Important Watches: Part I

Important Watches: Part I

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 54. Royal Oak 'Jumbo', Reference 5402BA | A yellow gold wristwatch with date and bracelet | Circa 1978 | 愛彼 | Royal Oak 'Jumbo' 型號5402BA | 黃金鏈帶腕錶備日期顯示,製作年份約1978.

Audemars Piguet

Royal Oak 'Jumbo', Reference 5402BA | A yellow gold wristwatch with date and bracelet | Circa 1978 | 愛彼 | Royal Oak 'Jumbo' 型號5402BA | 黃金鏈帶腕錶備日期顯示,製作年份約1978

Auction Closed

May 14, 11:30 AM GMT

Estimate

70,000 - 140,000 CHF

Lot Details

Description

Audemars Piguet


Royal Oak 'Jumbo', Reference 5402BA

A yellow gold wristwatch with date and bracelet 

Circa 1978


愛彼

Royal Oak 'Jumbo' 型號5402BA黃金鏈帶腕錶備日期顯示,製作年份約1978


Dial: grey

Calibre: cal. 2121/1 automatic, 36 jewels 

Movement number: 196'709

Case: 18k yellow gold, back secured by 8 screws

Case number: 286, B28'672

Closure: 18k yelllow gold Audemars Piguet bracelet and folding clasp 

Size: 39 mm diameter, bracelet circumference approximately 170 mm

Signed: case, dial and movement 

Box: yes

Papers: no

Accessories: Audemars Piguet Extract from the Archive and presentation case

Debuted in 1972, the Audemars Piguet reference 5402 is nothing short of a masterpiece. The forefather of iconic bracelet watches, it is a watch every collector aspires to obtain and arguably the best bracelet watch ever produced. Upon its release, the Royal Oak was the most expensive stainless-steel watch ever made, costing more to manufacture than their gold dress wristwatches due to the incredible amount of work put into the finishing. Bearing the nickname “Jumbo”, the case is 39 mm in diameter which is colossal in comparison to the dress watches of the 70s. We can attribute this new, larger size to why it notably got off a slow start in sales. Not to mention Audemars Piguet’s signature Petite Tapisserie dial that was perfectly executed by a precision metalwork chisel, forming the futuristic, and most unprecedented watch across the industry. 

While the first stainless steel models of the Royal Oak were divided into four alpha-numerical series from A-D, the yellow gold and two toned versions were first launched around 1978 and were numbered simply from one. To the best of our research, less than 750 examples were produced in yellow gold. This timepiece comes in a very good condition.