Audemars Piguet released the Black Ceramic Royal Oak Tourbillon Extra-Thin this week at SIHH 2019.

The Le Brassus watchmaker originally introduced the Royal Oak in a black ceramic case in 2017, which we wrote about here. The alternating satin and polished surface finishes make for an aesthetic similar to the original, aforementioned black ceramic Royal Oak.

AP has also made the Tourbillon Extra-Thin in numerous past models, including the purple dial variant (bottom) which was introduced at SIHH 2018 and can be seen on the official site here.

This year, AP has taken made a 41 mm x 9 mm Royal Oak, referred to as Extra-Thin, but it’s not as thin as the true Royal Oak “Jumbo” Extra Thin, which measures a scant 8 mm in thickness. Nevertheless, considering it has a tourbillon, 9 mm is still incredibly thin.

Like past models of the Extra-Thin Tourbillon, the stunning sunburst pattern “Tapisserie” dial was carried forward. In black, it’s really quite striking. Especially with the faceted and polished white gold applied hour markers and hands.

The dial features hours, minutes, a 60-second tourbillon, and on the movement side there is a power reserve indicator embedded directly in the three-quarter plate, which by the way has a unique hand-finished sunray Geneva stripes pattern, and that has been darkened, no less.

Inside is the same manually wound 3Hz caliber 2924 tourbillon movement (31.5 mm x 4.46 mm) with 216 components, 25 jewels, and 70 hours of power reserve.

This is a boutique exclusive limited to 100 pieces. (Ref. 26522CE.OO.1225CE.01) Retail is CHF 156,000.