A Mother-of-Pearl dial is rare to find in the QP, but this is the first time seeing a bracelet with centrelinks of nacre. The entire construction is marvelous with a rather quirky attachment to the case.

When we think of Audemars Piguet nowadays, the first thing we think about is the Royal Oak. But that obscures AP’s distinguished history of producing beautifully finished and highly complicated watches. Audemars Piguet’s introduction of the ‘Quantième Perpétuel Automatique’ line of ultra-thin perpetual calendar wristwatches with an automatic movement in 1978 has been one the most significant innovations in watchmaking in the last 50 years.

This ref. 25655 is executed in a slim 18k yellow case, measuring a classic 36 mm. The case features a lovely stepped bezel, elegant downturned lugs, and a small crown. What sets a ref. 25655 apart from other ‘APQPs’ is the sumptuous 18k yellow gold integrated 5-link bracelet. What makes this particular 25655 even more special is that the three center links are made from luscious mother of pearl. Remember those candy bracelets and watches from your childhood? Well, this beauty allows you to relive all those childhood memories in beautiful horological form.

This 25655 features a dial that matches exceptionally well with the mother of pearl bracelet, as it too is made out of nacre. The dial features elegant applied 18k gold stick indices and thin gold hands as well as three lovely recessed sub-dials that indicate the day, date, month, and phase of the moon.

The ‘Quantième Perpétuel' line is powered by Audemars Piguet’s caliber 2120/2800 automatic movement, which is derived from Jaeger-LeCoultre’s legendary ultra-thin caliber 920 base movement. This base movement was of course used, among others, in Audemars Piguet's Royal Oak, Patek Philippe’s Nautilus, and Vacheron Constantin’s 222. For the QP line, Audemars Piguet reworked the 920 to include a perpetual calendar complication as well as a 21k yellow gold rotor.

This 25655 dates back to 1988 and has just undergone a full service at Audemars Piguet service center and is accompanied by the corresponding service papers and an extract from the Audemars Piguet archives.