Royal Oak 41mm Blue (15500ST)

The Royal Oak 15500 is a steel automatic watch with three hands, a date and the family's broad, eight-sided frame. Introduced in 2019, it kept the preceding model's 41 mm diameter but received a new movement. The face was rearranged to use the available space differently.

On this blue version, a pattern of raised squares covers the dial. Audemars Piguet calls it Grande Tapisserie. The hour markers are wider than on the preceding 15400, and the minute markings sit farther out. The date window has moved towards the edge too. Removing the word “Automatic” from the lower dial leaves an uninterrupted patch of blue squares below the hands.

These are small changes, but they work together. The face has fewer separate elements near its centre, while the hands still have to reach across a broad dial. It is a larger, more open arrangement than the older Royal Oak Jumbo, whose thin case and two-hand display can look similar in a small photograph.

Inside the 15500 is calibre 4302, an automatic movement with approximately 70 hours of running reserve. It occupies more space than the 3120 used in the preceding model. The sapphire back shows the gold winding weight and the mechanism beneath it; the new movement also helps explain why the date could be placed farther out on the front.

The case and bracelet retain the design's strongest feature. Brushed steel planes meet narrow polished edges, and the bracelet narrows in steps from the broad case. There is no sharp visual break where the watch ends and its attachment begins.