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Entrepreneur Francesco Ragazzi spotted wearing Audemars Piguet

Milan Fashion Week delivers no shortage of statement pieces, but Francesco Ragazzi — founder and creative director of Palm Angels — cut through the noise with something genuinely rare on his wrist: the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Double Balance Wheel Openworked 'Rainbow' in yellow gold, reference 15412BA.01.1HX.01, finished in the brand's signature Frosted Gold technique.

The ref. 15412BA belongs to a Royal Oak lineage that traces back to Gérald Genta's iconic 1972 octagonal design, but this execution pushes the concept into haute joaillerie territory. The 41mm yellow gold case and integrated bracelet bear Audemars Piguet's Frosted Gold treatment — a technique developed in partnership with Florentine goldsmith Carolina Bucci, first introduced by AP in 2016. Thousands of tiny indentations are hand-hammered into the metal using a sharp burnishing tool, diffracting light across the surface without altering the weight or geometry of the case. The rainbow bezel comprises 32 baguette-cut colored gemstones — sapphires, rubies, tsavorites and amethysts — arranged in a graduated chromatic sequence around the full octagonal perimeter.

Inside beats Calibre 3132, AP's in-house manually wound skeletonized movement featuring a double balance wheel — a construction that uses two linked oscillators to compensate for positional errors and improve rate stability. The open-worked dial exposes the full architecture of the gear train and both balance wheels, rendered in a finishing standard consistent with AP's Manufacture Vallée de Joux traditions: beveled bridges, côtes de Genève, and blued steel screws. Power reserve sits at approximately 70 hours.

From a collector standpoint, the 15412BA Rainbow occupies a specific and deliberately narrow position in the Royal Oak universe — it is simultaneously a serious complication and an unapologetic piece of jewelry. The Frosted Gold models command premium attention at auction and in the grey market, particularly in yellow gold, which tends to move faster than the white gold variant.

Ragazzi's choice is coherent with the Palm Angels aesthetic — a brand built on the tension between streetwear vocabulary and luxury codes. Wearing the 15412BA at fashion week is a legible signal: this is not a weekend watch, but it is not kept in a safe either.