SJX Watches
Audemars Piguet Upgrades the Royal Oak Chronograph 38 mm
Audemars Piguet (AP) updates the Royal Oak Selfwinding Chronograph 38 mm with a new manufacture calibre, sapphire display back, while slightly tweaking the iconic design – and retaining the price of its predecessor. The new cal. 6401 comes with welcome quality-of-life improvements such as a longer power reserve and instantaneous date without tradeoffs in wearability, beat rate, or even cost, making this compact chronograph one of the most sensible and compelling offerings in the Royal Oak line. Initial Thoughts AP debuted the first Royal Oak chronograph in 1997 and it was powered by the Frederic Piguet cal. 1185, a landmark movement for automatic chronograph design. Now, nearly three decades later, AP is a true industrialised manufacture, and the cal. 1185 has been replaced with the new cal. 6401, a modern movement that with meaningful upgrades under the hood. This also comes with some minute tweaks to the dial and a crowd pleasing display case back, while the case and bracelet remain as excellent as always. Laudably, this comes without a significant price increase, with the new Royal Oak Chronograph 38 mm in steel costing only 3.6% more than its predecessor. New Engine AP’s new cal. 6401 is a solidly-spec’ed movement despite being small and thin for a modern chronograph. It’s wide and taller than the Frederic Piguet cal. 1185 but only slightly. It is 27 mm in diameter (up from 26.2 mm) and 5.7 mm tall (up from 5.5 mm) though even with the addition of a sapphire ...
