The AP Royal Oak 15202IP – Two-Tone is back!

Watch & Bullion

7 February 2018 | 2 min read

Making a good watch is easy. Making a truly great watch is anything but easy. During all the noise of SIHH, there was one watch I completely missed. In between triple split chronographs and lever and pulley suspended movements the new AP 15202IP is a bit of a sleeper. In true sleeper fashion, however, it left only its tail lights to be seen when it comes down to it.

What does it take to stand out? As it turns out, not that much. So what makes the 15202IP so special? After all, it shares the dimensions and the movement of your average Jumbo ultra-thin, and probably would be mistaken for a run of the mill steel Royal Oak. You won’t find any steel on this model though, instead, you get a whole bunch of titanium with platinum elements on the bracelet links and bezel. Then there is the dial which AP calls a smoked blue. Effectively it is deep ocean dark blue on the outside which becomes slowly lighter towards a royal blue in the middle. And that is it.

Sure, this model is neither very creative nor risky for Audemars. It will unsurprisingly sell out and continue AP’s over 40-year-old reliance on the royal oak line. Putting brand politics to the side though we are left with a truly fantastic watch. Between the contrast of the matte brush of the titanium and the mirror polished platinum, we are left with what is unquestionably got to be one of the most wearable and tasteful watches ever made.