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 present piece of art is arguably the most striking in the Royal Oak collection, the amount of work invested to finish the movement let alone the beautiful brushed surfaces of the case and bracelet will leave anyone speechless.
Available in stainless steel under reference 15407ST.OO.1220ST.01 and rose gold 15407OR.OO.1220OR.01, the case size is 41mm for a thickness of 9.9mm, it is named “Royal Oak Double Balance Wheel Openworked “ after the ingenious patented geometry that allows fixing a second balance wheel and balance-spring assembly on the same axis, a combination that allows a tremendous improvement in terms of precision and stability. 

The famous octagonal bezel has its 8 polished screws, the rose gold hands and hour markers offers better time reading legibility as well as a stunning contrast with the slate grey open worked dial.
Powered by the self-winding caliber 3132 made of 245 parts with a power reserve of 45 hours.

– This brand new watch is available for viewing in our Geneva showroom. 

 

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”.