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Lot Essay
With Audemars Piguet Certificat de Guarantie dated 5 April 1977, green leather pouch and product information.
According to the Archives of Audemars Piguet, the present movement number and case do not match, hence no extract will be delivered for this watch. However, this can be explained as the movement may have been changed to another case and no records in this regard were kept in the registers.
This model was introduced to the market in 1971 during an exhibition by Hermès in Cannes (France) at the occasion of the Festival International du Cinéma that took place from 10 until 30 May and then in Deauville from 10 until 30 August.
The present watch is a beautiful example of Audemars Piguet's savoir-faire combining the use of lapis lazuli for the case and diamond-set hands. This combination confers the watch a very elegant look with a bit of audacity that is characteristic to the brand if we consider that at this period most brands using gemstones were using them to enhance the attractiveness of the dial rather than the case.
The diamond-set hands are an exclusivity of Audemars Piguet. They made their first appearance in public in 1970 at the Basel Fair. Its founder, Luigi Stumpo, saw once a unique watch featuring diamond-set hands while visiting the Musée de l'Ecole d'Horlogerie in Geneva. Since then, he always thought that one day, he would find the technique to recreate these extremely refined and elegant hands. And the dream came true nearly thirty years later. After developing an entire set of tools that would allow this technical achievement, he offered the exclusivity for his savoir-faire to Audemars Piguet with whom he was already working in close partnership to supply them with the finest dials. He went a step further the next year with the release of the first Audemars Piguet model featuring baguette cut diamond hands. In this instance, the diamond was entirely free from setting. These models were hand crafted in very small quantities and are a rare find on the market today.
No other brands does offer such an elegant lady's watch beautifully carved into lapis lazuli with a dial illuminated through diamond set hands.
According to the Archives of Audemars Piguet, the present movement number and case do not match, hence no extract will be delivered for this watch. However, this can be explained as the movement may have been changed to another case and no records in this regard were kept in the registers.
This model was introduced to the market in 1971 during an exhibition by Hermès in Cannes (France) at the occasion of the Festival International du Cinéma that took place from 10 until 30 May and then in Deauville from 10 until 30 August.
The present watch is a beautiful example of Audemars Piguet's savoir-faire combining the use of lapis lazuli for the case and diamond-set hands. This combination confers the watch a very elegant look with a bit of audacity that is characteristic to the brand if we consider that at this period most brands using gemstones were using them to enhance the attractiveness of the dial rather than the case.
The diamond-set hands are an exclusivity of Audemars Piguet. They made their first appearance in public in 1970 at the Basel Fair. Its founder, Luigi Stumpo, saw once a unique watch featuring diamond-set hands while visiting the Musée de l'Ecole d'Horlogerie in Geneva. Since then, he always thought that one day, he would find the technique to recreate these extremely refined and elegant hands. And the dream came true nearly thirty years later. After developing an entire set of tools that would allow this technical achievement, he offered the exclusivity for his savoir-faire to Audemars Piguet with whom he was already working in close partnership to supply them with the finest dials. He went a step further the next year with the release of the first Audemars Piguet model featuring baguette cut diamond hands. In this instance, the diamond was entirely free from setting. These models were hand crafted in very small quantities and are a rare find on the market today.
No other brands does offer such an elegant lady's watch beautifully carved into lapis lazuli with a dial illuminated through diamond set hands.