By Jordan Aquistapace – August 06, 2024
Time To Roll: Rolls-Royce's Bespoke Timepieces Made For T...
From Audemars Piguet to Vacheron Constantin, Rolls-Royce enlisted help from the best of the best. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has long since held a prestigious position in the luxury automotive world as a legendary coachbuilder, renowned for its dedication to bespoke craftsmanship and limitless offerings. As a celebration of its storied past, the marque has re-introduced its bespoke coachbuilder services with the ultra-exclusive Droptail series. The limited collection is an example of Rolls-Royce's dedication to luxury and individuality, featuring four distinct models, each accompanied by a piece uniqué timepiece. These horological masterpieces come crafted from creative collaborations with industry icons such as Audemars Piguet and Vacheron Constantin, ensuring that every Droptail is a complete work of art. Rolls-Royce introduced its first Droptail coachbuild commission, the La Rose Noire Droptail, at a private event near Pebble Beach during Monterey Car Week in 2023. Inspired by the Black Baccara rose, this extraordinary build showcases a new paint process perfected over 150 iterations, featuring a base coat with five layers of clear lacquer, each with a unique red tone. The interior presents the most complex cabin design ever created by Rolls-Royce, representing falling rose petals with 1,603 pieces of black wood veneer triangles. The dashboard houses a custom Audemars Piguet timepiece, a 43mm Royal Oak Concept Split-Seconds Chronograph GMT Large Date. The removable watch, housing an in-house AP Calibre 4407 movement, blends seamlessly with the Droptail's color scheme and can be worn separately. A powered clasp mechanism presents the timepiece at the touch of a button, and a titanium blank head watch with a rose engraving fills the gap when the watch is removed. Rolls-Royce unveiled the second Droptail masterpiece, the 'Amethyst,' as a beautiful extension of its commissioning client's cultural heritage, family legacy, and personal passions. The stunning spec features a duotone exterior paint finish, mirroring various stages of a flower's bloom. The main body incorporates a soft purple shade with a silver undertone, notably named Globe Amaranth, enriched with powdered aluminum flecks for an iridescent finish. The upper portion contrasts with a deep purple Amethyst paint, blending red, blue, and violet flakes to create a unique color with a subtle metallic sheen. Inside, the primary Amethyst leather design matches the exterior and is finished with a pearlescent lacquer. The dashboard is decorated with a bespoke timepiece from the Swiss haute horlogerie specialists at Vacheron Constantin. The 'Les Cabinotiers Armillary Tourbillon' features an intricate hand-wound movement and a bi-retrograde display, seamlessly integrating into the Droptail's design. The collaboration timepiece represents the perfect harmony of precious materials and bespoke colors, with amethyst-colored inserts and a partially brushed and polished finish mounted on a white-gold baseplate with a handcrafted sunburst guilloché pattern. Rolls-Royce revealed the Arcadia Droptail as the grand finale of the esteemed Droptail series, drawing inspiration from the mythical realm of Arcadia—depicted in Ancient Greek mythology as a paradise of natural beauty. The client's vision for the car was to achieve a timeless white exterior with subtle complexity under natural light. Inside, the Droptail features a Santos Straight Grain veneer fascia, which showcases a bespoke clock created by Rolls-Royce's Coachbuild team. The marque's most complex timepiece, the clock took five months to assemble after two years of meticulous development. The clock's face displays a geometric guilloché pattern in raw metal with 119 facets, honoring Rolls-Royce's 119-year heritage. Themes from the clock extend to the car's instrument dials, ensuring a cohesive design that reflects the car's sophisticated style. Source: Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
