AP Royal Oak - Issues

[BMess]

The 38mm Royal Oak Chrono has been my favorite watch since around 2018 when I first saw it. I tried it on over the years and was always blown away by it. I was in a position to buy one earlier this year and I couldn’t have been happier initially.

Although I love the fit, feel, and finish of the watch, I’ve been struggling with the functionality. The power reserve is awful. 36 hours at most, but typically closer to 24 hours. This is particularly frustrating because resetting the watch every couple days takes more effort than resetting a typical Rolex to the extent the crown takes a little fighting. The minute hand almost always jumps if I push down the crown slightly too hard, and getting the crown engaged to screw down as opposed to winding takes some work. The lack of hacking seconds has also been frustrating because I can’t set the watch accurately against a constant like I do with all my other watches. Speaking of other watches, my 20 year old Panerai has a better power reserve than the Royal Oak, it has hacking seconds, and is much easier to set, wind, and screw down than the Royal Oak.

At its core, the Royal Oak is a watch, but doesn’t function as a “Holy Trinity” $30,000 watch. Rather, it feels like a status symbol piece of jewelry.

I’m really torn here because ever since buying the Royal Oak, I haven’t had any interest whatsoever in adding anything new (with the exception of one watch I’ve been eyeing for years). The 38mm Royal Oak chrono is, IMO, the most beautiful watch ever created. It fits my small wrist perfectly, and its incredibly comfortable. But I can’t shake the feeling that it’s a piece of jewelry and not an intensely accurate watch that I would’ve expected from a brand like AP.

What do you all think?

A few of my favorite pictures: