Audemars Piguet

Included in the ‘Holy Trinity’ of watchmaking alongside Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin, Audemars Piguet has remained independent and family-owned since its inception in 1875 in the Vallée de Joux by two young and ambitious watchmakers, Jules Louis Audemars and Edward Auguste Piguet.

The duo started off by creating unique and complicated pocket watches that were handmade by a network of artisans in Switzerland’s watchmaking valley in the country’s western region. The atelier quickly established a name for itself thanks to its refined chiming, chronograph and astronomical watches, all assembled and finished by hand. These timepieces were made in small batches and not serially produced; in fact, up until 1950 the firm only employed between 10 to 30 artisans.

However, Audemars Piguet’s greatest contribution to watchmaking would come in the 1970s when the Swiss watch industry was in the throes of an existential crisis following the arrival of cheaper quartz-powered wristwatches from Japan. While many Swiss brands perished, those that survived were forced to adapt and innovate. It was during these uncertain times in 1972 that Audemars Piguet turned to visionary designer Gerald Genta to create a luxury steel sports watch. Until then, luxury wristwatches were almost always made using precious metal cases. Genta created the Royal Oak, a steel sports watch with a round dial, distinct octagonal bezel and an integrated bracelet that would go on to become a genre-defining timepiece for the industry.

The Royal Oak would emerge as a talismanic model for the brand and has remained in production for more than 50 years. Early examples of the Royal Oak, particularly the A-Series (the first 2,000 examples produced) are extremely collectible and routinely fetch six-figure sums at auction. The success of the Royal Oak has led to spin-off lines like the Royal Oak Offshore and the Concept collection, which is seen as a testbed for innovation. Complicated Royal Oak models like the perpetual calendars are sought-after models: a possibly unique perpetual calendar Ref. 25654ST sold for more than half a million dollars at Christie’s Geneva in November 2022.


AUDEMARS PIGUET. A VERY RARE AND IMPRESSIVE 18K GOLD AUTOMATIC PERPETUAL CALENDAR WRISTWATCH WITH BRACELET AND MOON PHASES

ROYAL OAK QUANTIÈME PERPETUAL MODEL, REF. 25654BA, MOVEMENT NO. 274'713, CASE NO. C 32485, NO. 367, CIRCA 1988

AUDEMARS PIGUET. AN EXTREMELY RARE AND ATTRACTIVE PLATINUM AND DIAMOND-SET AUTOMATIC SKELETONIZED PERPETUAL CALENDAR WRISTWATCH WITH MOON PHASES

QUANTIÈME PERPÉTUEL MODEL, REF. 25670PT, MOVEMENT NO. 347’178, CASE NO. C 97893, 19, MANUFACTURED IN 1993

AUDEMARS PIGUET. AN IMPRESSIVE AND RARE LIMITED EDITION PLATINUM CARILLON MINUTE REPEATING WRISTWATCH WITH DUAL POWER RESERVES

EDWARD PIGUET RÉPÉTITION CARILLON MODEL, REF. 25935PT, MOVEMENT NO. 486'261, CASE NO. E 41965, CIRCA 2000

AUDEMARS PIGUET. A RARE AND UNUSUAL 18K GOLD TWENTY DOLLAR COIN CONCEALED WRISTWATCH WITH HINGED CASE

COIN WATCH MODEL, REF. 5610BA, MOVEMENT NO. 199’792, CASE NO. B 53091, MANUFACTURED IN 1980

AUDEMARS PIGUET. A RARE AND ELEGANT 18K GOLD BRACELET WATCH WITH DIAMOND DIAL

‘COBRA’ MODEL, REF. 4079BA, MOVEMENT NO. 181’628, CASE NO. B 24444, MANUFACTURED IN 1978

AUDEMARS PIGUET. A RARE AND UNUSUAL 18K WHITE GOLD AUTOMATIC BRACELET WATCH WITH DIAMOND-SET DIAL AND ‘BULLET’ BRACELET

‘BAMBOO’ MODEL, REF. 14502BC, MOVEMENT NO. 301'064, CASE NO. C 29314, MANUFACTURED IN 1986

AUDEMARS PIGUET. A RARE AND ELEGANT 18K WHITE GOLD BRACELET WATCH WITH DIAMOND-SET DIAL

‘COBRA’ MODEL, REF. 14579BC, MOVEMENT NO. 382'776, CASE NO. D 29863, MANUFACTURED IN 1993

Audemars Piguet. An Extremely Fine, Rare and Important 18k Gold Perpetual Calendar Wristwatch with Leap Year, Moon Phases and Two-tone Dial

Signed Audemars Piguet, Genève, Leap Year Perp. Cal., Ref 5516, Movement No. 73'013, Manufactured in 1957

AUDEMARS PIGUET. A POSSIBLY UNIQUE AND HIGHLY ATTRACTIVE, STAINLESS STEEL AUTOMATIC PERPETUAL CALENDAR WRISTWATCH WITH MOON PHASES, BRACELET AND CERTIFICATE

SIGNED AUDEMARS PIGUET, ROYAL OAK QUANTIEME PERPETUEL MODEL, REF. 25654ST, NO. 1076, CASE NO. D-60422, CIRCA 1997

Audemars Piguet. A very fine, large and rare 18K gold chronograph wristwatch

SIGNED AUDEMARS PIGUET, GENEVE, REF. 5522, NO. 49'676, MANUFACTURED IN 1950

AUDEMARS PIGUET. A STUNNING LIMITED EDITION STAINLESS STEEL AUTOMATIC SKELETONIZED PERPETUAL CALENDAR WRISTWATCH WITH MOON PHASES AND BRACELET

ROYAL OAK QUANTIEME PERPETUEL MODEL, REF. 25636ST, CASE NO. D 42059, NO. 39⁄40, CIRCA 1996