The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak reference 5402 was originally introduced at Basel Fair in 1972. Revolutionary and disruptive, the Royal Oak redefined the meaning of a luxury timepiece with the use of stainless steel. Featuring a monobloc case with a distinctively maritime feel, an octagonal bezel secured by eight hexagonal, white gold screws, and a dial with tapisserie motif. Marketing materials at the time would often feature two friends discussing the watch, and one would remark to the other, “a price like that – and they don’t conceal the screws?”

In 1977, the model was made available for the first time in precious materials: yellow gold, white gold, and steel and yellow gold. The reference 5402BA in yellow gold, like the present example, was produced in a total of 736 units, sold between 1977 and 1980. According to Audemars Piguet, the initial production run of yellow gold Royal Oaks was hit or miss depending on the geographical location. The United States, which previously had accounted for 8% of the steel Royal Oak production, ordered a third of all yellow gold examples. Asia was similarly keen, while on the contrary Italy – a previous mainstay in the market for Royal Oaks – only purchased six individual precious metal Royal Oaks.

Cased at 39mm in diameter, the Royal Oak sits extremely comfortably on the wrist with a sumptuous heftiness coming from the yellow gold case and bracelet. Produced only for three years, the present example with the early case serial number of 64, radiates an exquisite sheen from the yellow gold bracelet and contrasting anthracite grey dial.