SIGNED AUDEMARS PIGUET, ROYAL OAK MODEL, REF. 15000TT, NO. 40, CASE NO. D81061, CIRCA 1997

A considerable rarity, only a handful of the two-tone steel and tantalum reference 15000TT have appeared at auction. Tantalum is a rare metal whose color is unlike any other. It is little used in horology because it is extremely difficult to work with. Requiring very high temperatures imposed upon it in order for it to be molded and used to ones specifications, once it has been carefully adapted it is extremely durable and ultra-resistant to corrosion.

An icon, the Royal Oak was released by Audemars Piguet in 1972 and designed by Gerald Genta, who will later also be credited for the design of the Patek Philippe Nautilus reference 3700. Radically different in design than what the Audemars Piguet manufacture was used in producing, the Royal Oak stunned the watch industry. Made of steel, the name of the model came from a historical tree in England where King Charles II hid from Cromwell’s army in 1651 and was later applied to multiple British naval ships between 1769 and 1914.