Audemars Piguet

Audemars Piguet has worked from Le Brassus in the Vallée de Joux since 1875, and for its first century it was known chiefly for complicated pocket and dress watches. One design changed that.

In 1972 the house released the Royal Oak, drawn by Gérald Genta and named after a series of Royal Navy ships. It was made of steel, priced like gold, and looked like nothing else: an octagonal bezel held by eight visible hexagonal screws, a case that flowed straight into an integrated tapering bracelet, and a dial finished with the small squares the house calls Tapisserie. It was considered a risk at the time and is now the reference every integrated-bracelet sports watch is measured against.

The original 39mm case, nicknamed the Jumbo, survives as the Extra-Thin and remains the collectors' size. The 41mm is the modern everyday model, with a date and the bolder Grande Tapisserie dial. The 37mm and the smaller 33mm and 34mm cases carry the same design in proportions that suit a narrower wrist. Because the case has no protruding lugs, each wears closer to the wrist than its diameter suggests.

The Royal Oak Offshore, introduced in 1993, is the larger, louder relation: thicker, more heavily protected, built for sport rather than tailoring, and made in titanium, ceramic and gold as well as steel. It runs from 37mm well past 42mm, and the limited editions are where its collectors concentrate.

Our stock spans watches from the mid-twentieth century to recent production, so finishing, service history and accompanying papers vary; each listing says which. On any Royal Oak, examine the bracelet links and the case edges first, since polishing softens the sharp bevels the design depends on. Our guide to Royal Oak sizes compares each case on the wrist.