Introduced in 2018, the Royal Oak Concept Flying Tourbillon GMT is part of Audemars Piguet’s “Concept” collection which consists of limited edition halo timepieces.

At 44 mm x 16.1 mm the watch size is more in line with the Royal Oak Offshore than the Royal Oak, however, it’s really a blend of both. Materials such as titanium and ceramic are advanced and lightweight, although, under the hood, is where the real innovations of shine. The in-house movement beats at 3Hz with a total of 348 components and features a massive power reserve of 237 hours.

None of the timepieces in the standard catalog come anywhere close to the movement’s power reserve of almost 10-days. The watch also has a unique crown selector which allows the wearer to choose between H (time setting), N (neutral), or R (winding) mode.

Along with the selector crown, complicated flying tourbillon, and a digital GMT display the timepiece displays the hours and minutes, so in spite of the advanced functionality, and detailed skeletonization — the Royal Oak Concept Flying Tourbillon GMT is a rather basic watch without a date, or chronograph, or tons of complications. It’s high-tech yet simplified.

Interestingly, while the Royal Oak Concept Flying Tourbillon GMT was made as a limited edition, you can find them available for sale, above the original retail price of $176,500 (Ref. 26589IO.OO.D002CA.01), but not anywhere near the two to three times multiples of the original retail price that Royal Oaks are currently experiencing.

We found the Royal Oak Concept Flying Tourbillon GMT to be available for sale in the $200K to $277K range.

 

Photo taken by Professional Watches at Audemars Piguet boutique New York City in 2018.