Luxury News  ·  Watches & Jewellery  ·  14 October 2026

Audemars Piguet Jewellery: The Royal Oak Becomes High Jewellery

For more than 50 years, the Royal Oak has been defined by its octagonal bezel and integrated bracelet. Now Audemars Piguet has taken the watch away and kept the jewel. Royal Oak Joaillerie is the first Audemars Piguet jewellery collection in high jewellery: 19 necklaces, cuffs and earrings that turn one of the most famous designs in watchmaking into jewellery.

When Gérald Genta designed the Royal Oak in 1972, he created a steel sports watch that was priced like gold and finished like jewellery. It is fitting, then, that the watch’s 54th year has brought its most daring transformation yet. In early October, Audemars Piguet unveiled Royal Oak Joaillerie in Paris, the first high jewellery collection in the brand’s history, and the first time the Royal Oak has appeared without a dial.

The idea is simple: the integrated bracelet, the octagon and the hexagonal screws become the vocabulary of jewellery. Each piece fastens with a Royal Oak clasp, a discreet signature that collectors will recognise instantly.

💎 Three Lines, Three Landscapes

The 19 pieces of the Audemars Piguet jewellery collection are divided into three lines, each inspired by the brand’s home in the Vallée de Joux, in the Swiss Jura:

Risoud Eclipse. Named after the Risoud forest that surrounds Le Brassus, and imagined during an eclipse. Its centrepiece is a necklace of five sugarloaf emeralds totalling 16.50 carats, each framed by brilliant-cut diamonds, set in white gold and linked with black PVD titanium.

Dream of Joux. The most colourful line, inspired by the light of the valley. Its Sunburst cuff in yellow gold radiates out from a spessartite cabochon through hundreds of diamonds, yellow, orange and pink sapphires and spessartites. The showpiece is a tie necklace with one side in blue titanium snow-set with 1,670 blue sapphires and the other in white gold with pear-cut diamonds, each ending in a pear-shaped diamond drop.

Frosted Gold. The most wearable line, built on the hammered finish Audemars Piguet developed with jewellery designer Carolina Bucci in 2016. Inspired by an ancient Florentine technique, a diamond-tipped tool creates a sparkling, diamond-dust surface. Here it appears on cuffs and chokers in white, rose or yellow gold, with the Royal Oak’s polished chamfers.

Across the collection, the gemstones include diamonds, emeralds, sapphires, tsavorites, topaz, tourmalines, amethysts, tanzanites, spessartites and spinels.

🗝️ Why Audemars Piguet Jewellery, and Why Now

For CEO Ilaria Resta, who took over in 2024, the move is about craft, not a new business. In an interview with Luxury Tribune, she described high jewellery as a strategic tool to develop the brand’s watchmaking skills, from lapidary work and stone setting to engraving and gemmology, skills she said the house had lost. She was clear that it is “neither an opportunistic turn nor a short-term growth driver”.

There is history behind it too. Audemars Piguet’s archives include a 1929 “Tutti Frutti” jewellery watch set with diamonds, emeralds, rubies and sapphires, and Genta himself, Resta points out, was a jeweller. She also says the collection grew from conversations with clients, who began asking for jewellery to wear alongside their Royal Oaks after she relaunched the Mini Royal Oak.

“A gateway to the past and the future, the Royal Oak jewelry collection embodies Audemars Piguet’s free spirit,” Resta said at the launch.

🔒 Very Limited, and Mostly Reserved

Do not expect to see Audemars Piguet jewellery in a boutique window. Production will be very limited, each creation is made to order and can take months, and prices are available only on request. After Paris, the collection is being shown to clients through private presentations in several cities, and according to Resta, most of the pieces were already reserved at launch.

⌚ The Watch-to-Jewellery Trend

Audemars Piguet is not alone in crossing the line between watchmaking and jewellery. This autumn, Cartier reinvented its Love collection with diamonds in place of the famous screws, and fashion houses from Chanel to Louis Vuitton continue to expand their fine jewellery offers. For collectors, it means the same design language can now be worn on the wrist, the neck and the ears. Read our review of Paris Fashion Week SS27.

🏡 Royal Oak Country: Marbella

Few places in Europe have as many Royal Oaks per square metre as Marbella. Puerto Banús is home to boutiques and dealers of the world’s leading watchmakers, including Audemars Piguet, Patek Philippe and Rolex, and the city’s international residents are among the most active collectors in Spain.

For that clientele, a collection like this one is less about shopping and more about access: private presentations, pieces reserved before launch, and relationships built over years. That is the same logic that drives the top of the Marbella property market, where many of the best homes never appear on a portal.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

What is Royal Oak Joaillerie?

It is Audemars Piguet’s first high jewellery collection without a watch: 19 necklaces, chokers, cuffs and earrings that turn the design of the Royal Oak bracelet into jewellery.

When was Audemars Piguet’s jewellery collection launched?

The collection was unveiled in Paris in early October 2026, before a series of private presentations in other cities.

What are the three lines of the collection?

Risoud Eclipse, inspired by the Risoud forest during an eclipse; Dream of Joux, inspired by the colours of the Vallée de Joux; and Frosted Gold, based on the brand’s hammered gold finish.

How much does Audemars Piguet jewellery cost?

Prices are on request. The pieces are made in very limited numbers, and according to the brand most of them were already reserved at launch.

Can I buy Audemars Piguet jewellery in a boutique?

Not in the usual way. The pieces are not displayed in boutique windows; they are shown to clients through private presentations.

Sources: National Jeweler, Luxury Tribune, Harper’s Bazaar Arabia.