Beating calibers and the perpetually ticking hands of a watch have been symbols of fine craftsmanship and engineering, two dimensions that artificial intelligence is inching to chime with. If you were, like me, watching from the sidelines, believing there was time before a bigger name delved into AI, you wouldn’t have seen this coming.
On the flip side, those who believe Audemars Piguet (AP) has the mettle to give us remarkable timepieces and accessories ahead of their time: this is the moment to savor. The watchmaker has raised the bar for watch boxes with its concept that’s more than a winder. The new Audemars Piguet AI-powered watch box is a setting device that tunes a perpetual calendar in just five minutes.
Designer: Audemars Piguet
After the amazing Marvel-themed Royal Oak Concept and the Royal Oak Concept Tourbillon “Companion”, AP is now changing the watchmaking industry with the latest innovation that goes beyond the wrist. The setting box designed to adjust the company’s 41mm Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar is a robotic system, which uses AI to read and interpret the watch and set its functions like a human, without actually using human intervention.
Perpetual Calendar watches are fascinating to say the least. But their complicated mechanism, which automatically sets the date right throughout the year, taking into account the varying lengths of the month is more complicated to set right if it faulters, than the word complicated itself. Instead of the special corrections that this precise adjustment requires, the AP box can set it right in minutes automatically. Box upon placing the perpetual calendar timepiece in it uses a “camera to capture the dial configuration and analyse which calendar indications require adjustment.” And then using a combination of “robotics, computer vision, and AI” completes the setting operation in approximately five minutes.
The exciting watch box offers a quick and effective solution to the long-time barrier that has kept perpetual calendars from becoming collectors’ favorites. The AP’s intelligent setting device is a fruit of two years of partnership between the watchmaker and Dubai Future Foundation (DFF). The device meant to automatically set and wind its latest 41 mm Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar wristwatches was presented recently, for the first time, during the Dubai Watch Week.
The box is powered by a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, and has a clean design packed in a 20 x 12 x 15 cm dimensions, weighing only two kgs. It has been specially created to automatically adjust and wind 41mm Audemars Piguet perpetual calendar powered by the caliber 7138. The box is currently available to Ref. 26674ST.OO.1320ST.01 and 26674SG.OO.1320SG.01 owners, which are the two 2025 Royal Oak Perpetual Calendars, can auto-correct via the “all-in-one” crown and now benefit from the setting box, offering services to automate one of watchmaking’s most intricate complications.
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