Description

The ‘Royal Oak’ overturned the prevailing codes in 1972 during a period of existential crisis for the watch industry due to the boom of the cheap Quartz watches made in Asia.

The company had to come with a bold, solid stainless sports steel luxury watch, they gave the mission to Gerald Genta to design it.
He got the inspiration from a deep-sea-diving helmet, the result was an octagonal bezel, visible mounting screws, a large case of 39mm with an integrated bracelet, a very futuristic design for the seventies.

Within 2-3 years they sold about 1000 watches establishing a new segment within the industry and pioneered the popularity and desirability of the steel sports luxury watch.

The first model released was the reference 5402 known today as the “Royal Oak A series”, with a thin automatic calibre 2121 movement that is still made today.

Since they treated steel as gold, the level of finishing was remarkable and so was the retail price, for comparison purpose a similar Rolex sport watch was 10x cheaper.

Today, Audemars Piguet still produces a range of Royal Oaks in different sizes (33 to 41mm) for ladies and men, from titanium, rose gold, yellow gold and platinum metals, various dial colours and with different complications.

*The famous 41mm case is in black ceramic with the recognizable octagonal bezel and eight screws. This surrounds a stunning black dial with « Grande Tapisserie » pattern. The counters are in black for a perfect contrast with gold hands are completing this new design. While the central hands are indicating the hours & minutes with the chronograph hand on rose gold hour-markers. The discreet but essential date window is visible at 5 o’clock.

The Royal Oak’s 50th Anniversary self-winding movement is new, with a Calibre 4401, featuring 40 jewels, and a power reserve of 70 hours. It is complemented by a “50-years” weight that oscillates, adding to the anniversary charm, available this year only with that 50th Anniversary configuration.

A full black ceramic bracelet with AP folding clasp will fix this must-to-have beauty around your wrist

Audemars Piguet – bio

Audemars Piguet is a Swiss manufacturer of mechanical watches founded in 1875. They began in the Vallée de Joux. Jules Louis Audemars formed a partnership with Edward Auguste Piguet. Audemars created complicated blank watch movements for other manufactures to use. Piguet specialized in the final regulation of watches. They then split responsibilities when they began their own company. Audemars was in charge of production and technical aspects while Piguet focused on sales and management. One of their first achievements was creating the first repeater wristwatch in 1892 and in 1972 the iconic steel “Royal Oak”.