First launched in 1972, the 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 time the most expensive stainless steel watch ever made.

In 1982, Audemars Piguet launched the Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar – an exceptionally bold offering for the era. The brand would soon introduce a new design aesthetic, offering the Royal Oak with skeletonized dials and movements, which were virtually non-existent on wristwatches in the 1980s. These fully skeletonized watches allowed for a breathtaking view of the movement from both the front and back. They exemplified the very best of Swiss watchmaking, where non-essential metal from all of the movement’s plates and bridges were removed, and all remaining “skeletal” parts were hand engraved and finished.

The present watch is part of a rare series of reference 25636 skeletonized perpetual calendar models sold by Audemars Piguet from 1986 through 1996. The reference 25636 was the last generation of skeletonized perpetual calendar models offered without a dedicated leap-year indicator, which would later be introduced on all subsequent Royal Oak perpetual calendar models by the mid-1990s. Consequently, these earlier generation, non-leap year models are highly appreciated by connoisseurs for the simple elegance of their less complicated dials.

The present watch is an exceptionally rare version – one of just 25 stainless steel examples fitted with a rose-gold plated movement, the legendary caliber 2120. Its openworked, sapphire crystal dial features white sub-dials and outer minute track, with elegant, white gold baton hands. Appearing for the first time at auction, it is offered in excellent overall condition and represents a superb opportunity for the connoisseur.