Last year, AP bid farewell to one of its most historic movements. In 1978, the Caliber 2120/2800 was announced as the world’s thinnest perpetual calendar. It became the base for all AP QPs, and the caliber was modified and improved for 46 years before its (second to) last ride as the Caliber 5134 in John Mayer’s Limited Edition Royal Oak. But the perpetual calendar is AP’s most iconic complication, so there was no doubt they’d have something new coming. The day is finally here.
Today’s newly released perfect replica Audemars Piguet Royal Oak and Code 11.59 watches house the new Caliber 7138 perpetual calendar movement, and it’s a big leap forward for AP. There are several new achievements for the brand in the new Caliber 7138 movement, but the most significant impact is that the entire movement is now fully crown-adjusted—no more mysterious pushers, no more lost styluses.
As Ben wrote about last week, one of the biggest pain points of most perpetual calendars (save some from the likes of IWC or Moser) is that adjusting the calendar functions usually requires engaging one or more small corrector “buttons” often located on the baseband. Yes, this is a generalization. But it was generally annoying.
You’d have to search for a small stylus, pin pusher, or pen, sit and click away for a few minutes, and hope to get everything lined up correctly (the moon phase is the most annoying—is it a bit more waxing or waning?) without scratching your case. All while remembering the function of each tiny button.
As someone said in the comments of Ben’s story, hitting the right buttons in the correct order was almost like trying to remember the Konami Code (up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, Start – in case you forgot) to get your “smart mechanical” watch to do its intended functions. With IWC’s crown adjustment, you couldn’t go backward if you went past the date (or worse, the year). You’d have to let your AAA UK fake watches sit unused or send it to IWC to be adjusted. AP has solved for this, and then some.
Of course, AP launched the Caliber 7138 in its two main collections: the Royal Oak (obviously), which includes a pair of 41mm by 9.4mm steel high quality replica watches with a blue dial and a sand gold watch with a color-matched dial, and the Code 11.59, which has a 41mm by 10.6mm white gold case.
I spent two days earlier this year wearing, fiddling with, and just living with these copy watches wholesale UK, so let’s examine them, starting with the biggest change.
On the movement side, it’s obvious that there are changes when compared to the last generation of the 2120/2800-based calibers, the Caliber 5134 movement. The new Caliber 7138 is based on the 7121 introduced update to the “Jumbo” Royal Oak ref. 16202 from 2022. The biggest clue is the two bridges over the balance wheel and the mainspring barrel, made of 22-carat pink gold, which offers a contrast against the other rhodium-toned components of the movement.
The perpetual calendar layer is hidden under the dial side. I have to assume that AP will launch a skeletonized (or SQ for squellete) version of the movement at some point in the not-too-distant future, which would show off the technical achievement.
Let’s get technical. At 29.6mm by 4.1mm thick, the new Caliber 7138 is only 0.6mm wider than its predecessor 5134 but 0.4mm thinner, and yet it runs at 28,800 bph versus the 19,800 of the 5134, with 15 more hours of power reserve (55 hours total).
Some improvements trickled down from the Caliber 5133 movement in AP’s Royal Oak Selfwinding Perpetual Calendar Ultra-Thin RD#2. That Swiss made replica watches also had all perpetual calendar functions in one layer of the movement, with an end-of-month cam similarly integrated with the date wheel, and the month cam is combined with the month wheel. The crown adjustments are in a second layer, which keeps the whole thing thin.
When the original 2120/2800 launched in 1978, it was only 0.15mm thinner than the new movement (although 1.6mm smaller across). The Caliber 7121, in the modern Jumbo, is 3.2mm thick. The Caliber 2968 – the tourbillon movement for the RD#3 – is the same width but 3.4mm and has been fit down to a 37mm case. That’s a lot of numbers, but I’ve been mulling over these measurements for the last few weeks for a specific reason. Keep them in mind – I’ll return to them later.
AP has also adjusted the dial layout for the perpetual calendar. The moonphase is still at 6 o’clock, but the full moon is now centered on the 12 o’clock axis (a fact that I never realized wasn’t the case until this release). The day and date have been rearranged to what the brand calls a “European” date display – day of the week at 9 o’clock, date at 12 o’clock, and month at 3 o’clock.
The first week of the year now sits at 12 o’clock on the rehaut, and the first day of the month and “Monday” are placed similarly at 12 o’clock on their subdials. A subtle tweak you might not otherwise notice is that the date display will always land on the center of every numeral, thanks to a date wheel with 31 custom-made teeth, with each size different to adapt to the width of the digits in the printing.
There’s also a 24-hour indicator with a red-printed “no correction zone” between 9:00 pm and 3:00 am. However, due to the technical improvements in the movement, if you try to set the date during this time, the date may not change, but it also won’t desynchronize the day/month/leap year balance – itself a big benefit.
I made this comparison last year, but I would call the new Sand Gold Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar the “Loro Piana” edition. I don’t care if folks say quiet luxury is dead; I feel so calm in a room of beige on beige on beige, so why not a beige watch on the wrist? This is AP’s third cheap super clone watches in sand gold—a material I covered last year—after the Self-Winding Flying Tourbillon Openworked and the [RE]Master02.
I think this is where the material feels most at home, in a more toned-down execution than the skeletonized tourbillon substituted for a Grande Tapisserie dial in matching sand gold, snailed subdials, and just the little bit of color from the moonphase.
