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Lot Essay
AP’s reference 5402 very rarely appears at auction being increasingly hard to obtain as one of the great classic ‘must-have’ watches for the serious collector. The solid 18K yellow gold version is almost never seen. The present watch is one of only a handful of publicly known examples that are fitted with the luxury tapisserie diamond index dial. Furthermore, it is one of very few examples that have a gold colour diamond-set dial, the majority of the few other known diamond-set examples being black or grey.
When the original steel Royal Oak reference 5402 was launched, it was more expensive than any of the gold wristwatches offered by Audemars Piguet at the time. In 1977, AP introduced a new Royal Oak reference 5402BA in solid 18K yellow gold which offered customers a sports watch that maintained the robustness of the Royal Oak yet made in a luxury precious metal. The yellow gold reference 5402BA was only manufactured for around three years, being discontinued in 1980. This reference is therefore one of the most desirable and coveted of all first Royal Oak 'Jumbo' models.
This watch, No. 712, is a crisp and extremely attractive example of this early and super-rare reference with exclusive diamond index dial.
When the original steel Royal Oak reference 5402 was launched, it was more expensive than any of the gold wristwatches offered by Audemars Piguet at the time. In 1977, AP introduced a new Royal Oak reference 5402BA in solid 18K yellow gold which offered customers a sports watch that maintained the robustness of the Royal Oak yet made in a luxury precious metal. The yellow gold reference 5402BA was only manufactured for around three years, being discontinued in 1980. This reference is therefore one of the most desirable and coveted of all first Royal Oak 'Jumbo' models.
This watch, No. 712, is a crisp and extremely attractive example of this early and super-rare reference with exclusive diamond index dial.