Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Skeleton Watch

Another new Audemars Piguet watch for 2010. I honestly never though this would be made, but it makes sense given all the other skeletonized watches that Audemars Piguet has been coming out with. Here is your standard well loved Royal Oak watch in either steel or 18k rose gold, with a fully skeletonized movement. Above and in the image gallery you can get a good view of Audemars Piguet's handiwork skeletonizing one of their in-house made automatic movements. Looks like the movement surface is rhodium plated for the gray look, which looks nice against both the steel and gold. Through the rear of the watch you can see the nicely engraved 22k gold automatic rotor.

I believe that the Royal Oak Skeleton will become a niche model that will appeal to current owners of the brand who want a more visual appreciation of the movement in watch they know and love. I enjoyed wearing it and noticed a welcome attention to detail and function. Audemars Piguet maintains legibility in the watch by including a chapter ring with applied hour markers (with lume) and minute indicators. It is a very simple and satisfying piece for fans of the brand and skeletonized movements. Price is $30,100 in steel with steel bracelet, and $45,500 in rose gold on the brown crocodile strap.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.