"Rare" is a word that can hardly begin to describe vintage Audemars Piguet chronographs. In fact, little more than three hundred examples were produced overall between 1930 and 1962, after which no more chronograph wristwatches would be made until the modern era.

Such a small production combined with the little information publicly available about the topic resulted in a very obscure field, until the recent publication by Audemars Piguet “Audemars Piguet 20th Century Complicated Wristwatches”, which combines all available archive information on complicated timepieces made by the company during the past century. The present watch has no reference number, but is described in the Audemars Piguet archives as a watch corresponding to photo number 513 “Lunette Monnaie” or coin bezel.

According to the brand’s archives only 19 mentions of this model (even though it is unclear if 5 of them describe the same watches) are made, of which two were sold to Gobbi in Milan.
Made between 1937 and 1940, the watches were sold between 1938 and 1941.

This achingly gorgeous watch made in 1939 is in absolutely stunning condition, with an unmolested case retaining polished and brushed surfaces, and crisp hallmarks on the case side. Its long elongated lugs, oval pushers and thin bezel giving it a greater impression of size.

The perfectly preserved dial is a wonderful study in Bauhaus design with its large numerals at 12 and 6 balancing the chronograph registers at 3 and 9. The 30-minute counter has a 4/5 indication, often found in vintage Audemars Piguet chronographs. It corresponds to the passing of 45 minutes when the hand has carried out one and a half rotations. This comes from a request from Jacques-Louis Audemars who was a great football fan and who wanted his watch to indicate the half time.

A vintage Audemars Piguet chronograph is already a rare bird, but one in pink gold, signed Gobbi and in such amazing condition is a wonderful opportunity to add such a masterpiece to a collection of fine vintage chronographs.