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Lot Essay
In 2017, Audemars Piguet launched their first all ceramic watch, the Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar with black ceramic case and bracelet. It was an immediate success and has since become one of the most sought after and hard-to-get watches of the Royal Oak range. Although the company had used ceramic as a component for their cases before, this was the first AP to be made entirely of ceramic.
This year, Audemars Piguet have produced awe-inspiring sibling to its black Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar, this time in all-white ceramic with white ceramic bracelet. Christie’s is delighted to offer here the first example to appear at auction. Almost impossible to obtain, this white ceramic Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar is already subject to a lengthy waiting list. In “as new” condition, the present watch provides the opportunity for collectors to own without delay, one of the hottest watches of AP’s modern production.
The development, creation and finishing of the ceramic case and bracelet to the same standard as a metal Royal Oak is astonishing. According to Audemars Piguet, it took over 600 hours of research to perfect the case and bracelet. Ceramic is almost scratch proof and very difficult to work with. To machine, hand-finish and polish the ceramic bracelet alone takes over thirty hours, compared to around five hours for a steel bracelet.
The Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar combines two of the great icons of Audemars Piguet’s heritage, the Royal Oak model and the perpetual calendar complication. Visible through the sapphire crystal case back, the movement for the white ceramic Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar is the ultra-thin automatic Calibre 5134. It features the date, day, month, week number, leap year, 52-week indicator and a moon phase composed of a lasered disc on an aventurine background. The dial is the beautiful blue “Grande Tapisserie” with silvered subsidiaries which completes this visually stunning and complicated white ceramic Royal Oak.
This year, Audemars Piguet have produced awe-inspiring sibling to its black Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar, this time in all-white ceramic with white ceramic bracelet. Christie’s is delighted to offer here the first example to appear at auction. Almost impossible to obtain, this white ceramic Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar is already subject to a lengthy waiting list. In “as new” condition, the present watch provides the opportunity for collectors to own without delay, one of the hottest watches of AP’s modern production.
The development, creation and finishing of the ceramic case and bracelet to the same standard as a metal Royal Oak is astonishing. According to Audemars Piguet, it took over 600 hours of research to perfect the case and bracelet. Ceramic is almost scratch proof and very difficult to work with. To machine, hand-finish and polish the ceramic bracelet alone takes over thirty hours, compared to around five hours for a steel bracelet.
The Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar combines two of the great icons of Audemars Piguet’s heritage, the Royal Oak model and the perpetual calendar complication. Visible through the sapphire crystal case back, the movement for the white ceramic Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar is the ultra-thin automatic Calibre 5134. It features the date, day, month, week number, leap year, 52-week indicator and a moon phase composed of a lasered disc on an aventurine background. The dial is the beautiful blue “Grande Tapisserie” with silvered subsidiaries which completes this visually stunning and complicated white ceramic Royal Oak.