The most incredible Royal Oak book we’ve ever seen, sits at the AP House in New York City. Published by Assouline, the book named ‘Royal Oak: From Iconoclast to Icon’ was produced in collaboration with Audemars Piguet and written by Bill Prince, an award-winning journalist and an expert on luxury, culture, men’s style and watches. Bill is the former Deputy Editor of British GQ and currently Acting Editor-in-Chief of Wallpaper* magazine. Alongside his present role, Bill writes as an expert on men’s style and luxury for the Daily Telegraph and is a contributor to Vanity Fair On Time. Since 2020, Bill has been an Academy member of the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève, for which he served as a Juror in 2021.
This supersized book —approximately 30-32 inches tall and about 40 inches in width when fully opened— features the most incredible photography of the Royal Oak and will be sold in a limited edition of six pieces as far as we were told. The book comes in a special black wooden crate with wheels to help move it around. While we don’t have the specs for the book, we can easily guess that it has a total weight of at least 50 to 60 kilograms —110-120 pounds— if not more.
The ‘Royal Oak: From Iconoclast to Icon’ book retraces how the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak created a stir upon its release in 1972, with its armor of hand-finished stainless-steel encasing the thinnest self-winding mechanical movement of its era and has shone around the world in the decades that have followed. For the first time, steel was ennobled to the same status as gold. Inspired by the profound cultural, artistic, and industrial changes of the 1960s and early 1970s, this forward-looking timepiece anticipated a more active yet casual lifestyle, while heralding the beginning of a new high-end watchmaking era combining sportiness and refinement.
Although an outlier at birth, the Royal Oak soon found an audience among the free-spirited youth, who recognized the watch’s audacious blend of technological advances and ancestral craftsmanship. The Royal Oak has been a canvas of innovation ever since, conversing with art, music, architecture, and sports. Today, a cultural artifact beyond watchmaking, the Royal Oak is an object of permanence in a world of obsolescence, embodying the creative freedom and the youthful spirit of those who have contributed to writing its story.
Founded in Paris in 1994 by Prosper and Martine Assouline, Assouline is the first luxury brand on culture. It began with the desire to create a new, contemporary style of book, using the couple’s experienced eye for visually rich stories and compelling narratives. Guided by their passion for knowledge, culture and travel, the Assoulines have since expanded their vision to 1,700 titles in three main collections, along with special editions and unique library accessories—a grand oeuvre of inspiring creations.
“Working on this book has been a dream. A lot of freedom within a very specific frame. The book is strong and precise—the Royal Oak DNA on paper.” Prosper Assouline
The book also presents the Royal Oak’s history from a broader cultural perspective, while shedding light on new archival materials uncovered by Audemars Piguet’s Heritage department alongside exclusive testimonies of long-standing friends of the brand. The lively narrative text is illustrated with imagery from six decades of groundbreaking art, architecture, fashion, music, and cultural history, paralleling the evolution of this trailblazing timepiece beloved by innovative tastemakers and influential celebrities around the globe.
Furthering the Royal Oak’s unique cultural journey, Bill Prince also gives voice to what he calls “Generation Royal Oak,” a group of watch connoisseurs who came of age following the timepiece’s launch and whose achievements reflect the global, cultural movement that inspired it. This cohort notably includes Kevin Hart, Bjarke Ingels, Elle Macpherson, Mark Ronson, Serena Williams, and Ning Zetao, to name a few.
While we don’t have the official pricing for the supersized edition of the book, looks like each of the six limited edition copies will sell for approximately $50,000 USD. However, the best part is that there is a regular size version of the book available by Assouline and priced at $250 USD. The book contains 292 pages with 400 illustrations and measures 12.6 inches in width by 15 inches in length. The book is published in English language and features a hardcover in a luxury slipcase. Time to order yours.
For more info on Assouline click here and for Audemars Piguet here.
