An In-Depth Look at the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Automatic Flying Tourbillon Slim RD#3 is the Next Evolution of the AP Automatic Tourbillon
An ultra-thin automatic tourbillon with astonishing depth.cheap replica watch
Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Selfwinding Flying Tourbillon Extra-Thin RD#3, Ref. 26670ST.OO.1240ST.01 (If you can retain the 20 character alphanumeric reference in your short and long term memory, bless you because I can' t) May have been a little less impactful than it should have been when it launched last April. There could be several reasons. First off, I think a lot of us still suffer from the Royal Oak overload from the referee's announcement. 16202 Jumbo launched in January, along with several others (including the non-Jumbo flying tourbillon). Second, the Jumbo Tourbillon RD#3 appears in the context of a larger world where Bulgari more or less has the sense of community of an ultra-thin self-winding tourbillon.
While this might have been surprising a few decades ago, there’s no doubt that in 2022, an ultra-thin tourbillon will hardly make a splash unless you manage to beat Bulgari. Not only are there no brands challenging them, no one even seems willing to try. Still, it goes to show that Bulgari would have to beat Audemars Piguet to beat their record, but also an AP watch from 1986: the AP Caliber 2870 Self-Winding Tourbillon, the undisputed champion of ultra-thin self-winding Tourbillons have been around for over 30 years, until Bulgari launched the Octo Finissimo Automatic Tourbillon in 2018. While no one disputes Bulgari's technical achievement, AP's new Royal Oak Tourbillon does represent perhaps the longest single lineage in automatic tourbillon watch horology.replica men watch
For many years, Audemars Piguet has used essentially the same tourbillon in all of its tourbillon watches – that is, the same cage, balance and escapement, and the same upper tourbillon bridge. The bridge plate has a unique inverted "V" shape, the frame has three arms, and the outer edge of the free-spring balance holds the balance and timing screws. Aside from the upper bridge, this is the same tourbillon that was recently used as the Royal Oak Flying Tourbillon 26730 that was introduced in January this year. It is also the tourbillon used in the Code 11.59 series Automatic Flying Tourbillon Chronograph.
The new Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Automatic Flying Tourbillon Ultra-Thin Watch RD#3 adopts a new tourbillon configuration, placing the flying tourbillon in the Jumbo case for the first time. The RD#3 is the exact same size as the Jumbo - 39mm x 8.1mm.
In order to fit the flying tourbillon into the Jumbo case, AP had to develop a new tourbillon movement. The Royal Oak Flying Tourbillon, introduced earlier this year in AP caliber 2950, measures 31.5mm x 6.24mm and has a larger case than the RD#3 at 41mm x 10.6mm. RD#3, on the other hand, uses the 2968 caliber - a smaller caliber measuring 29.6mm x 3.4mm, much flatter than the 2950. By comparison, Bulgari’s caliber BVL 288, used in the Octo Finissimo Tourbillon Automatic, is 1.95mm thick, but it’s also larger in diameter than AP’s caliber 2968 at 36.60mm and is making its way into smaller pocket watch calibers. It's kind of like a squishy jelly donut - you can squash it, but it will fall apart at the same time. It means Bulgari'best watch replicas in the world
The AP caliber 2968 is not the flattest automatic tourbillon in the world, but you have to remember that unlike the BVL 288, it is not a peripheral rotor caliber. Instead, it is a full rotor movement that is almost identical in size to the caliber 7121 used in the new 16202 Royal Oak, 29.6mm x 3.2mm. In fact, Caliber 2968 looks a lot like a redesigned 7121, including the arrangement of the self-winding train and the location and configuration of the barrel.
To fit the tourbillon cage into the extra-large case, AP had to alter several elements of the classic version of the tourbillon cage used in the caliber 2950 in the standard Royal Oak Automatic Tourbillon. The 2950 caliber has a winding hairspring, while the newer 2968 caliber has a flat hairspring (most ultra-thin watches do not have a winding spring because the winding adds height). The balance in the 2968 had timing weights on the inside of the balance rim (in the 2950 they were conventional weights on the outside of the rim) flush with the rim. The balance arm has steps that create a sort of groove that brings the hairspring closer to the balance wheel—another height-saving measure.luxury fake watches
Another notable difference is that while the 2950 uses traditional screws to hold the upper part of the tourbillon cage, the 2968 uses splined bolts, which generally take up less space than screws (although I'm not sure if that's the purpose here, as I don't bolts and available screw sizes). There are also cutouts in the struts of the tourbillon cage, which provide additional clearance for the edge of the balance wheel, allowing the AP to use a larger balance wheel (one of the benefits of the inner flat-edged weights). Finally, the tourbillon cage is driven by gear teeth on its outer rim. This is the so-called peripherally driven tourbillon. A traditional tourbillon cage is driven by a pinion on the underside of the cage. Driving the cage directly from the edge of the cage also saves height.
As we said, the caliber 2968 is not the thinnest automatic tourbillon in the world, but at 3.4 mm it is very flat for a full rotor automatic tourbillon - to get a tourbillon thinner than that, You have to start with micro rotors or peripheral rotors.replica watches. Before Bulgari's Octo Finissimo automatic tourbillon, the thinnest automatic tourbillon (after the AP 2870) was the Breguet Classique Tourbillon Extra-Thin Automatic 5377, which had a movement with a peripheral rotor and was 3 mm thick ( And it's very wide, at 36.10mm). In context, AP's ability to make a full-rotor automatic flying tourbillon is starting to look more interesting, and it's 0.4mm thicker than recent record-holders with wider peripheral rotors.
Aesthetically? What can I tell you, it's a Jumbo, 39mm x 8.1mm, with a lovely Bleu Nuit, Nuage 50 dial. The only classic Jumbo element missing from the RD#3 Jumbo Tourbillon is the AP logo at 6 o'clock, but if you want an open-dial flying tourbillon, it seems reasonable to lose it. If you like Jumbo, you'll probably like the Royal Oak Selfwinding Flying Tourbillon Extra-Thin RD#3, unless the idea of an open-dial flying tourbillon isn't your brand of vodka. Comparing ultra-thin automatic tourbillons can be a bit tricky - it helps to understand the history of the complication and also to understand that a full rotor movement is fair on the one hand compared to a peripheral rotor movement, but on the other hand it is And a bit of an apples to oranges comparison.replica HYT
