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.