Dimepiece Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Stainless Steel
A stainless steel and eighteen carat yellow gold Royal Oak with a quartz movement. This is an easy to wear (now phased out, sadly) mid-sized icon. It is a more “true” version of the original Gérald Genta designed model with the classic ‘Petite Tapisserie’ grey dial. This model, being quartz, has ‘quartz’ also printed on the dial above the 6 o’clock marker.
The dial on this watch is the crowning glory and most desirable feature of an already cool watch! It is the ‘Petite Tapisserie' found on the first Royal Oak Jumbos, and on mostly all Royal Oaks from the ‘80s and ‘90s, and also on the first Royal Oak Offshore models bearing reference 25721. The squares are extremely small and the pattern is tight compared to the later executions. They are laborious to make with the brass dials being engraved by a burin, a precision metalwork chisel, that reproduces the motif on a disc attached to the machine, like a pantograph. A pointer rotates across the disc from the periphery to the center. The system is combined with a tool that forms the little lozenges between the pyramidal squares and takes between 20 and 50 minutes, depending on the dial's diameter. It's a delicate operation. A mere skip is all it takes to damage the piece, as the slightest impact is as visible as dust on a mirror. For this technique to be applied to these smallest of case sizes is quite remarkable.
This model also does not include the date located at the three o’clock position, making for a less cluttered overall look. The AP logo is cut from white gold and pinned to the dial at the twelve o’clock position, along with the Tritium filled hour markers. The color of the lume has aged into a lovely, warm honey color and is perfect throughout the hands and markers.
This is an exceptional watch. There are not many of these models in this size presented in this condition. The watch also comes with its original paperwork. This is an early example with a low production number engraved into the casebook. If you are looking for an easy to wear example of the icon, look no further.
Circa 1980's
31MM
Made in Switzerland
All watches are protected against mechanical failure under a 1 year warranty by Foundwell.