Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar ref. 26574ST

This beautiful stainless steel example of the “Quantième Perpétuel” was produced in 2018 and comes as a “Full set”, including inner- and outer box, AP warranty card, winder, booklets, tag, etc. The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendars are made by AP since 1983 but this ref. 26574ST.00.1220ST.01 has joined the game of grail watches for AP collectors in 2015.

The silver toned 'Grande Tapisserie' dial is in perfect condition. The layout of the dial includes day, date, highly detailed aventurine moon phase indicator, month and leap year and also the 52 weeks of the year are indicated by an outer chapter ring and central hand. The dial features month and leap year indicator at 12, day of the week at 9, date at 3 and moon phase indicator at 6 o'clock. Studying this dial never gets boring.

The bracelet and case is in very good unpolished condition with small signs of use. To start the production of the 41 mm sized case is a great move by AP in terms of aesthetics, balance, wearability and it increases the overall legibility of the perpetual calendar indications. It has only 9.5 mm in thickness and is quite light (+/- 165 gram). The AP finish is the best in the industry with the typical alternating satin brushed finish and mirror polished chamfers and edges. The case features two correctors on each side of the case to ease adjustment of the calendar. The case also has a screw-down “AP” logo signed crown. The display case back is spectacularly finished with a thick and nice raised engraving surrounding the sapphire crystal that reads "Royal Oak Quantieme Perpetuel". The bracelet is also a work of art on its own and is fitted with the double folding deployant clasp with Audemars Piguet sand blasted inserts.

Through display case back you have a full view on the in-house automatic calibre 5134, which is in perfect condition. The insane finished movement is +/- 4.3 mm thick and adorned with circular Côtes de Genève and satin brushed details. The 22K gold rotor is engraved with Audemars Piguet and its external segment is adorned with a tapisserie motif echoing the iconic pattern of the Royal Oak dials. The movement is composed of 374 parts and 38 jewels, it provides a power reserve of +/- 40 hours. The moon phase indicator requires correction every 125 years and 317 days, so normally we don't have to worry about that!

All considered, this AP is not only a rare grail watch, it’s also perfect daily wearer and an interesting investment piece. It comes as a “full set” and is immediately available, no waiting list here.