Khaki green appears nowhere else in the 37 mm Royal Oak line. Across the plain references, the diamond-set steel references and the fully gem-set references, the dials Audemars Piguet used are silver-toned, Bleu nuit nuage 50, grey, light blue and khaki green, and khaki green is confined to rose gold with a diamond-set bezel. There is no steel version of it in this size, no plain version and no gem-set version. A collector who wants that dial at 37 mm has this reference and its standard-catalogue counterpart and nothing else. Green is also the least conventional colour the collection puts on a Royal Oak dial, and pairing it with rose gold and a set bezel produces a combination that is warm, earthy and formal at the same time, which is not a register the model usually operates in.
The case is 37 mm across and 9.1 mm thick in rose gold, with the octagonal bezel set with diamonds. That height matches the plain 37 mm reference of the same generation exactly, which is the useful comparison: setting the bezel costs nothing in thickness because the stones sit in metal that was already there, while the fully gem-set version of the same case reaches 10 mm because the dial and bracelet require channels cut through them. The eight hexagonal screw positions remain in place and the run of stones is arranged around them rather than through them. The dial is khaki green with the Grande Tapisserie pattern, the larger of the two grids the collection uses, and green is a colour the tapisserie handles unusually well because the recesses go toward olive while the brushed tops stay brighter, giving the surface a range rather than a single tone. Green also shifts further between daylight and artificial light than the neutrals do, so the dial is doing something the grey and silver-toned references deliberately avoid. Rose gold applied hour-markers and Royal Oak hands sit above it, and warm metal against a warm dark green is the most closely related pairing in the 37 mm line. The bracelet is integrated rose gold, tapering from the case with alternating brushed and polished surfaces, and closes on an AP folding clasp. The diamonds read against gold rather than against steel here, which softens them considerably, since the stones and the metal both return warm light.
The function set is hours, minutes, centre seconds and a date. That is one more than the fully gem-set references at the same size carry, because those omit the date rather than break a continuous stone dial with an aperture. Here the dial is metal, the window costs nothing structurally, and the reference keeps the complication the collection has carried since 1972. Centre seconds holds the three hands on one axis. The applied markers give the eye fixed points to read against, which the gem-set references give up entirely, and against a dark green field the rose gold markers separate cleanly. The bezel setting sits outside the dial and interferes with none of this.
The Royal Oak is the collection Audemars Piguet is built on, and the 37 mm anniversary references form a ladder in 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 Bleu nuit nuage 50 is the only dial crossing both metals and khaki green is the only one exclusive to gold. Each of the six anniversary references has a standard-catalogue counterpart carrying the same dial without the anniversary designation. A white gold version of the case sits outside that scheme entirely, replacing the applied markers with baguette-cut diamonds and setting the bezel in baguettes rather than brilliants, and a further reference moves the whole configuration onto an alligator strap with a set clasp.
This reference suits a collector who wants a Royal Oak that will not be mistaken for any other. Khaki green in rose gold with a set bezel is a narrow proposition and its exclusivity within the size is a matter of record rather than of marketing, since no other 37 mm reference offers the dial in any configuration. The combination also solves a problem that gem-set watches often have, which is that the stones and the dial argue with each other. Here they do not, because warm gold, warm diamonds and a warm green all sit on the same side. It appeals to someone who wants the setting to feel integrated rather than applied, and to someone who has looked at the silver-toned and Bleu nuit rose gold references and wants something further from the collection's default. The anniversary designation ties production to the occasion.
