François-Henry Bennahmias, CEO of replica Audemars Piguet, calls a 300-page illustrated coffee table book about 50 years of the Royal Oak “a bridge between the past and the future”.
Royal Oak is written by Bill Prince, currently acting editor of Wallpaper but, until 2020, deputy editor of British GQ and master-watchmaker. From Rebel to Icon chronicles the influence of Associated Press’ banker’s timepiece in its creative, cultural and business journey.
The 296-page book, with 400 illustrations, devotes considerable space to the decisions and decision-makers that led to the birth of the Royal Oak in 1972 and nurtured it almost unchanged through five decades of globalization, flowers in bloom, the quartz crisis, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the rise of the Internet and the emergence of China as the world’s largest copy watch-buying nation.
Given that this book was commissioned by Audemars Piguet, it is remarkably candid about the turmoil that swept through Swiss mechanical watchmaking in the years leading up to the birth of the Royal Oak designed by Gerald Genta fifty years ago, and the struggle to establish the automatic steel replica watch as a luxury item. 
Mr. Bennahmias, who will step down as CEO of Audemars Piguet next year, has been given some interesting background to his career, including a meeting with rapper Jay-Z in 2001, which opened his eyes to the potential of reaching a young, newly funded audience.
Testimonies from Kevin Hart, Bjarke Ingels, Elle Macpherson, Serena Williams and Ning, among others, show how successful this strategy has been.
Royal Oak. From Rebel to Icon is released this week by Assouline for £195.