Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Minute Repeater

Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Minute Repeater Price

At Watch My Diamonds, Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Minute Repeater watches range from $424,000 to $1,599,999 across 4 priced listings.

The Supersonnerie references are minute repeaters and nothing else, built around getting one complication as right as it can be made. The Grand Complication references add a perpetual calendar and a split-seconds chronograph on top of the repeater, which is why they sit at several times the price. For context on where a repeater sits in the wider market, our minute repeater watches collection spans several makers, and the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak category shows how the rest of the line is priced.

What the Supersonnerie Actually Changes

A conventional minute repeater anchors its gongs to the movement’s base plate. The sound has to travel through the movement and out of a sealed case, and most of it never gets there — which is why traditional repeaters are famously quiet, and why adding water resistance normally strangles them further. Audemars Piguet attacked the case rather than the movement. Three patents came out of the programme. The first covers how the gongs are made: a manufacturing process that produces a more consistent blank, which is then still filed and tuned by hand. The second is the case itself — the back is built in two pieces, with an inner disc of a special alloy carrying the gongs and acting as a soundboard, while the outer back is vented with apertures that let the sound escape. Because the inner back stays sealed, the watch keeps 20 metres of water resistance despite those openings. The third patent is the governor, the regulator that controls the speed of the strike. Audemars Piguet redesigned the anchor so that it damps its own vibration, removing the mechanical hiss that usually sits underneath the chime. The programme ran eight years and drew in academics from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne alongside watchmakers and working musicians. It appeared publicly in 2015 as the Royal Oak Concept RD#1 prototype, opening the brand’s RD# research series. Audemars Piguet’s own claim is that it chimes about as loudly as ten pocket-watch repeaters.

The References in This Collection

Two families sit here. The 26591CE pair are black ceramic Supersonnerie models introduced in 2023 — pure minute repeaters, 42 mm, on a rubber strap. The 26605 pair are Royal Oak Grand Complication models, 44 mm, on a matching ceramic bracelet, with a skeletonised sapphire dial that leaves the movement visible from both sides.

Reference	Complications	Case	Dial
26591CE.OO.D002CA.01	Minute repeater	42 mm black ceramic	Black Grande Tapisserie, white gold markers
26591CE.OO.D002CA.02	Minute repeater	42 mm black ceramic	Black Grande Tapisserie, baguette diamond markers
26605CE.OO.1248CE.01	Minute repeater, perpetual calendar, split-seconds chronograph	44 mm black ceramic	Openworked sapphire
26605CB.OO.1248CB.01	Minute repeater, perpetual calendar, split-seconds chronograph	44 mm white ceramic	Openworked sapphire

Ceramic runs through all four, and not only for looks. It is far harder than steel or gold, so the case holds its finish — and on a Royal Oak, where brushed-and-polished transitions do most of the design work, that matters. It is also harder to machine, since the octagonal bezel has to be ground rather than cut, which is much of why ceramic Royal Oaks carry the premiums they do. See the material across the rest of the line in our Audemars Piguet ceramic watches selection.

Two Movements, Two Philosophies

The Supersonnerie references run the hand-wound calibre 2953: a 362-part movement beating at 3 Hz with a 72-hour power reserve, driving hours, minutes and small seconds alongside the repeater. Winding is manual by design rather than economy — a rotor adds mass and, more to the point, noise, and the whole architecture exists to keep the acoustic path clean. The Grand Complication references run the selfwinding calibre 2885, with 52 jewels and a 45-hour power reserve. It combines the three classical families of complication in one movement: a striking mechanism, an astronomical indication and short-time measurement. Each one is assembled by a single master watchmaker in Audemars Piguet’s grande complication workshop, and the openworked sapphire dial exists so you can watch it work. On both, the repeater is activated by a slide in the case band. It strikes the hours on the low gong, the quarters on both gongs together, and the remaining minutes on the high gong, so 3:52 sounds as three low strikes, three double strikes and seven high strikes.

Buying an Audemars Piguet Minute Repeater

Three things are worth checking on any repeater at this level. First, that the box and papers are present and match the case — on a watch produced in small numbers, an incomplete set is a real discount, not a negotiating detail. Second, that the strike has never been serviced by a third party: repeater regulation is a specialist job, and a badly tuned gong is both audible and expensive to correct. Third, that the slide operates cleanly through its full travel, since forcing a partially wound repeater is the single most common cause of damage to one. Every watch here is unworn, so none of that is in question — but the same list applies anywhere else you look. Our guide to what a minute repeater watch is covers how the mechanism works and how repeaters differ from quarter and five-minute strikes.

Minute Repeater Supersonnerie FAQs

How loud is the Royal Oak Supersonnerie?

Audemars Piguet has described the chime as comparable in volume to roughly ten pocket-watch minute repeaters. In practical terms it is audible at conversational distance rather than only in a silent room, which is the whole point of the project.

Is the Supersonnerie water resistant?

Yes, to 20 metres. The outer caseback is vented to release sound, but the inner soundboard disc is sealed, so the movement stays protected. That said, 20 metres means splash resistance — this is not a swimming watch.

What is the difference between the 26591CE.OO.D002CA.01 and the .02?

The case, movement, dial pattern and strap are identical. The .01 has applied white gold hour markers; the .02 has baguette-cut diamond hour markers.

What is the difference between the Supersonnerie and the Grand Complication?

The Supersonnerie is a dedicated minute repeater in a 42 mm case, engineered around acoustic performance. The Grand Complication is a 44 mm watch that adds a perpetual calendar and a split-seconds chronograph to the repeater, using the selfwinding calibre 2885 rather than the hand-wound 2953.

Is the Royal Oak Supersonnerie automatic?

No. Calibre 2953 is hand-wound, with a 72-hour power reserve. Omitting the rotor keeps mass and mechanical noise away from the striking train. The Grand Complication’s calibre 2885, by contrast, is selfwinding.

How many of these does Audemars Piguet make?

Audemars Piguet does not publish production figures for either reference family. Chiming watches at this level are made in very small annual quantities across the whole industry, which is why availability rather than list price tends to set the market.

Do these come with a warranty?

Every watch we sell is covered by our own warranty, and unworn examples arrive with their original Audemars Piguet documentation. Contact us for the specific coverage on any reference here.