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 reference 15502OR.ZZ.1222OR.01 features a 41mm 18K pink gold case and bracelet which is entirely gem-set, an so is the dial. The case and bracelet feature 610 brilliant-cut diamonds, while the dial is paved with 466 brilliant-cut graded orange sapphires.

This is opulence at its best. Seen through the sapphire caseback of this “gem” of a timepiece is the AP in-house Calibre 4302, a self-winding movement with 70hr power reserve and fueling the hours, minutes, center seconds and date.

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”.