• Free worldwide delivery

People often forget Audemars Piguet was making watches long before the Royal Oak ever came to life. In fact, the manufacture has a distinguished history of producing exquisite dress watches in precious metals. This is the most decadent one we’ve come across yet.Round, yellow gold, and a leather strap is usually what comes to mind when we think of dress watches. Not this one though. This beauty from the 1980s features an oblong case in 18k white gold with an integrated white-gold mesh bracelet. The surface of the case as well as the bracelet are engraved vertically, giving the watch a luxurious feel.The real star of the show, however, is the lapis lazuli dial. Stone dials are beautiful due to the natural variation of the stones used, but they’re also quite fragile. Many of them have developed cracks or rips over the years. Therefore, a flawless dial will increase the value greatly. This lapis dial is in faultless condition and the most desirable variation of lapis lazuli. Lapis lazuli often occurs in nature with deposits of two other minerals: calcite (which shows as white veins in the stone) and pyrite (which look like gold veins). This dial contains no calcite deposits and minimal pyrite flecks. To give the lapis stone space to shine, the dial is completely sterile except for two lines of text at the twelve o’ clock position and a small "SWISS" signature at the bottom of the dial. Complementing the case and bracelet, the dial features simple white gold sword hands.