Audemars Piguet Watches

Some of the most popular and bestselling watches from this dynamic Swiss watch manufacturer, affectionately known as AP, include the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak and Royal Oak Offshore models which incorporate simple automatic watches, chronographs all the way up to tourbillons, minute repeaters, Grande Complications & of course the now famous & award winning Audemars Piguet Carbon Concept. Audemars Piguet has a full line of sporty and dress watches to suit every occasion. The Audemars Piguet Millenary is another beautiful line that spans between dressy and casual.

In 1966 Georges Golay becomes the Managing Director and CEO paving the way to a new era of prosperity and tremendous creativity. The range of Audemars Piguet products soon earns international success. Audemars Piguet changes the face of fine-watch making, creating the Royal Oak, the first high-end sports watch made of steel, recognizable by its octagonal bezel with eight hexagonal screws- a true revolution in the watch making world. Audemars Piguet introduces the first self-winding ultra-thin AP wristwatch with tourbillon in 1986, the first wristwatch with a second time zone, and the Star Wheel, with its sector hour display on three sapphire discs. In 1992, the Manufacture creates the Audemars Piguet Foundation. Born in the Valle de Joux, the company developed and grew in the midst of wild and unspoiled natural beauty. Deeply attached to these landscapes, the Audemars Piguet Foundation decides to actively contribute to preserving forests throughout the world, and to sensitize younger generations to this issue.

Back in 1972, Audemars Piguet was the type of pretigious brand to not just simply bend rules when it came to watchmaking but absolutely break them. In a world where all high-end timepieces followed a strict trend and were always made of gold and never very large in size, AP stepped outside of the box to think and design a luxury watch that was completely different.

A very new and modern style was soon created with a bold new daring design. He designed the first modern and avant-garde high-end sports watch, the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak watches, soon to become the brand’s signature watch. Of all the different timepieces in the Audemars Piguet catalogue, the AP Royal Oak is probably the most popular collection and had since evolved to incorporate other complications such as a perpetual calendar, moon phase, and chronograph.

The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak had such tremendous success that for divers AP made the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore and the Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph which had the added stopwatch function. These are sportier models that became very popular with athletes. These watches are available in stainless steel, black ceramic or rose gold, white frosted gold or pink frosted gold. One of the more noticeable features of the Royal Oak Offshore and Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph is the three-dimensional waffle pattern on the dial known as the Grande Tapisserie dial. It is thicker, depper and larger than the Grande Tapisserie dials on the Royal Oaks.

One series made especially for diving professionals is the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Diver and Royal Oak Offshore Diver Chronograph which are only available in stainless steel and have a slightly thicker octagonal bezel. This series comes in several case sizes from a 37mm and 42mm case size up to a 44mm case size. They are built tougher than the Royal Oak collection and will also usually offer a higher water resistance rating of 300m/1000ft instead of the 50m or 100m rating the rest of the collection offers. Additionally the Royal Oak Offshore Diver and Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Diver Chronograph will have a helium escape valve which allows divers who use a diving bell to release the tiny helium gas molecules that can find their way past the crystal and build up in the dial.

Since 1999, Audemars Piguet has been involved in creating eight limited-edition masterpieces in a scarce series of only twenty. These are known as the Audemars Piguet Tradition of Excellence collection. The first stop on this voyage is the Jules Audemars minute repeater wristwatch with tourbillon and split-second chronograph, made in 950 platinum.

In 2002 the production site in Le Locle expands tripling its surface area. In the years following Audemars Piguet continues to expand at a rapid pace, introducing new styles and models, but as always the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak and Offshore editions remain among their best sellers, staying firm in their commitment to quality watches, while maintaining the independence so cherished by the group.

2002 was a year when AP released the first ever AP Royal Oak Concept. Today there are two such watches that are worth mentioning. One is a Royal Oak Concept Tourbillon Chronograph. The other is a Royal Oak Concept Chronograph GMT. Both Both Royal Oak Concept watches look like watch designs that took traditional watchmaking 100 years into the future.

Audemars Piguet also produces several rare Audemars Piguet wristwatches such as the Royal Oak Grand Prix Chronograph and the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore have sprouted forth from the roots of the original Royal Oak design. A significant number of other limited production and hard to get AP watches are also in circulation such as the Audemars Piguet Diamond Punk, a Haute Joaillerie watch with over 7848 snow set diamonds and 56 pavé diamond facets on its cuff bracelet.

Another unique edition watch is the Audemars Piguet Millenary Pianoforte with its unique piano dial and the out of this world Grand Piano watch box for exquisite presentation. Other limited or numbered edition AP watches include yet another diamond blazoned watch, the 18 carat gold Audemars Piguet Millenary Automatic MORITA which has only 200 pieces worldwide.

Many grande complication watches were created by AP over the years from the Royal Oak Offshore Grande Complication which has 648 parts, all finished by hand and with only 3 in existence to the Audemars Piguet AP Jules Grande Perpetual Minute Repeater Rattrapante and Jules Audemars Grande Complication in pink gold. For most people these grande complication watches are something of a fantasy.

The price of an AP watch depends largely on the model and varies depending on the type of movement and metal used in its construction. Another factor that can easily affect Audemars watch prices is the amount of them in circulation. The more rare the edition, the more demand there is for that watch, the more it would usually cost. Additionally, the more complicated the watch is, such as a perpetual calendar, minute repeater, or super complication watch, the higher the price.

Regardless of their listed prices, at Prestige Time, you can rest assured that no matter which models we carry, our watches will be priced competitively and selling for substantially less than the official Audemars Piguet Price List and in new and never been worn condition.

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