Property from the Family of the Original Owner
Audemars Piguet
Royal Oak, Reference 14790SA | A stainless steel and yellow gold wristwatch with date and bracelet | Circa 1998
Auction Closed
November 9, 12:39 PM GMT
Estimate
12,000 - 18,000 CHF
Lot Details
Description
Dial: grey
Calibre: cal. 2225 automatic, 33 jewels
Movement number: 459'252
Case: stainless steel and 18k yellow gold, bezel secured by 8 screws with personal engraving
Case number: E3'231, 1'653
Closure: stainless steel and 18k yellow gold Audemars Piguet bracelet and folding clasp
Size: 36 mm diameter, bracelet circumference approximately 195 mm
Signed: case, dial and movement
Box: yes
Papers: no
Accessories: Audemars Piguet presentation case
After the introduction of the original Royal Oak, the reference 5402 in 1972, Audemars Piguet started to experiment with both the size of the Royal Oak and the materials used to make it. In 1992, Audemars Piguet released a slightly scaled-down Royal Oak Ref 14790 with a diameter of 36mm. Unlike some rescaling of the iconic designs, the original Royal Oak’s aesthetic was faithfully preserved in its new case size and remained in production until the turn of the millennium. This new case size allowed Audemars Piguet to experiment with some new dial and case designs, including the Yves Klein blue and Ferrari red dial colors, as well as introducing a number of case materials previously not used.
The present watch offers the legendary Royal Oak design with its anthracite tapisserie dial.
Interestingly, the watch was offered by Audemars Piguet to one of its employees as a present for his 25 years of service in the company, as demonstrated by the engraving on the case back.