Audemars Piguet Unveils New 38mm Chronograph and 41mm Ref. 15500 Royal Oaks

It’s been a busy SIHH for Audemars Piguet as the Swiss watchmaker unveiled two new Royal Oak collections: a new 38mm Chronograph and the 41mm Ref. 15500.

The self-winding Royal Oak Chronograph now comes in a rather compact 38mm casing, falling below the ”jumbo” 44mm piece and the popular 41mm, which replaced the 39mm in 2012. Releasing in four versions, two in steel and two in rose gold, with different dial color variations, it’s not a drastic overhaul, but it does make a mainstay in the AP catalog much more wearable for today’s man.

The new base-model 41mm Ref. 15500 replaces the Ref. 15400 that launched back in 2012, and with subtle upgrades. A new in-house caliber 4302 movement has the wristwatch beating at 4 Hz instead of 3 Hz and offering 70 hours of power reserve instead of 60. This new movement does make the Ref. 15500 thicker than it’s predecessor however, at 10.4mm versus 9.8mm. As with the 38mm Chrono, this collection is available in both steel and rose gold, where the steel version comes with your chose of a blue, grey or black dial, and the rose gold, black dial piece can be purchased with a leather strap or gold bracelet.

Pricing for the two have yet to be announced, but you can read more about each collection at Audemars’ website.

Early this month, Bruno Mars gifted his whole band new Audemar Piguet Royal Oak watches.