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Lot Essay
Entirely fresh to the market, this is perhaps the ultimate Audemars Piguet coin watch. It is distinguished not only by its excellent overall condition and the rare retailer signature Asprey, but also its archive-confirmed green gold double-signed dial.
According to the Archives of Audemars Piguet, the commissioning client provided the gold 100 Francs Monaco coin to be used to make the watch and it was sold in 1938 to Golay & Son in London. The Archives also confirm the “dial in old green gold with Breguet numbers signed Audemars Piguet, Geneva and Asprey, blued steel Breguet hands”. It is noteworthy that rarely seen green gold is used for the dial. Green gold is very subtly nuanced and actually appears as greenish-yellow rather than green. Green gold was known as long ago as 860 BC under the name electrum, a naturally occurring alloy of silver and gold.
It is quite probable that this coin watch is unique in being an Audemars Piguet watch set into a gold coin of the Principality of Monaco. It is also an early example of the genre. Indeed, to the best of our knowledge no other examples are known publically. Furthermore, it was retailed by the prestigious London firm of Asprey, of the small number of coin watches made by Audemars Piguet, very few display retailer signatures.
The Cent Francs gold coin of Albert I, Prince of Monaco, was produced between 1891-1904. It was engraved by Louis-Oscar Roty (1846–1911), one of the most celebrated medallists of the Art Nouveau period.
According to the Archives of Audemars Piguet, the commissioning client provided the gold 100 Francs Monaco coin to be used to make the watch and it was sold in 1938 to Golay & Son in London. The Archives also confirm the “dial in old green gold with Breguet numbers signed Audemars Piguet, Geneva and Asprey, blued steel Breguet hands”. It is noteworthy that rarely seen green gold is used for the dial. Green gold is very subtly nuanced and actually appears as greenish-yellow rather than green. Green gold was known as long ago as 860 BC under the name electrum, a naturally occurring alloy of silver and gold.
It is quite probable that this coin watch is unique in being an Audemars Piguet watch set into a gold coin of the Principality of Monaco. It is also an early example of the genre. Indeed, to the best of our knowledge no other examples are known publically. Furthermore, it was retailed by the prestigious London firm of Asprey, of the small number of coin watches made by Audemars Piguet, very few display retailer signatures.
The Cent Francs gold coin of Albert I, Prince of Monaco, was produced between 1891-1904. It was engraved by Louis-Oscar Roty (1846–1911), one of the most celebrated medallists of the Art Nouveau period.