Audemars Piguet’s Mid-Sized Royal Oak Chronograph Is Now Better Than Ever

After years of waiting, a long-overdue upgrade has now brought the 38mm Royal Oak Chronograph fully into the modern era.

Two luxury Audemars Piguet Royal Oak chronograph watches, one in silver with a blue dial and one in rose gold with a gray dial.

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By Ben Bowers

Published February 3, 2026

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Updated February 4, 2026

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For years, Audemars Piguet enthusiasts with smaller- to medium-sized wrists have had to make a compromise with the 38mm Royal Oak Chronograph — at least by purist standards.

While its dimensions were spot-on, one key aspect was still outsourced, holding the luxury sports watch back from being the complete package.

Now, amid an onslaught of new watch announcements, AP has also quietly delivered almost everything that fans have been waiting for without sacrificing the slim, wearable profile that made the existing 38mm chronograph so appealing in the first place.

The wait is over

Close-up of a blue Audemars Piguet watch dial with silver hands, subdials, and a brushed stainless steel bezel. — Royal Oak fans have been expecting a 38mm Royal Oak Chronograph with an in-house movement since 2022, when the larger 41mm Royal Oak Chronograph transitioned to the in-house Caliber 4401.

The expectation for an in-house powered 38mm Royal Oak Chronograph has been building since 2022, when the larger 41mm Royal Oak Chronograph transitioned to the in-house Caliber 4401, a fully integrated flyback chronograph that debuted in the CODE 11.59 collection.

That move set a clear precedent and left fans of the smaller size wondering when their turn would come. The challenge, however, was a physics problem.

The Caliber 4401’s larger dimensions simply couldn’t fit inside the smaller sibling’s 38mm case, so the model soldiered on with the same Frederic Piguet 1185, rebranded as the Caliber 2385.

Close-up of a round Audemars Piguet watch movement with gold rotor and visible gears on a white background. — The biggest practical benefit the new movement offers to buyers is a beefier power reserve, which jumps to 55 hours up from 40 hours.

Enter the new Caliber 6401, a purpose-built movement explicitly developed for the 38mm case.

This isn’t simply a downsized version of the Caliber 4401’s existing chronograph’s architecture, but rather a complete reimagining that took five years to finish.

The key to the movement’s integrated architecture is a newly patented vertical clutch that’s simplified to reduce complexity and improve the tactile feel of the pushers, paired with a column wheel and an instant-jumping date complication that shifts at midnight.

AP also finally added a sapphire caseback to the new 38mm Royal Oak Chronograph to better show off the new Caliber 6401 movement.

Audemars Piguet

The new in-house design offers two tangible benefits to lucky buyers.

One is a beefier power reserve, which jumps to 55 hours from 40. The other is a boost in frequency, matching the 28,800 VpH of the 41 mm’s Caliber 4401 movement.

Best of all, the watch remains slim at 11.1mm. But maintaining the 38mm’s slim form factor also required a notable sacrifice, especially for those who appreciate the small joys of using advanced watch complications, as the new 6401 doesn’t include the flyback functionality of its bigger Caliber 4401 sibling.

New exterior refinements

Silver Audemars Piguet Royal Oak chronograph watch with blue textured dial and stainless steel bracelet. — Three new models make their debut with the Caliber 6401.

Along with the new movement comes a handful of dial refinements, including a repositioned date window that eagle-eyed fans will notice sitting more centrally between the 4 and 5 o’clock indices.

What’s more obvious is the rearrangement of the chronograph subdials. The minute and hour counters have now swapped places, sitting at 9 o’clock and 3 o’clock, respectively.

Last but far from least, the watch now also features a sapphire caseback, offering a clear view of the refined movement finishing.

Rose gold Audemars Piguet chronograph watch with black textured dial and three subdials on a matching bracelet. — Along with the new movement comes a handful of dial refinements, including a repositioned date window that sits more centrally between the 4 and 5 o’clock indices.

Three new models make their debut with the Caliber 6401. The stainless steel version features the classic blue Grande Tapisserie dial that has become synonymous with the Royal Oak.

The collection also includes two pink gold references: one with a grey dial and silver-toned subdials, and another, more elevated option, featuring a sand gold-toned dial, beige subdials and a diamond-set bezel.

Pricing and availability

Close-up of a rose gold Audemars Piguet watch with a black textured dial, three subdials, and a date window. — Not surprisingly, the addition of a new in-house movement has increased the baseline price of the new 38mm Royal Oak Chronograph in stainless steel. The MSRP has jumped by $1,500 from $41,500 to $43,000. The two pink gold versions are naturally significantly more expensive. The grey dial variant boasts an MSRP of $84,500, while the diamond-set bezel model with a sand gold-toned dial tops the range at $91,600.

The stainless steel model with the classic blue “Grande Tapisserie” dial is priced at $43,000, up $1,500 from the outgoing model’s $41,500, for anyone who’s counting.

The two pink gold versions are naturally significantly more expensive. The grey dial variant boasts an MSRP of $84,500, while the diamond-set bezel model with a sand gold-toned dial tops the range at $91,600.

In other words, like all Royal Oak chronographs, these are far from the everyman’s sports watch. But for serious collectors and those with the means to acquire them, the 38mm chronograph now stands as a nearly complete package: perfect dimensions for smaller to medium wrists, the manufacture caliber that enthusiasts have been requesting, and the timeless Royal Oak design that continues to define luxury sports watches more than five decades after its debut.

Silver stainless steel Audemars Piguet Royal Oak chronograph watch with blue textured dial and metal bracelet.

Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Chronograph 38mm (Stainless Steel, Blue Dial) Ref. 26450ST.OO.1356ST.01

$43,000 at Audemars Piguet

Rose gold Audemars Piguet Royal Oak chronograph watch with black textured dial and three subdials.

Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Chronograph 38mm (Pink Gold, Grey Dial) Ref. 26450OR.ZZ.1356OR.01

$84,500 at Audemars Piguet

About the Author: Ben Bowers is the Co-Founder and Chief Content Officer of Gear Patrol. Throughout his tenure in media, Ben has written and reported on everything from consumer tech to whiskey, watches, cars, camping, and personal style. These days, he gets to write less than he’d like to.

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