Audemars Piguet Release Five Royal Oak x 1017 Alyx 9SM Watches Including Piece Unique

Audemars Piguet have teamed up with American designer Matthew Williams and his brand x 1017 Alyx 9SM on a quartet of collaborative Royal Oak and Royal Oak Offshores as well as a piece unique. All five watches feature matching, minimalist aesthetics in luxurious materials. The watches in the collection are a 37mm RO Selfwinding in yellow gold, a 41mm RO Chronograph in yellow gold, a 42mm RO Offshore Chronograph in white gold, a 42mm RO Offshore Chronograph in yellow gold and the piece unique which is a 41mm RO chronograph in bi-colour. Let’s take a look at them from smallest to biggest.

Audemars Piguet Royal Oak x 1017 Alyx 9SM Selfwinding 37mm

It makes sense to start with the 37mm time only model because it exemplifies some of the key design elements that we’ll see repeated in the larger models. Namely, the fact that it has a monochromatic gold design with a full gold case and bracelet as well as a vertically brushed gold dial. The dial be given the same exact finishing as the case giving the piece almost an industrial vibe despite being luxe.

Narrowing in on the dial it is as minimalistic as it’s possible to be, foregoing any indices or hour markers and featuring solely the central hour, minute and seconds hands. The dial is dual branded with the Audemars Piguet logo up where 12 o’clock should be and 1017 Alyx 9SM below towards 6. The styling of the 1017 Alyx 9SM logo reminds me of Common Projects sneakers and while that style of typography looks great on the Original Achilles, I’m not fully convinced that it suits a full gold RO.

Housed inside is the Calibre 5909 with automatic winding, hence why it’s known as the Royal Oak Selfwinding which is another term for automatic. It has a 60-hour power reserve.

Audemars Piguet Royal Oak x 1017 Alyx 9SM Selfwinding Chronograph 41mm

There are two 41mm selfwinding chronograph models in this collaboration set. The first is quite simply a full yellow gold edition and for the most part you can just copy and paste my commentary about the 37mm edition above and apply it here too. With the notable exception that this one features a trio of chronograph counters in a tricompax display.  Considering that there are again no markings, working out which hand is timing what is a little tricky (especially because AP tend not to mention that in their technical sheets) following the standard RO chronograph I think it’s safe to assume we have 30-minute timer at 9, small seconds at 6 and 12-hour timer at 3.

The second Piguet Royal Oak x 1017 Alyx 9SM Selfwinding Chronograph 41mm is the piece unique edition. Unlike every other watch in the collaboration, this is a one off and is also the only one to feature multiple colours. Specifically it has a white and yellow gold bi-colour case and a black dial. Beyond the different colours it’s more or less the same as its monochromatic counterpart. I’m not entirely sure why this collection needs a piece unique and I can only imagine Matthew wanted a special one for himself.

Inside both versions is the Calibre 4909 with 70-hour power reserve. Out of every model here, I think the monochrome edition here is my favourite, although being the best doesn’t mean its necessarily good. It simply ticks all the boxes for a novelty Royal Oak. Also while the black one is the piece unique, the standard version is exclusive in its own right limited to 200 pieces.

Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore x 1017 Alyx 9SM Selfwinding Chronograph 42mm

Last up we have the biggest of the watches, the 42mm RO Offshore chronograph, available in either yellow or white gold. Aesthetically they’re very similar to the other models in the set but they’re a little chunkier with more pronounced pusher and crown guards. Plus, the chronograph counters are arranged at 12, 9 and 6 instead and there’s a date window at 3.

Typically I’d be a fan of the white gold model more than the yellow because it reminds me more of steel, which is the material I actually want it to be in to lean into the street vibe of the design. However, here, the swagger of the timepiece means the yellow gold does suit the piece to some degree.

Powering these watches is the calibre 4404 with 70-hour power reserve, which is great because it means all three types of RO in the collection have really solid movements. Additionally, all five watches here have sapphire exhibition casebacks revealing the commemorative 1017 Alyx 9SM rotor and limited edition number. The Offshores are each limited to 75 pieces.

​Oracle Time 

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