I’ve never pretended that Audemars Piguet lives anywhere near my financial reality, and at this point I’m comfortable admitting that it probably never will. But that doesn’t stop me from paying attention. You don’t need a locker in the NBA to care about basketball, and you don’t need a Ferrari in the garage to understand when an automaker finally gets something right. For me, AP sits firmly in that same category. Which is why this update to the 38mm Royal Oak Chronograph caught my attention, even a little while after the initial announcement cycle moved on to the next thing.
Audemars Piguet has introduced the Caliber 6401, a new in-house chronograph movement developed specifically for the 38mm Royal Oak Chronograph. On paper, that sounds like something that should have happened years ago. This was one of those lingering inconsistencies that collectors noticed, argued about, and then collectively shrugged at because AP is AP and the market rarely forces its hand.
Since 2019, the 38mm Chronograph has been powered by the Frédéric Piguet 1185, known inside AP as Caliber 2385. It is a respected movement with real historical importance, and no one serious ever accused it of being bad. When the 41mm Royal Oak Chronograph received a modern, fully in-house flyback movement in 2022, the smaller model was left carrying the same visual and pricing weight without the same mechanical credibility. At this level, that kind of mismatch stands out, especially to people who care about the details but know they will only ever admire the watch from the other side of the display case.
Caliber 6401 brings the 38mm Chronograph back into alignment. It’s a fully integrated chronograph with a column wheel and vertical clutch, running at 4Hz with a 55-hour power reserve. The date jumps instantaneously at midnight, and AP has reworked the clutch system to improve durability and operation. None of this is headline grabbing on its own, but it establishes a baseline that always felt missing here.
There’s no flyback function, despite its presence in the larger Caliber 4401. That feels like a decision driven by proportions rather than marketing. Keeping the case thickness around 11.1mm preserves the character of the 38mm Royal Oak. The movement change also drives subtle but meaningful dial adjustments. The chronograph sub-dials trade positions, improving overall balance. The date window remains between four and five, which is unlikely to convert anyone who already dislikes that placement, but its execution is cleaner. Around back, the sapphire caseback replaces the solid one, which feels overdue for a watch that now has nothing to hide mechanically.
There are three launch references with the new caliber. A stainless steel version with a blue dial anchors the lineup, joined by two pink gold variants that diverge sharply depending on one’s tolerance for diamond-set bezels and unapologetic luxury signaling. None of them are aimed at restraint in pricing, with the steel model now listing at $43,000 (hot diggity dog), but the increase itself is almost beside the point.
From a Two Broke Watch Snobs perspective, the price is academic. What matters is that this is one of the rare cases where a major luxury brand addressed a long-standing internal inconsistency rather than papering over it with cosmetic tweaks. If AP is going to charge Royal Oak money, the watch needs to be mechanically complete by AP standards. The 38mm Chronograph finally is.
The broader signal is what makes this interesting from the outside looking in. The smaller Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Chronograph no longer feels like the odd one out waiting for attention. Size, pricing, and movement credibility are now aligned, and if Caliber 6401 spreads into other families as hinted, its impact will extend beyond this single reference.
I will almost certainly never own one of these, and that’s fine. Appreciating watches has never required ownership to be valid. Sometimes it’s enough to recognize when a brand with this much history and inertia makes a necessary correction. This was one of the more meaningful moves in AP’s recent run of announcements, even if it arrived later than it should have, and it’s exactly the kind of thing that keeps me watching from far away. Very, very far away.
Co-Founder & Senior Editor
Michael Peñate is an American writer, photographer, and podcaster based in Seattle, Washington. His work typically focuses on the passage of time and the tools we use to connect with that very journey. From aviation to music and travel, his interests span a multitude of disciplines that often intersect with the world of watches – and the obsessive culture behind collecting them.