel references, and it is also less forgiving, since the softer metal shows any wander in a chamfer line immediately.
The function set is hours, minutes, centre seconds and a date, which is one function more than the fully gem-set references at this size carry, since those omit the date rather than break a continuous stone dial with an aperture. Here the dial is metal and the window costs nothing structurally. Centre seconds keeps all three hands on one axis. Rose gold markers against a dark blue field separate cleanly, making this the more legible of the two dark-capable rose gold references, and the diamonds on the bezel sit outside the dial entirely and interfere with none of it. Against the silver-toned rose gold reference the difference is immediate, since a pale dial and a set bezel share a brightness that a dark dial and a set bezel do not, and this configuration keeps the two elements distinct.
The Royal Oak is the collection Audemars Piguet is built on, and the 37 mm anniversary references step through three degrees of setting. The plain reference is unset at 9.1 mm, this reference sets the bezel and leaves the dial alone at the same height, and the fully gem-set reference sets dial, bezel and bracelet in a single coloured stone and reaches 10 mm. Within the diamond-set tier the rose gold references run silver-toned, Bleu nuit nuage 50 and khaki green, while the steel references run light blue, Bleu nuit nuage 50 and grey, so this dial is the only one crossing both metals. Each of the six anniversary references is matched by a standard-catalogue counterpart carrying the same dial without the anniversary designation.
This reference suits a collector who wants the anniversary stated in full. Rose gold, a set bezel and the colour the programme was named for is the most complete expression of the occasion available in the smaller case, and it does that without moving into the fully gem-set territory that costs the date and the applied markers. The combination is also unusually balanced for a set watch, since a dark dial gives the diamonds a field to work against while the warm case keeps them from reading as cold. It appeals to someone who wants gold and the signature colour together and has found that the collection offers exactly one route to it in this size, and to someone who wants a Royal Oak that is unmistakably an anniversary piece rather than a watch that happens to date from that year. The anniversary designation ties production to the occasion rather than to an open catalogue run.
