Audemars Piguet

Developed during the Quartz Crisis which rocked the Swiss watch industry in the 1960-70s, the first Royal Oak was created in 1972 and designed by legendary watchmaker, Gérald Genta. Drawing inspiration for its shape from a diving-suit helmet, Genta completed its design overnight, and the Royal Oak was introduced as the world's first luxury sports watch in stainless steel, in an attempt to revitalize traditional watchmaking in the midst of Swiss watchmaking's existential crisis.

The design was revolutionary. The dial is adorned with the now iconic Tapisserie Clous de Paris guilloché pattern, and the integrated bracelet with tapering intermediate links was unprecedented not just for its design but also in its difficulty to produce with its 154 components, of which 34 are different sizes. To power the Royal Oak, Audemars Piguet and Gérald Genta selected the world's thinnest self-winding movement with date complication at the time, the legendary caliber 2121 created by Jaeger-LeCoultre.

The Reference 5402 can be divided into four series, distinguished by the letters A, B, C and D in front of the case numbers, beginning with the 'A-Series' in 1972. Initially, Audemars Piguet planned to produce 1000 examples of the A-Series 5402, however, the unexpected success of the first Royal Oak prompted AP to extend production to 2,000 pieces. In total, 1,937 A-series 5402s were sold between 1972 and 1989.

The 'C-Series' Reference 5402, such as the present example, followed the success of the A-Series and B-Series, beginning on December 1, 1976. 953 pieces numbered from C1000 to C2000 were sold up to 1987. The C-Series 5402s are notable for a significant change to the dial when the AP logo migrated from 6 to 12 o'clock.

What makes the present lot stand out in addition to its excellently preserved condition, is the highly attractive dial which over time has turned to an even 'tropical' brown hue, a trait quite uncommon for the reference. Highly sought after by collectors, 'tropical' dials are prized not only for their beauty, but also for the fact that there are never two dials that age exactly the same, rendering each tropical dial unique.