In celebration of Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak 50th anniversary, the haute horlogerie Maison and Hong Kong-based watch platform, Wristcheck, have launched a once-in-a-lifetime competition that allows participants to design their very own Royal Oak

The “Your Take on the Royal Oak” campaign is hosted by Audemars Piguet and Wristcheck, which presents a rare opportunity for designers to develop their iteration of this iconic watch. Participants can customise the colours, materials and complications of this iconic watch.

Plans to launch this competition began at the start of 2022. Audemars Piguet’s CEO François-Henry Bennahmias challenged Wristcheck with hosting this competition during an exclusive interview with founder and Wristcheck CEO Austen Chu by saying, “I give you the mission to launch a worldwide contest. Ask people to come up with ideas – functions, complications – on what they want on their Royal Oak.”

Chu calls this competition “every watch enthusiast’s dream”. He adds, “I’m very excited that Audemars Piguet has now challenged Wristcheck to host this global design competition.”

Three winning designers, chosen by Bennahmias and Chu, will receive round-trip business class flights for themselves and a guest to Le Brassus, Switzerland, for a complete Audemars Piguet Le Brassus experience.

The prize package also includes:

• An all-inclusive two-day stay at the Hotel Des Horlogers for the winners and their plus ones
• Visits to the Audemars Piguet Manufacture and Musée Atelier Audemars Piguet
• The three winners will be given the opportunity to meet François-Henry Bennahmias and Austen Chu

The most exciting part of this competition may be the tentative and potential chance of having their design produced by Audemars Piguet – if feasibility allows.

The very first Royal Oak ref. 5402 was launched by Audemars Piguet in 1972 – a genre-defining design that introduced the category of the luxury steel sports watch to the industry.

Competition details

Participants can submit their entries by downloading a template on the competition website. Submit the completed template via the same page. Participants can submit as many entries as they wish before the deadline.

The competition is live from October 6th, 2022, at 11 pm GMT. The last date for submission is November 6th, 2022 at 11:59 pm GMT.

François-Henry Bennahmias and Austen Chu will announce three winners in a video broadcast on Wristcheck’s Instagram page and Youtube channel on November 15th, 2022.

Also see: Cover Story: Audemars Piguet, masters of time