This Audemars Piguet 25657 proves that it is still possible to get into ultra-high end watchmaking at a relatively affordable price.

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. 25657 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. Only 1,309 pieces of this reference were produced in yellow-gold between 1982 and 1993. The ref. 25657 was made with a number of different dials. This mother of pearl execution is one of the rarest of the bunch and features elegant applied 18k yellow-gold stick indices and matching 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 the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, Patek Philippe Nautilus, and Vacheron Constantin 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 25657 dates back to 1988 and has just returned from a full service at our trusted Audemars Piguet service center. We’ve paired it with one of our dark blue suede straps which matches perfectly with the blue printing on the dial. The watch comes with service papers as well as an extract of the Audemars Piguet archives.