Description

If one could describe ‘highly desired and extremely difficult to attain’ in one word, that would be a limited edition Royal Oak.
Only a handful, hand-picked clients with proven history of long-standing relationship with the brand are the chosen ones to be able to get an allocation.

As difficult as it already is to get a regular production Royal Oak, Audemars Piguet occasionally honours its privileged clients with special editions, limited to a very small quantity, dedicated to different regions. The region’s representation is mostly in the form of the dial color with a matching additional strap. A few such special pieces include the lovely ice blue dial for Switzerland in platinum (26574PT), olive green dial for Hong Kong in steel (26606ST), slate grey dial with red hands and a matching red strap for China in titanium, a red dial for Thailand in white gold, yellow dial for Indonesia in platinum.

The present watch’s special reference 26613st.oo.1220st.01 is one such extremely rare piece made for the UAE market, limited to just 75 pieces and delivered exclusively through the UAE authorized AP retailer.
This project was initiated around 2 years ago and the first pieces were seen on VIP collector’s wrists around summer 2020, it is believed that all pieces were allocated.

Two things to note about this watch – the dial is a lovely turquoise blue Grande Tapisserie pattern, inspired by the signature colour of the Yas Marina F1 circuit in Abu Dhabi., and the bracelet and case are made in steel.

One can only imagine how this piece will go down in the history of horology, both in terms of rarity and value.
The gorgeous dial displays the perpetual calendar, neatly laid out with the months and leap year indicator at 12 o’clock, a date sub-dial at 3 o’clock, a stunning crescent moon phase in aventurine at 6 o’clock and the days of the week at 9 o’clock. The weeks are displayed on an inner bezel along the periphery of the dial.

Seen through the case back is the AP in-house extra-thin automatic movement featuring an openworked AP gold rotor, offering 40 hours power reserve with these engravings “UAE Edition” and “One of Seventy Five”.

This steel beauty is fitted on the iconic Royal Oak steel bracelet and also comes with an additional hand-stitched alligator strap in turquoise to match with the dial and a white rubber strap. The box is special with the same turquoise tone as the dial and a silver plate reads “Audemars Piguet UAE Limited Edition”.

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”.