By the 1990s, the Royal Oak had concretely become an inarguable success. Shortly after, Audemars Piguet doubled down with a range of case proportions and complications within the Royal Oak silhouette. In 1990, Audemars Piguet added one of the most usable complications to ever grace the platform, this Dual Time. In this ref. 25730ST, AP had created the first real Royal Oak travel watch.
The additional complication was arranged carefully to maximize legibility. The secondary dial at 12 has a coupled minutes with hours adjusted through crown, date at 2, and power reserve spanning 8-11. Ref. 25730 spans two main styles of dial design, an earlier petite tapisserie with block Audemars Piguet signature, and this latter grande tapisserie with a mixed capital Audemars Piguet signature, larger indices, and a simplified power reserve indication. The minute track also updated with a slightly sportier 5-minute increment. This second dial iteration also introduced a few more vibrant colors, such as brighter blue than leans very slightly toward teal in bright sunlight. It should be noted there are some transitional examples with details that mix these two main dial construction types.
The midsized case measures 36.5mm and still measures just 8mm thin. The automatic calibre 2229/2845 is based on the JLC 928 ébauche, with 54 jewels and all adjustments able to be made through the crown. This adds not only quick adjustment but a practical water resistance befitting of a travel watch. Each example was individually numbered in series, engraved on caseback. Despite the complication, the Dual Time remains an extremely elegant packaging exercise.
The Royal Oak Dual Time has been discontinued from the range for over a decade now, but remains a neo-vintage highlight of AP for the midsized proportion, practical complication, and vibrant color. The 25730 was a first of its kind, but is also emblematic of an era when Audemars Piguet were more focused on offering useable complicated Royal Oak variants which were still entirely true to Genta's original design. There is no modern equivalent; it loses nothing of Royal Oak essence despite the added utilitarian charm, a modern classic.
