AP contest winners (designing custom RO)

[Fifteen]

https://youtu.be/xF1w1liTF7o

Crazy how AP might actually make some of these watches that ordinary people made. Really cool concept and can’t wait to see them made!

[HMHM]

Tbh.. the only one that I think is feasible and looks amazing is the ceramic with aventurine dial. The full skeleton is also amazing but doubt that will ever become a reality. Simply too complex… perhaps in rare numbers or a one off for charity. The rest were just mehhh and the first one with the so called plastic inspiration is crap…

[APWhale]

Originally Posted by HMHM

Tbh.. the only one that I think is feasible and looks amazing is the ceramic with aventurine dial. The full skeleton is also amazing but doubt that will ever become a reality. Simply too complex… perhaps in rare numbers or a one off for charity. The rest were just mehhh and the first one with the so called plastic inspiration is crap…

Agreed 100%.

[endo]

Nice to see winning entries


Though, i’d have like to see slightly more interesting dial/movements being incorporated into the winning designs, unless they were judging it from the point of view what is easist to recreate irl. There were some great altenativea to 3 handers folk put up on instagram


I mean I did design a new openworked calibre with a peripheral rotor afterall to mirror a lightweight case design
Funnily enough, my initial design was similar to the final winner, but after measuring my watch for real world dimensions, it didnt feel that feasible to have a fully skeletonised case and bracelet, hence the change to flying lugs and hinting at skeltonisation through recessed surfaces.

[macrowatch]

Wow, there are some talented people out there.

Also, what a great competition idea and even better execution. CEO needs a contract extension! Forget a successor, add another zero to comp plan and let's extend the ride by another 5 years!

PS what is Austen wearing? 15407 on strap?

[Waybach]

Originally Posted by macrowatch

PS what is Austen wearing? 15407 on strap?

Probably the 26735 on grey rubber strap, which he’s been wearing daily.

[macrowatch]

That would make way more sense. Thanks Waybach!

[lucasalce]

Congrats to the winners but endo's design is so much cooler.
Thougt I share some of my designs

[VogelPhoenix]

One can argue about the winners, but taking this idea and running with it, which is what AP seems to do, is pretty cool. Hopefully we'll get to see the final products for the more realistic designs.

[Reign]

I don’t see AP making any of these, very weak designs


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[J.T.]

I wanted to do this and downloaded the template but I'm not versed in graphics software well enough to put my ideas into reality. I agree that there had to be better ideas than what was picked as winners. None of the winners excited me whatsoever. Endo's ideas above are miles ahead of the ones AP chose

[endo]

Cheers for the kind words lucasalce & J.T.,

It was a fun thought experiment for me, alot of them have come from snowballing ideas with friends in the past, so i knew for me, as something i'd actually wear.
-a peripheral oscillating weight was a must,
-flying tourbillon, with cleaner looking cammed weights rather than ugly screws on the balance wheel
-an open worked movement designed to be a the forefront, rather than skeletonised for the sake of it (which alot are), and a movement design to suit the case (rather than something off the shelf)
-layered movement/rehaut deisgn for enhancing depth and the feeling everything is floating.
-openworking of course removes the iconic tapisserie dial, so a layered mid case that could incoporate tapisserie
-floating lugs
-emphasizing the case angles and onlines through recess section (originally i went full skeleton case/bracelet like the final design, but after mocking it out with my movement, it just didn't sit right with me, and i wanted it to work in forged carbon for a fully stealth variant)

the only thing i did leave off... was a textile strap
(i have a scrapped design where the lugs were modified to take a NATO..., thought that might be a step to far, even if personally.. i love a textile strap)

Granted, AP would never spend them money to R&D such a watch, but in the original design brief it was never a given (and assumed they wouldn't) produce the watch.

Maybe i'll hit the lotto, and dump a few mil getting a 1 of 1 made.

[GS93108]

It's a nice pat on the back for the winners, one problem though is that AP can't do anything quickly, so if they do choose to produce anything then we won't see them for years. The design team can produce prototypes though, so maybe a lucky winner will actually be able to see his/her design in physical form before it's too distant of a memory.

Again, very nice for the winners to have achieved some recognition. Selfishly though I'd have loved one of 'our' TRFers to have been in the mix.

[psm11]

Feel for the runner ups whose design ideas are going to be tested on a CODE -- tough break.

[chalkflewup]

Nice renderings, Endo. The same, lucasalce! I'm partial to the 2nd concept they chose, Burning Man meets Mad Max.

[VogelPhoenix]

Originally Posted by GS93108

It's a nice pat on the back for the winners, one problem though is that AP can't do anything quickly, so if they do choose to produce anything then we won't see them for years. The design team can produce prototypes though, so maybe a lucky winner will actually be able to see his/her design in physical form before it's too distant of a memory.

Black ceramic with aventurine dial and moon phase looked "production ready". The plastic garbage, rust and exoskeleton ones, if at all, maybe could be turned into one-offs for charity or a micro-series. Not sure I got the dial-changing-with-light one.

[squall1]

The rust one would be interesting as a bronze piece with really wild lume...anyway this is why I'm a fan of this brand. Hard to imagine other brands of this stature doing something similar. Very cool promotion.

[huncho]

there's only so much you can do with the royal oak. i thought these were pretty cool besides the plastic one, don't even know how you'd go about doing that

the coolest part to me is that AP did something like this and if they actually attempt to create these then that's even cooler

[thekman]

Originally Posted by psm11

Feel for the runner ups whose design ideas are going to be tested on a CODE -- tough break.

hahah I also laughed at this. Imagine designing a Royal Oak only for the CEO to say it's only CODE worthy. (For the record I love my Code but it's still a kick in the nuts for that person)

I saw many better designs on instagram by other people that I actually would want to own. Not sure I like any of the winning designs.

[crispyness87]

I'm really glad that the competition looks like a success. How many of you are sick and tired of cynicism in the watch industry, and I feel that AP and the Royal Oak is in the receiving end of a lot of it. Granted AP isn't perfect, but passive agressive potshots just make you think "oh, grow up", just like this video from watchfinder. I'll caveat by saying i might be missing the whole point of the video lol.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IVyvl4unUc

[s_haverford]

I really like that AP is so open to these kinds of colabs and partnerships to engage the community. Its similar to how they have made special pieces for charity auctions but this one was much more community driven.

Out of all the winners, I really want to follow the submission from Yinglin. That whole exoskeleton idea is pretty great and further skeletonizing the dial is an interesting choice. Personally, I would have kept the original designer's choice with the square grate looking dial. But lets see what the people at AP decide to do with it. I am sure it will be great never the less.