I wanted to dislike it more
By Priya Nair, Singapore ยท
Everyone told me to hate the Code 11.59 when it launched in 2019, and for a while I obliged, mostly out of loyalty to the Royal Oak. Then I tried one on in rose gold with a black dial and had to admit the case is one of the most interesting things AP has drawn in decades.
Look at it side-on. The middle case is octagonal, sandwiched between a thin round bezel and caseback, and the openworked lugs are attached to the bezel and arch away from the body. The crystal curves in two directions. Almost none of that survives a photograph, which is exactly why the internet hated it. In person, at 41 mm by 10.7 mm, it reads as a dress watch with a bit of attitude, and the gold catches candlelight the way a good bangle does.
Inside is the same 4302 you get in the steel Royal Oak 41, with 70 hours of reserve, visible through the open back. Water resistance is 30 m, so this is a dry-land watch.
Now the problem. You're paying around 32,000 to 34,000 dollars for gold on a leather strap with a date, from a brand whose resale story lives almost entirely inside the octagon. The Code doesn't have that halo, secondary prices have been soft, and I wouldn't buy one expecting it to behave like an investment. I'd buy one because I liked it and because nobody else at the table would be wearing one.
Which, frankly, is the more glamorous position.