A forgotten complication, the wandering hours.

First developed back in the 1600's by the Campani brothers in a clock for the Pope. In the early 1990's, Audemars Piguet decided to breathe new life in this fascinating complication by incorporating it in a watch that could be worn on the wrist.

These Star Wheel watches work as follows. Three floating sapphire disks, displaying the hours, are mounted to an exposed and central rotating wheel, which features lovely hand-finished polishing and anglage details. As the structure turns, the actual hour rotates into view and passes along a 0-60 minute sector at the top of the dial. The remaining disks, meanwhile, are obscured against the background until it’s their time to step forward.

This ref. 25720 features a platinum case with a lovely stepped bezel and short downturned lugs. The case features classic dimensions, with a diameter of 36 mm and a thickness of just 9 mm. The Star Wheel was produced in a number of variations, most commonly with intricate guilloché dials. However, this particular execution has an absolutely stunning guilloché dial which has then been lacquered with this copper color; which gives us this lovely contrast and depth between the platinum case and dial.

The watch runs on Audemars Piguet’s automatic caliber 2224 movement, itself based on a Jaeger LeCoultre movement. A sapphire display case back allows for an unobstructed view of the movement with its classic Côtes de Genève finishing and the rotor that is partially made of 21K yellow gold.

This reference 25720PT dates back to 1992 and sits on a brown suede strap with a platinum AP-signed folding clasp. She has just been fully serviced by AP in October 2023 and is accompanied by an Extract from the Audemars Piguet Archives. Overall this watch is in a remarkably good condition and is ready to have its wandering hours appreciated by its next owner.