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Audemars Piguet turns the Royal Oak into jewellery
On 2 October Audemars Piguet showed its first jewellery collection: 19 pieces that translate the Royal Oak bracelet into titanium, gold and gemstones.
By the VaultBase editorial team ·
Image: Audemars Piguet
Anyone who thinks of Audemars Piguet thinks of the Royal Oak. Gérald Genta drew the watch in 1972: a steel case with an octagonal bezel and visible hexagonal screws, plus a bracelet that flows seamlessly into the case. A women’s version followed in 1976, reworked by Jacqueline Dimier. Now, a good half century later, something new is happening: the manufacture from the Vallée de Joux drops the dial and keeps the bracelet.
The collection is called Royal Oak Joaillerie. It has 19 pieces, was presented on 2 October 2026, and is said to be the house’s first jewellery collection of its own. Audemars Piguet has worked with jewellery houses such as Oscar Heyman, Bulgari and Tiffany & Co. before, on watches worn as a pendant, brooch or ring. This time there is no watch at all, only earrings, cuffs, chokers and necklaces.
Ilaria Resta, CEO of Audemars Piguet, calls the collection “a gateway to the past and the future” that embodies the free spirit of the house.
The bracelet as a building block
The watch’s design codes move straight into the jewellery: the tapering link bracelet, the studs, the octagonal shapes. You recognise the bracelet instantly, even when it suddenly sits around the neck as a choker. Nathalie Barzilay co-designed the line, and for the so-called Frosted Gold the house worked with the designer Carolina Bucci. According to JCK, Audemars Piguet is betting on one-of-a-kind pieces rather than volume.
Dream of Joux: the valley in gemstones
Audemars Piguet has been based in the Vallée de Joux since its founding in 1875, and the landscape shapes the first line: frozen lakes, night skies, flowers. It is called Dream of Joux, and its most striking piece is a necklace in the shape of a tie. The band is made of blue anodised titanium and set with 1,670 snow-set sapphires. Beside it runs a row of 42 pear-shaped diamonds, 63 carats in total.
There are matching drop earrings with the name Royal Oak on the back, and cuffs in 18-carat white, yellow and rose gold with floral motifs. Some versions have names of their own: Frozen Lake in icy blues, Tree of Life, Edelweiss.
Colours for the bold
The palette is wide: diamonds and sapphires in blue, yellow, pink and orange, plus spessartites, tourmalines, amethysts, tsavorites and topazes. The Sunburst cuff shows it best, with yellow and orange spessartites, sapphires and diamonds arranged like rays of sun around a stone in the centre.
Risoud Eclipse: the forest during an eclipse
The second line is much darker. The Risoud is the forest above the valley, and the line recalls an evening under a solar eclipse and stargazing. The necklace and matching cuff are made of blackened PVD titanium and 18-carat white gold. Five sugarloaf-cut emeralds sit in the centre, surrounded by brilliant-cut diamonds.
Frosted Gold for every day
Not everything is high jewellery with 63 carats. Chokers, cuffs and necklaces in Frosted Gold make up the everyday part of the collection, in white, rose and yellow gold. The surface is created by hammering and looks as if diamond dust lay on the metal. Audemars Piguet developed the technique in 2016 together with Carolina Bucci.
And what does it cost?
None of the reports we draw on names prices. The collection is brand new, so there are naturally no pre-owned pieces yet. We are keeping an eye on what comes of it.
Sources: JCK, Culted, Something About Rocks
