Fresh from the Showcase here with SwissWatchExpo.com.
We are featuring today's crazy different models, although they look extraordinarily similar.
We've got the Rolex Oysterquartz and we've also got the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak series.
And the reason we're focusing on this is because the design is very similar.
And when we should also point out is that the bracelets are curiously alike.
Interesting.
Yeah.
And you can watch this cause there's a lot.
What is that?
Why do they look so much alike?
So in 1971 the Royal Oak was introduced into the world as the savior of Audemars Piguet.
Now one of the things that people ask about a lot is what does the Royal Oak mean?
Why do they call it the Royal Oak?
It was named after the British Royal Navy fleet of ships, which were also, there were
12 shifts apparently in the fleet.
If I haven't got my numbers wrong, there is a name of that fleet, the Royal Oak, because
apparently King Charles and a hollowed out Royal Oak and a whole history of things.
And I'm a terrible history buff.
So we're going to skip.
Yeah.
Sounds like something that you can look at in the comments section on the video.
Absolutely.
I'm not interested in going into that history nonetheless.
That's where the idea of Royal Oak.
Okay.
But more importantly, because of the octagonal shape, it was a porthole sort of Naval influence
design.
And some people have some strong curious opinions about their Gerald Genta design.
Like this is I guess one of those examples of why they make 31 flavors of ice cream.
You don't have to all like the same thing.
Um, I love octagonal shapes in general.
They make great sometimes, but for some reason, Gerald Genta's designs don't resonate with
me and you know, it's okay to not like something even if the home watch world is crazy about
it.
I really appreciate the artistry that designed the patterns, the, technical excellence of
the watches, right.
I just don't like them.
Well, a strong opinion.
I hear that all the time.
And that's true of the Oysterquartz as well because the Oysterquartz was actually introduced
to the world.
And then in '79 -- we've talked about this before -- it was not a watch that sold a lot.
In fact, there's a rumor and again this goes back to those Rolex rumors, that 25,000 to
35,000 watches were produced over the years, most of which sold in Europe.
The United States did not see a lot of these being sold and it just wasn't that popular
of a watch.
To your point, the Gerald Genta design is very controversial.
It appeared in the IWC Ingenieur and so on.
So when Gerald Genta designed these watches, it had to have some sort of a flavor of difference
throughout the years.
So what changed across all the different versions of watches from the Ingenieur to the Royal
Oak to the, Oysterquartz was the bracelet in 1971.
This design, and I'm picking up one here that's made out of Tantalum, which is a mineral that
is actually on the periodic table.
It looks like a combination of things.
It looks like titanium, but it has the weight of gold.
It's extraordinarily heavy.
And this is a mid size watch.
We also, we just sold and I was getting it prepared for the video.
We had a ladies version that was the smaller, I believe it was a 28 millimeter.
It was here so short, such a short time.
I didn't get a chance to learn a lot about it, I think we had it for less than a week.
Right.
And so that one's gone unfortunately.
But the Tantalum comes in two different designs.
They're very, very hard to find cause they do have the 18 karat gold center links.
As you can see here.
This has kind of got a bluish gray look to it.
The octagonal design.
This is the stainless steel version of the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak.
This comes in multiple different sizes, multiple different calibers, argue, argue, argue about
all the different things that, that Royal Oaks bring to the table.
The most important thing is how this bracelet's designed.
This was the very first iteration and what people ask.
And the question that was brought up to us is why did the bracelet, because it looks
so similar.
They just, they're similarly shaped.
They're similarly tapered.
There's so much that's alike almost seems like the same person designed them.
Kind of!
And also seems like there might be a bit of patent infringement on from one of the other
two but there's not.
The Royal Oak bracelet, if you are familiar with machining processes, if your machine
metals of any kinds, if you're stamping things out, these bracelets are made in multiple
different links.
So the center link, the long link is one stamped item and then each one of the links that connect
the two are two different stamped items.
So they're not interchangeable from link to like they are not.
Wow!
And so you have screws on the removable links here and the design of this bracelet is precise
from one link to the next.
There's no chunkiness.
There's no, if you slide your hand down the side of the bracelet, you'll notice it's very,
very smooth.
It doesn't, it doesn't drop down.
It doesn't stair-step.
It's a very slim design.
Every single thing has done by hand.
Everything.
o this has this, these links are hollow.
They're slid onto a little wire that looks like a skewer.
Okay.
Then they're hand brushed, they're hand sanded, they're hand ground, and even the class on
this model is hand punched.
But when you get to the one that I'm wearing here, this has a unique feature.
You see how it says AP?
Yes.
That's hand stamped too.
Everything is done by hand.
100% no machines whatsoever.
Now why is that important?
Because when you get into this particular model, when they go to assemble this, they
actually put a slug, I'm calling it a slug.
It's more like a pin -- solid pin through the hollow center of this watch.
They actually extend out.
It's, it does, it looks very sloppy.
When they do it, they push them through.
They're actually welded into place.
They electrically welded.
Each center link is hand done.
Then they take it to a machine on while the bracelet looks a complete mess.
They put it up to a center and they grind down the edges.
They get it to this smooth style just like this.
That's why it's so even, you could never break these links.
It's just they don't, they, you don't remove them.
It's not like you know some other gold links or something like that and we could have a
jeweler do it.
There's nothing you can do.
Once this, this bracelet is assembled, it's there forever and that's how they get that
hand polished hand satin finished style on that bracelet.
It's absolutely amazing to watch the porthole design.
The screws are all patented.
There's multiple patents on this watch getting to the Oysterquartz completely different model
and methodology of how this watch is made.
It has the traditional Rolex flip class, right?
It has links that are also solid form from the backside, but the way that these links
were originally produced is that they were, they were folded over and then welded and
then polished together.
So the way that this particular link works is completely different from how this link
works.
Although they look very, very similar and the design is very similar.
So 1971 this watch sort of surprises me because the bracelet looks like something you would
preach today.
It looks very, very modern.
1971 you wouldn't expect it two years ago.
Right?
It's, it's absolutely amazing.
The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak was considered the savior of AP and the Oysterquartz from
Rolex, not so much.
Interestingly, I mean we've talked about this before within the patterning of, of watches,
Oysterquartz came out because the idea was quartz watches, we're going to save the Swiss
world.
Absolutely not true for Rolex whatsoever.
So unique design, unique bracelet, completely different.
They look similar there.
They're designed and assembled completely differently and there's no patent infringements
allegedly.
I guess it's hard to, when you have the same guy design the same bracelet for one company
against the other.
Right.
So we just wanted to give you an idea of what these watches look like.
They come in a lot of different colors, as you say, a lot of different flavors.
Uh, this was a particularly interesting piece to me because it has the gold dial with the
gold, uh, bezel.
You don't see that style much.
You feel like you do, cause you see it in a lot of advertisements.
But in reality, there's not a lot.
They're super, super thin.
They are quartz designed.
It's just a great watch.
And of course the Oysterquartz is becoming a cult icon favorite.
It's also manufactured in the solid gold pieces.
The bracelets look a lot different though.
They look more like the president flattened down.
So, um, just a lot of things to know about the Oysterquartz and the, and the, the Royal
Oak.
I hope that answers a lot of questions.
SwissWatchExpo.com -- argue about it in comments below.
Let us know if you know something we don't, we'll be happy to entertain and uh, hopefully
we'll see you again.
Fresh From the Showcase.
SwissWatchExpo.com.