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Lot Essay
An unquestionable highlight of the Champion Collection and offered in exemplary condition with full set, this platinum cased AP Jules Audemars Grande Complication reference 25866PT is one of the most impressive and complicated AP watches ever created. Offering an incredible number of complications including perpetual calendar with leap-year indication, moon phase, minute repeater, split-seconds chronograph and the number of the week in the year, it is housed in a 42 mm. diameter case with transparent back to admire the outstanding finish and complexity of the legendary automatic caliber 2885 movement. Made in an exceedingly small series to celebrate Audemars Piguet's 125th anniversary in 2000, the present watch can be considered one of the most impressive contemporary achievements in watchmaking and an ultimate prize for the collector.
Paying homage to one of the two founding fathers of the Maison, the Jules Audemars collection showcases Audemars Piguet’s supremacy in traditional fine watch making. Indeed, the company have had an uninterrupted production of Grande Complication watches since 1882. Such is the standard of excellence and length of time required to create these masterpieces that the total number of Grande Complication watches produced in the 120 years until 2002 was only 58.
Grande Complication watches rank among the most extraordinary achievements in horological history. To qualify for the category, a watch must possess at least three complications from one of the three major types of complication: perpetual calendar; striking or repeating; and chronograph. Audemars Piguet included these complications and several more when the magnificent self-winding caliber 2885 was created in 1993. The first watch fitted with the caliber was presented in 1996. According to the Audemars Piguet Archives, 10 pieces of reference 25866PT, including five cased in platinum, were made for the Basel Watch and Jewellery Show in 2000.
The Jules Audemars ‘Grande Complication’ impresses with no less than 11 complications (in addition to the essential timekeeping functions such as hours, minutes and seconds which are not considered complications):
1. The perpetual calendar
2. The days of the week
3. The months
4. The days of the month
5. The leap-year indication
6. The chronograph
7. The 30-minute register
8. The split seconds
9. The minute repeating
10. The phases of the moon
11. The number of the week
The reference 25866PT Grande Complication is illustrated and described in: Audemars Piguet – 20th Century Complicated Watches, 2018, pp. 268-269.
Paying homage to one of the two founding fathers of the Maison, the Jules Audemars collection showcases Audemars Piguet’s supremacy in traditional fine watch making. Indeed, the company have had an uninterrupted production of Grande Complication watches since 1882. Such is the standard of excellence and length of time required to create these masterpieces that the total number of Grande Complication watches produced in the 120 years until 2002 was only 58.
Grande Complication watches rank among the most extraordinary achievements in horological history. To qualify for the category, a watch must possess at least three complications from one of the three major types of complication: perpetual calendar; striking or repeating; and chronograph. Audemars Piguet included these complications and several more when the magnificent self-winding caliber 2885 was created in 1993. The first watch fitted with the caliber was presented in 1996. According to the Audemars Piguet Archives, 10 pieces of reference 25866PT, including five cased in platinum, were made for the Basel Watch and Jewellery Show in 2000.
The Jules Audemars ‘Grande Complication’ impresses with no less than 11 complications (in addition to the essential timekeeping functions such as hours, minutes and seconds which are not considered complications):
1. The perpetual calendar
2. The days of the week
3. The months
4. The days of the month
5. The leap-year indication
6. The chronograph
7. The 30-minute register
8. The split seconds
9. The minute repeating
10. The phases of the moon
11. The number of the week
The reference 25866PT Grande Complication is illustrated and described in: Audemars Piguet – 20th Century Complicated Watches, 2018, pp. 268-269.