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.

This present timepiece was introduced early 2021 taking the world by surprise. While the blue-dial sports watches have dominated as the favorites for decades, the green shades have recently claimed the top spot. And this magnificent beauty triumphs all the greenliness there is. While the 41mm case is made in titanium, the bezel is white gold, set with 32 baguette cut emeralds. The green dial with “Evolutive Tapisserie” pattern is a visual delight, complimenting the emeralds on the bezel and giving an impression of radiating energy from the tourbillon core (cage) at 6 o’clock.

On the inside is the self-winding Calibre 2950 offering a 65hr power reserve.

Limited to just 15 pieces in the world, this marvelous timepiece comes on a titanium bracelet and is a rarity to even look at in flesh.

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”.