We used to have a simple choice between yellow gold, white gold and rose gold for our prestigious timepieces. Now we have Moonshine Gold from Omega, Magic Gold from Hublot and, introducing, Sand Gold from Audemars Piguet.
Had I been in the marketing meeting, I’d have Insisted on Dune Gold, a) because it sounds better and b) because it aligns with this week’s blockbuster release at the cinema.
Come to think of it, perhaps the marketeers took Dune Gold to the legal team and they spiked It on the grounds of a potential Intellectual property rights clash that would play badly in Hollywood.
Audemars Piguet describes Sand Gold as an 18ct gold alloy with copper and palladium that creates a hue hovering between white and pink gold. “Its colour changes depending on the angle and light, thus offering varied aesthetic possibilities,” the watchmaker adds.
The alloy is eye-catching, but the heavy-lifting for its first outing as a watch and bracelet material comes from a flying tourbillon skeletonised dial of a new 41mm x 10.6 mm Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, which uses the same gold for the openworked bridges and mainplate of the multi-layered Calibre 2972.
The Royal Oak Selfwinding Flying Tourbillon Openworked has the usual mix of satin brushed surfaces and polished edges that make light reflections even more playful. This is carried into the movement where components also have brushed and polished angles and the underside of the watch where a rhodium-toned 22ct pink gold oscillating is on show.
Fools’ Gold
Audemars Piguet has experimented with gold alloys since the late 19th century. Its archivist says that, out of 432 complicated wristwatches in gold that were made between 1882 and 1969, 248 were in yellow gold, 68 in white gold, 41 in pink gold, 32 in green gold and 43 in an unspecified gold.
“With sand gold, Audemars Piguet is reviving the creative approach to gold alloys and colours that prevailed for thousands of years until the 1960s,” says Sébastian Vivas, heritage and museum director for Audemars Piguet.
Of course, Audemars Piguet, in the company of other major manufacturers, also managed to give stainless steel the alure of a precious metal.
Today, far from being foolish, acquiring gold watches for less than steel looks like a sensible long term play, and Audemars Piguet’s ongoing commitment to researching new gold alloys will keep the category fresh.
