Audemars Piguet Royal Oak
The steel sports watch with an octagonal bezel that cost as much as a gold watch.
Audemars Piguet asked Gérald Genta for a sports watch in steel, and the story goes that he drew it in a single night. The shape borrowed from a diver’s helmet with its screws.
The Royal Oak was shown in 1972 and was dearer than many gold watches. It sold slowly at first but became one of the most important watches of the 20th century and the model for a whole genre.
Materials: Steel, sapphire crystal; thin automatic movement
Manufacture: Made in Le Brassus; the case and bracelet are finished and polished by hand.
The octagonal bezel with eight visible screws.
The dial with a chequered pattern, tapisserie.
The bracelet integrated into the case.
The Royal Oak was unveiled at the Basel watch fair in 1972. The first reference, 5402, was 39 millimetres wide, large for its time, and is therefore called the Jumbo.
The octagonal bezel is held in place by eight hexagonal screws that pass through the case. The bracelet is integrated into the case, and the links taper towards the clasp. The dial’s check pattern, tapisserie, is made by guilloché.
An octagonal bezel with hexagonal screw heads, an integrated steel bracelet, a check-patterned dial and alternating polished and brushed surfaces.
Later came smaller sizes, chronographs, watches in gold and in other materials. The Royal Oak Offshore from 1993 has its own page here.
The early references are especially prized. Collectors check whether the sharp edges between brushed and polished surfaces survive or have been ground down during servicing.