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Lot Essay
The present Audemars Piguet timepiece is an extremely early and coveted wristwatch featuring a complete calendar with moon phases and running seconds. Confirmed in the registers by Audemars Piguet, the watch was manufactured in 1927 and was sold years later.
This important wristwatch has a well-preserved 18k 'pale' yellow gold rectangular case in which the gold has developed an attractive purple/red patina over the near-century of safekeeping. The case has a hinged back that is beautifully inscribed reading 'My dearest, remember me always, your loving Aline. December 2nd 1942'. The case is large for the period and measures 25.5 by 37 millimeters, a wonderful size for the taste of contemporary collectors.
Like many early watches from Audemars Piguet, the same, single serial number is produced on the movement, inside caseback, and back of the dial. In this case it is number '37891'.
Powering the watch is a manual-winding nickel lever 10-ligne Audemars Piguet movement based on a LeCoultre ebauche. This 18-jewel movement features a bi-metallic compensation balance and is unsigned, but bears the watch's serial number and is described in the registers as GHSM 15⁄12 (HSM for hours, seconds, minutes, 15 mm. x 12 mm).
Like some of the other extremely rare and early calendar wristwatches from Audemars Piguet, the watch has a silvered dial with a symmetrical calendar configuration for the day, date, month, and moon phases with running seconds. Its attractiveness is further enhanced by the handmade and applied Breguet numerals and blued skeleton diamond hands. The text and the outer track have been executed in black enamel, exemplifying the tedious and expensive small manufacturing details that Audemars Piguet undertook in their early watches.
These early calendar wristwatches from Audemars Piguet represent some of the most important, collectible, and rare timepieces from the Maison, and this lot is an incredible opportunity for the astute collector to own a watch that was last publicly sold in 2001.
Early Audemars Piguet Calendar Wristwatches
Audemars Piguet’s earliest calendar wristwatches are legendary rarities with most examples now in either museums or private collections. They almost never appear at auction or on the open market. The first Audemars Piguet calendar wristwatches, of which the present watch is one, were fitted with the caliber 10GHSM movement. These first phase so-called ‘Pre-Model’ watches are appreciated as some of the rarest and most important models ever made by Audemars Piguet.
Although a very approximate figure, it is thought that around 48 wristwatches sharing the characteristics of the present watch were made – rectangular-shaped case, triple calendar, and phases and age of the moon (complete calendar). Today, only around 10 examples are known publicly but with diverse dial designs and hand types. The present watch is undoubtedly one of the most attractive of the known examples, featuring applied Breguet numerals and ‘cathedrale’ (sometimes called ‘Old English’) hands. The majority of ‘Pre-Model’ calendar wristwatches were cased in white gold, the present watch is one of the yellow gold examples that were made in much fewer numbers.
Following the sale of the very first AP calendar wristwatch to Gübelin in 1924 which was fitted with a caliber 10HPVM movement, the company decided that all their calendar wristwatches would use the caliber 10GHSM. In total, 698 movements were produced from 1924 to 1931, 108 of those were fitted with calendar mechanisms.
According to Audemars Piguet’s archives, of the 108 calendar watches produced, 2 were cased in platinum, 2 in bi-color platinum and gold, and another 35 in pale yellow, sometimes called 'green gold' by AP, and 62 watches cased in white gold.
For similar complete calendar watches, please see Brunner G., Pfeiffer-Belli C., Wehrli M., Audemars Piguet Masterpieces of Classical Watchmaking, p. 219 fig. 290, p. 224 fig. 299a, p 225 fig. 300, and p 229 fig. 305a
This important wristwatch has a well-preserved 18k 'pale' yellow gold rectangular case in which the gold has developed an attractive purple/red patina over the near-century of safekeeping. The case has a hinged back that is beautifully inscribed reading 'My dearest, remember me always, your loving Aline. December 2nd 1942'. The case is large for the period and measures 25.5 by 37 millimeters, a wonderful size for the taste of contemporary collectors.
Like many early watches from Audemars Piguet, the same, single serial number is produced on the movement, inside caseback, and back of the dial. In this case it is number '37891'.
Powering the watch is a manual-winding nickel lever 10-ligne Audemars Piguet movement based on a LeCoultre ebauche. This 18-jewel movement features a bi-metallic compensation balance and is unsigned, but bears the watch's serial number and is described in the registers as GHSM 15⁄12 (HSM for hours, seconds, minutes, 15 mm. x 12 mm).
Like some of the other extremely rare and early calendar wristwatches from Audemars Piguet, the watch has a silvered dial with a symmetrical calendar configuration for the day, date, month, and moon phases with running seconds. Its attractiveness is further enhanced by the handmade and applied Breguet numerals and blued skeleton diamond hands. The text and the outer track have been executed in black enamel, exemplifying the tedious and expensive small manufacturing details that Audemars Piguet undertook in their early watches.
These early calendar wristwatches from Audemars Piguet represent some of the most important, collectible, and rare timepieces from the Maison, and this lot is an incredible opportunity for the astute collector to own a watch that was last publicly sold in 2001.
Early Audemars Piguet Calendar Wristwatches
Audemars Piguet’s earliest calendar wristwatches are legendary rarities with most examples now in either museums or private collections. They almost never appear at auction or on the open market. The first Audemars Piguet calendar wristwatches, of which the present watch is one, were fitted with the caliber 10GHSM movement. These first phase so-called ‘Pre-Model’ watches are appreciated as some of the rarest and most important models ever made by Audemars Piguet.
Although a very approximate figure, it is thought that around 48 wristwatches sharing the characteristics of the present watch were made – rectangular-shaped case, triple calendar, and phases and age of the moon (complete calendar). Today, only around 10 examples are known publicly but with diverse dial designs and hand types. The present watch is undoubtedly one of the most attractive of the known examples, featuring applied Breguet numerals and ‘cathedrale’ (sometimes called ‘Old English’) hands. The majority of ‘Pre-Model’ calendar wristwatches were cased in white gold, the present watch is one of the yellow gold examples that were made in much fewer numbers.
Following the sale of the very first AP calendar wristwatch to Gübelin in 1924 which was fitted with a caliber 10HPVM movement, the company decided that all their calendar wristwatches would use the caliber 10GHSM. In total, 698 movements were produced from 1924 to 1931, 108 of those were fitted with calendar mechanisms.
According to Audemars Piguet’s archives, of the 108 calendar watches produced, 2 were cased in platinum, 2 in bi-color platinum and gold, and another 35 in pale yellow, sometimes called 'green gold' by AP, and 62 watches cased in white gold.
For similar complete calendar watches, please see Brunner G., Pfeiffer-Belli C., Wehrli M., Audemars Piguet Masterpieces of Classical Watchmaking, p. 219 fig. 290, p. 224 fig. 299a, p 225 fig. 300, and p 229 fig. 305a