Audemars Piguet

Swiss Watch Fair, Basel, April 15-25, 1972, Audemars Piguet booth no. 545.

First, there was love.

The two watches that follow are its quiet witnesses.

The story is both poetic and romantic. To celebrate their twentieth wedding anniversary, a wife surprised her husband with the then-newly released wristwatch — the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak 5402ST, the world’s first stainless steel luxury sports watch with an integrated bracelet. For them, life had always followed a simple order: first love, then family, and only after that everything else.

They were a couple bound by a rare and effortless harmony. They wore the same watches, drove the same cars — sometimes even in the same colour. It was only natural, then, that for their twenty-fifth anniversary her husband offered her in return the ladies’ version: the elegant Royal Oak II 8638ST.

Worn for many years and later passed on to the next generation, these watches have grown into horological icons in their own right — and, more importantly, symbols of a shared life well lived. A marriage that prevailed for sixty-five long and beautiful years. Much like the Royal Oak itself, which has endured through the decades and today remains a symbol of watchmaking design. Sometimes, strong emotions leave indelible memories.

The present watch is an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak reference 5402ST bearing the serial number A4 and dating from May 1972. Launched only weeks earlier, on April 15 of the same year, the Royal Oak was the world’s first stainless steel luxury sports watch with a fully integrated bracelet — a “luxury watch” in every sense, as it was at the time the most expensive stainless steel wristwatch ever made. The price of the Royal Oak stemmed from the extreme complexity involved in producing its case and its ultra-thin selfwinding Calibre 2121.

For this groundbreaking creation, Audemars Piguet turned to the celebrated designer Gerald Genta. Inspired by a maritime porthole, he conceived a revolutionary monobloc-cased wristwatch with an octagonal bezel secured by eight hexagonal white-gold screws and a dial adorned with the now-iconic “tapisserie” motif.

The reference 5402 remained in the Audemars Piguet catalogue for fifteen years and was produced in approximately 6,050 examples across several series sold between 1972 and 2002. Produced in four different batches — A, B, C and D — each with small differential details.

The present timepiece bears the number A4, making it the fourth Royal Oak ever made with the three digits of the large case 67004 matching. It was one of the three Royal Oak models, numbers 2 to 4, presented to the press and the public at the opening of the Basel Watch Fair in April 1972, then the watch industry’s most important annual gathering. It was then sent to the Swiss agent Charles Bauty to its boutique in Lausanne, Switzerland.

One may imagine that the wife who purchased this timepiece at Gaméo in Lausanne believed it would delight her husband — a man who, like the watch itself, appreciated innovation, bold ideas, and the courage to challenge convention.

She had the case back engraved “with much love Dominique” for the occasion and the dates of their 20th wedding anniversary 29.9.51 – 29.9.71 celebrated the year prior.

Over the years, the present example has developed a beautiful homogeneous coffee-bean coloured patina across its dial. Worn with love and then passed on to his son, the watch has seen two lifetimes of experiences, cities, and adventures. The bracelet and crown were replaced around the year 2000–2001 after the watch suffered a fall, both to restore its integrity and to reinforce its water resistance. The watch is furthermore accompanied by its original box, as it would have been presented in 1972.

Consigned by one of the descendants of the original owner, this historically important Royal Oak stands not only as an early milestone of modern watch design, but also as a deeply personal testament to a lifetime shared.