The 1970s was a chrysalis of upheaval and change. It was characterized on one side by the libidinous abandon of disco culture and, on the other, by a permanent shift in prevailing ethics with the rise of feminism and the demand for gender equality. But of the various things born into this era, it was a watch and a movie from 1972 that would forge the greatest legacies. So much so that one could say they remade their respective genres and the world around them in their own image.
That watch was Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak. And that film was Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather. A full half century later, on the occasion of their shared golden jubilee, the Royal Oak and The Godfather have left an impression on human history so significant that the entire culture of cinema and the very definition of what a luxury watch is today have been irrevocably, irrefutably and inimitably shaped by them. Fifty years on, the very words “luxury timepiece” invariably conjures an integrated bracelet sports watch. It is this type of watch that the Royal Oak forged the genetic blueprint for. And the Royal Oak is, to this day, still the first and last word in this category. Similarly, The Godfather is revered as the single greatest American film ever made and has defined the modern operatic crime family saga to us.
But the parallels between film and watch continue. Both were acts of extraordinary audacity. Both emerged from challenging times and had troubled beginnings. Both are as fresh and relevant in 2022, as the day they were born 50 years ago. Both are such amazing expressions of human creativity that they have transcended their own genres. For the truth is, the Royal Oak is not just a watch, but also the greatest act of horological design ever created. In the same way, The Godfather is not just a film, but it is also the expression of human drama and tragedy in the manner of the Greeks and Shakespeare, here in the most perfect narrative form possible. Both were acts of incredible rebellion. But both are so eternal in their appeal that they can now be considered immortals. This is the story of how watch and film went from iconoclasts to icons.
DARE, AND DARE AGAIN
Much has been made of Audemars Piguet’s financial state in 1971. To say that the manufacture — considered to be one of the holy trinity of Swiss watch brands — was reeling from the onslaught of the Quartz Crisis two years after the launch of the Seiko Astron is debatable. To be fair, the
