Watch Designer Emmanuel Gueit on Creating Icons for Audemars Piguet

At the 1993 opening of Baselworld—then the horological industry’s largest trade show—an apoplectic Gerald Genta stormed into Audemars Piguet’s booth, screaming, “You killed my Royal Oak! You killed my Royal Oak!”

At least that’s how Emmanuel Gueit remembers it. The classic reference’s legendary creator aimed his anger squarely at the then 25-year-old designer, who had just unveiled the Royal Oak Offshore, a bolder, bigger take on the 1970s original designed by Genta….