Audemars Piguet debuts the Royal Oak RD#5 and along with it, the world’s first soft-touch chronograph system to redefine haptic luxury in modern watchmaking.
Innovation is Audemars Piguet’s DNA over generations but Royal Oak RD#5 that came into the current times is a quantum leap forward for the future of tactile horology. Revealed at Watches & Wonders 2025, the revolutionary piece of brilliance embodies soft-button chronograph technology—a paradigm-changing technology that combines the precision of high-complication mechanics with the liquid sleekness of next-generation luxury design.
The RD#5 might seem to the naked eye to wear the classic angular lines of the Royal Oak family but underneath its platinum case is a completely new movement intended to revolutionise the way watch collectors read time itself. The chronograph push pieces, constructed from a blend of carbon composite and titanium, are smartphone-smooth to the haptic feedback but with the rough mechanical snarl of pre-digital haute horology.
This “soft-touch” attitude is not innovation for innovation’s sake. It is an attitude of engagement—a dialogue between man and machine. The caliber, a Calibre 4408-S crafted to specification, has 413 components, flawless accuracy, and 70 hours of power reserve. The detail, from the skeletonise rotor through to the stylish vertical brushing of the case, cries out for modernity but calls on the Royal Oak’s design, always so ravishing, to inspire it.
Geneva collectors and connoisseurs were left aghast, clapping the weight and texture. To some, this was no watch, this was an experience—a marriage of hedonistic engineering and luxury lifestyle innovation in ideal harmony. The brand CEO called it “the evolution of sensation,” and it is a suitable term for a maison that has been revolutionising the art of watchmaking for nearly 150 years.
It is in the aesthetics where the RD#5 is uncontainable modern. Its open-work dial shows off the rhythm of its complications and its bracelet, be it integrated or otherwise, is platinum or sandblasted titanium, looks sculpted for modern chic. It is a watch made for connoisseurs who want exclusivity, technicality, and futurism in every tick of the clock.
For other individuals who are looking forward to the next revolution in the Royal Oak legacy this is not a collector’s item—it’s a badge of where great watchmaking meets great technology. The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak RD#5 does not speak luxury—it screams with every twist.
