Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Quantième Annuel 25920ST

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What’s not to love about this Royal Oak? Iconic design, classic size, and the only watch ever made by Audemars Piguet with an annual calendar complication.

Of course, the iconic Royal Oak design by Gerald Genta needs no further introduction. For the smaller-wristed watch lovers among us, the classic Jumbo Royal Oak is just a tad too big. Fortunately, the slightly smaller versions, like this 36 mm baby, offer them the full Royal Oak experience as well. Don’t be fooled by its dimensions though, the watch wears a bit larger due to the iconic angular design of the stainless steel case and the integrated bracelet.

The 25920ST is a special reference as it is the only watch ever made by Audemars Piguet with an annual calendar complication. This highly useful complication was introduced in 1996 by Patek Philippe and can distinguish between the months that are 30 and 31 days in length. As a result, it only requires manual adjustment once a year on March 1st.

The royal blue dial consists of three concentric rings with the center featuring Audemars Piguet’s iconic grande tappisserie pattern. The annual calendar complication is integrated on the dial in a creative way, by incorporating a second concentric ring for the date, which can be read with a central crescent-tipped hand. The months are displayed on a charmingly off-centered sub-register at the bottom half of the dial.

This ref. 25920ST dates back to 2001 and has just returned from a full service at our trusted Audemars Piguet service center. As a result it is in excellent condition with sharp edges, smooth bevels, a tight bracelet, and comes with the corresponding Audemars Piguet service papers and an extract from the Audemars Piguet archives.

Introduction

Audemars Piguet is among the holy trinity Swiss maisons d’horlogerie alongside Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin. Audemars Piguet has a storied history of producing high-complication watches. It all started in 1875, when Jules Louis Audemars and Edward Auguste Piguet founded the company in the heart of the Vallée de Joux, Le Brassus, Switzerland. This pure, rough and wild landscape, with deep, dark forests, ice-cold waters and the omnipresence of rocks and hills, provided inspiration and raw materials for the Swiss watch manufacture to develop the finest watches. Since its inception, Audemars Piguet has specialized in rare, valuable and highly-complicated watches like perpetual calendars, chronographs and chiming watches. Nowadays, the emphasis of Audemars Piguet lies on the iconic Royal Oak line. Royal Oak In 1970, Audemars Piguet instructed Genta to come up with an unprecedented steel watch. As the story goes, he found inspiration whilst seeing a diver at work with an old-fashioned diver’s helmet near Lake Geneva. Staying up all night, Genta drew the design for a circular case with an angular, octagonal bezel, eight visible screws, and an integrated bracelet. The Royal Oak was presented in 1972 as the most expensive steel watch available and it caused an uproar: why was a distinguished maison d’horlogerie putting out a sports watch, let alone in such pedestrian material? Some experts even predicted that the Royal Oak would put Audemars Piguet out of business. Though it took a while to catch on, the Royal Oak is now one of the most iconic and long-lasting watch designs and has spawned an entire product line. It wouldn’t be the first time that Genta would prove a brand’s owners, customers, and industry experts wrong.

Specifications

Shipping

Packages are generally dispatched within 2 days after receipt of payment and are shipped within the Netherlands by Registered Mail through the Dutch carrier PostNL and for other countries by Fedex. Consult us if you prefer another method of shipping. For most destinations tracking is available.