Fifty years ago, Gérald Genta designed the iconic Royal Oak for Audemars Piguet. Now AP and Wristcheck are giving you the chance to put your own mark on this classic – they’ve launched a design contest, and each winner, pending the feasibility of their designs, could get his or her creation made into actual replica watches for sale.
Break out your pens and pencils, fire up your Photoshop and don’t forget to renew your passport, because the winner is going to Switzerland.
When I first heard about this contest, I didn’t really believe it. Austen Chu of watch platform Wristcheck tried to tell me about his plan earlier this year at the Bjarke Ingels-designed Hotel des Horlogers in Le Brassus. I encouraged him despite my lack of faith, but ultimately filed it in the “cool ideas that will never happen” drawer of my brain, along with bottomless martinis and pain-free Bottega Veneta boots. I’m still waiting for those last two things. But the AAA US fake Audemars Piguet Royal Oak watches design contest is very much happening.
The “Your Take On The Royal Oak” competition, which launches today, is open to anybody who is willing to submit a design. There are no limitations when it comes to colors, materials, and complications. Everything must be done, however, within the framework of the iconic octagonal shape. This is still perfect replica Audemars Piguet Royal Oak watches competition – no coloring outside of the Genta lines, please. Three winning designs will be chosen by Chu and François-Henry Bennahmias, the CEO of Audemars Piguet.
“In today’s world we can look at welcoming talent, passion, engagement and commitment from everywhere,” Bennahmias told me. “And we know that the new generation is very keen on these types of things. What better way than the 50th anniversary of the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak copy watches wholesale to involve people, young and old, to potentially give us the idea of the century.”
The competition came about through a Zoom conversation between Chu and Bennahmias recorded for the Wristcheck YouTube channel back in February of this year. “We could actually launch a worldwide contest or survey to see what information people want to see on their luxury replica watches,” Bennahmias said at the time. He goes on: “Let’s do this, let’s do this as we speak right now. You are going to be absolutely bombarded. Good luck, Austen.”
This move felt very Bennahmias: bold, freewheeling, and totally within the spirit of 2022 Audemars Piguet replica watches. It was also characteristic of Chu, 25, who is in tune with the watch collecting community and understands what drives a new and younger demographic of collectors. “This is an incredible initiative for the community,” Chu says in the YouTube clip. “The future of luxury is in transparency and experience. Everybody just wants to feel involved in the process.”
The idea is to democratize watchmaking, to allow creative agency in a space which is usually kept tucked away in the impenetrable confines of the Swiss mountains.
To my mind, the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak super clone watches shop site – especially contrasted with some of its competitors – stays forever young because AP recognizes the need for forward motion. Upon its release a half-century ago, the Royal Oak set the standard for rebellion in watch design – it was a ‘lifestyle’ watch designed during a tumultuous time of anti-luxury and anti-establishment. Bennahmias has retained this spirit by fostering relationships with athletes and musicians, and creating an intersection between serious watch culture and youth culture long before it was commonplace in horology.
Chu very much understands the 1:1 fake watches zeitgeist and Audemars Piguet’s leading role within it. “If watch nerds (like myself) want the hobby to be accepted by the masses,” Chu says. “They need to accept that aesthetic is priority. Everything else comes later.”
The competition is open to everyone. Participants can submit their entries by downloading a template on the competition website. The competition runs from October 6 to November 6. You can submit as many entries as you wish before the deadline. Three winners will be announced on November 15th, and will be flown to Le Brassus, Switzerland for a complete Audemars Piguet Experience. Best replica Audemars Piguet watches will decide whether to produce the designs, pending feasibility, as a pièce unique or series.
