Launch of the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept Laptimer Michael Schumacher

In 2010, racing legend Michael Schumacher approached Audemars Piguet with a bold request – A mechanical timepiece with a chronograph, or stopwatch designed specifically for use in motor racing.

Though accustomed to electronic laptimers, he still sought a timepiece that marry both functionality and beauty.

“Would it be possible to time and compare multiple, consecutive laps?”, He asked.

The Task of comparing consecutive lap times had traditionally been carried out with tow or more hand-held stopwatches. This needed to be streamlined to create a single wrist chronograph.

The engineers at Audemars Piguet thus set forth to work on the first luxury watch to feature a single chronograph driving two central hands that can be controlled independently – Measuring sequential lap times down to one-eight of a second.

Try the laptimer here.

The Hour Glass is a proud retailer of Audemars Piguet Timepieces.