With the Neo Frame, AP reminds the world it’s got more than octagonal sports watches in the locker.
Audemars Piguet created an icon with the Royal Oak. The integrated bracelet model paved the way for the luxury sports watch thing when it landed in 1972. It’s a mainstay on the red carpet and it has become a cultural icon, thanks to high-profile wrist time on the likes of Issey Miyake, Travis Scott, Jay-Z, and Mark Ronson – and that’s only naming a few.
But the Royal Oak isn’t all the luxury watchmaker has cooked up in its 151-year history. AP has made gems like Bamboo throughout the 1970s and 1980s, which has enjoyed a resurgence on Jacob Elordi, Corteiz founder Clint 419, and Romeo Beckam of late. It’s also got the Gérald Genta-designed Cobra under its belt. And the brand was behind a load of tank-shaped bangers in the 1920s. It’s this era that served as the inspiration for its new Neo Frame launch, a Jumping Hour timepiece, inspired by Audemars Piguet’s Pre-model 1271 from 1929.
Courtesy of Audemars Piguet
If you’re wondering, jumping hour watches display the time using a window which “jumps” to the next hour every 60 minutes rather than using a sweeping hand or dial, usually housed in rectangular cases. Think of it as an early mechanical digital watch. Anyway, AP was early to the party with this stuff, selling 135 dual aperture jumping hour watches between 1924 and 1951. Now, it’s revisiting these time-telling feats.
The Neo Frame’s 36.6mm by 34mm pink gold case combines elongated lines and curves, with a stealthy black PVD-treated sapphire dial. It’s a product of the highly functional, efficient and sophisticated design that reigned supreme in the 1920s; this is a watch that looks good and gets the job done. You’re not getting distracted by any hypnotic tourbillons or small seconds dials. Instead, it delivers hours and minutes at a glance from an understated gold case, secured by a black textured leather strap. This is a watch destined to peek from an immaculate double-breasted jacket in a fancy late-night bar. But its slinky rectangular design lends itself nicely to chill stuff, too.
Courtesy of Audemars Piguet
The elevated versatility seen in the Neo Frame feeds the current appetite for vintage, tank-shaped watches. Just this week at the Grammys, Harry Styles put his faith in a trusty Tank Louis Cartier, and at the Golden Globes in January Michael B Jordan recruited a Patek Philippe Ref. 1593 “Hour Glass”. Last year, Cartier caused a storm when it dropped the Tank à Guichets, only the fourth time it had revisited the jumping hour watch since 1928, which, naturally, bagged a spot on tiny watch king Jacob Elordi’s wrist.
The actor has a combined appetite for Audemars Piguet’s vintage models and tank-shaped grails. So with the launch of the Neo Frame, we might be looking at Jacob Elordi’s next killer watch.