Sand gold is still a neat trick in the light, and while I was photographing at the office, a few members of the team walked by and had the same reaction I did last year: “Is this steel? Oh no, it’s white gold. Oh wait, no… rose?” On the wrist, the heft of the gold is apparent, especially if you just wore something in steel, but it wears as well as any gold Royal Oak QP before it and has the identical measurements of the previous generation.
The Code 11.59 by Audemars Piguet (to use its full name) has come a long way since its launch. Some might say people didn’t give it a fair shake. Others would say the 1:1 China replica watches needed a lot of work to get where it is today. There’s probably a bit of truth to both perspectives, but the new dial language of the collection is leaps and bounds better than the first iterations.
Last year, AP announced a few new shakeups to the Code 11.59. Along with releasing a perpetual calendar with an aventurine dial and white gold case, they announced that white gold would only be used for copy watches for sale more complicated than a chronograph, e.g., tourbillons, repeaters, and perpetual calendars. So it makes sense that the new Code 11.59 Perpetual Calendar would be in white gold, and it looks quite good with the smoked blue PVD dial.
The 41mm by 10.6mm fits fine on the wrist, but the extra thickness is a bit unfortunate, as I think AP could continue to push a bit in terms of thickness. It’s possible that the dial texture and design add a bit of depth that makes thinning the case impossible (in the same way that the RD#2 couldn’t be made with a tapisserie dial as it originally had on the prototype).
Whether it’s this Code 11.59 or any others in the collection, there’s probably not much I can say to sway your opinion on the collection. Secondary market prices for the entry-level models have stabilized around 20% less than retail. We’ve gotten used to many Swiss movements replica watches that trade above retail, but people have to get past judging watches by that alone. There are a lot of very nice pieces that now “trade” below retail, but they’re still good watches—for example, a Code 11.59 Perpetual Calendar ref. 26394OR with aventurine dial at $55,000 on Chrono24 is a smoking deal by a lot of metrics.
There are actually six releases in the group. In addition to the three standard models that I photographed, there are also three limited “anniversary” editions with a vintage “Audemars Piguet” signature in the subdials. The stylized script signature is inspired by historical documents, and while it might be divisive, it’s the kind of little extra touch that someone like me (a history nerd and AP fan) really likes. Would I want it on every AP? No. Do I like it on these best quality fake watches? On the Royal Oaks, I do. There will be 150 of each model made, each labeled as “1 of 150 pieces” and with the “150” logo for the anniversary.
The ref. 26674ST is the most versatile option and the one that will probably be the most iterated upon. The Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar is (and always has been) nearly the perfect watch in steel. Past black ceramic QPs were pretty outstanding, as were the rose gold blue dial and the titanium “Japan Edition” with salmon dial (all in my top five). However, the steel has the right balance of weight and wearability, which makes the Royal Oak the most wearable AP “grail” for most people.
I’ve been lucky to have some hands-on time with a number of perpetual calendars over the years, and a good portion of my list (yes, a physical list) of grail replica watches site are perpetual calendars. I’ll never forget the first Patek 5270P I ever saw in the wild wasn’t set anywhere close to the actual date. The owner said he couldn’t be bothered.
The Caliber 7138 is remarkably easy to set. There are four positions for the crown. First position – all the way in – allows you to wind the watch toward 12 o’clock. Position two (one click out) allows you to set the date toward 12 o’clock and to adjust the month and the leap year in the opposite direction. Pull the crown out again (position three – the furthest out), and you can set the time. The most interesting thing is that position two is a secret fourth position. Pulling the fake watches paypal fully out to position three and then pushing back in one step, you can set the day of the week and week (toward 12 o’clock) and moonphase (turning the crown toward 6 o’clock). Even without instructions, it is incredibly intuitive to fiddle around with it for a few seconds and learn how the calendar works.
I have two critiques about the new Caliber 7138 releases, one more serious (or curious) than the other. The first concerns the movement measurements I listed before. When the first 2120/2800-based Royal Oak perpetual calendar (ref. 25554) was released in 1984, it measured only 7.5mm thick. To improve water resistance, the model 25654, introduced in 1987, had a reworked case and measured 8.3mm with a solid caseback. That’s only 0.2mm thicker than the current Jumbo and it lacked the “week indicator” of the modern QP. So, let’s do some math.
If the width of the RD#3 movement could be used down to a 37mm case, the same width shouldn’t be a limiting factor on the 7138. The ratio between the case thickness and movement thickness on the ref. 25654 is about 2.1:1. If the same ratio holds – and with better manufacturing and materials technology of the last 40 years, I’d imagine it could – the Caliber 7138 might theoretically fit down to a 39mm by 8.6mm case size with a solid caseback. It’s not quite Jumbo sizing, but it’s damn close. With 50m of water resistance, maybe shaving down the size would result in 30m of resistance, or removing the week indication, but it’s a tradeoff I’d be willing to make.
But the biggest critique isn’t really a negative. The technical refinements of the movement are so good, so straightforward, and so simple to operate that it almost doesn’t feel as big of an achievement as I know it to be. It would obviously be bad business to release a bad watch that doesn’t work well. The complete opposite – a watch that’s simple to use and works great (while hiding much of the incredible engineering) – isn’t the sexiest thing either. But it’s the kind of thing we need to bring us back to the halcyon days when folks just liked watches for being great luxury replica watches UK. No hype, no unnecessary marketing, just great watchmaking.
