Launched in 1972, the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak was the world’s first stainless steel luxury sports watch with a fully integrated bracelet. Designed overnight in response to an urgent request for an ‘unprecedented steel watch’, it was at the same time the most expensive stainless steel watch ever made. The brand sought famed designer Gerald Genta, who developed a brilliantly engineered, monobloc case, with a distinctively maritime feel, featuring an octagonal bezel secured by eight hexagonal, white gold screws, and a dial with tapisserie motif. While today the Royal Oak is a legend, at the beginning it was more than a bet, it was a true visionary revolution, the first appearance of what is today's most successful kind of wristwatch: the luxury sports watch in steel.
The Royal Oak model reference 5402ST has been produced in four different batches: A, B, C and D with small design details that made each slightly different.
The reference 5402 remained in the Audemars Piguet Catalogues for 25 years and was produced in 6,050 examples over the different series.
Today Audemars Piguet is a true powerhouse, one of the most important names on the market and a multinational corporation, with a structure and procedures appropriate for its size. While the name has been synonymous with high-end watchmaking for centuries, the current modern structure of the company is somewhat of a novelty, as it was only in 1994 that the brand underwent a structural and procedural “overhaul”. Until then, the company had a more flexible decision making process. This occurrence gave birth to some highly unusual and collectible timepieces, such as the present one.
Until recently, It was commonly believed that all cases of reference 5402 bore a serial number to the back (the famous A, B, C and D series). Examples without serial number were known but not accepted by the market which deemed such cases service replacements (in the best case scenario).
It is only recently that in depth research - backed by the robust Audemars Piguet archive - has subverted such belief and in fact demonstrated that “no number” cases are fully legitimate and part of the original production of reference 5402, and - as expected - extremely rare. According to the archives, such watches were mostly produced in 1975, for a total of 129 pieces. This was a transitional series of watches made after the end of the A series: the original decision was to stop using lettered case numbers, but eventually the company rescinded this choice and went on to the B series.
Such an unusual production is undoubtedly due to the more elastic structure the company had during those years - as discussed earlier - which ultimately became responsible for the creation of one of the most elusive variations of the hallowed reference 5402: a true example of serendipity in watchmaking.