Audemars Piguet White Gold Dress Watch - White Gold 'Woven' Dial w/ 'Sodalite' Indices

The year 1972 was the advent of what is undeniably Audemars Piguet's most famous, significant, and yes, iconic line of watches, the Royal Oak. It was also the year that the 'high-end dress watch' would forever change. Prior to 1972, ultra-thin and design-focused precious metal watches represented the pinnacle of the genre, not what appears to be an industrial-styled stainless steel sports watch with a bracelet. While the brand never stopped producing traditional dress watches, per-se, production of their new golden goose would dominate the rest of the lineup. And this is after considering that prior to the Royal Oak, AP made far fewer watches to start with... The piece that we have here hails from circa the 1980s, an era when brands like Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, Piaget, and even Rolex were experimenting with design-forward timepieces focused on finishing and opulence. The 26mm case and matching integrated-style bracelet are constructed out of solid white gold, with a stunning hand-finished texture throughout. The dial inside is not flat, but rather a 3-dimensional 'woven' white gold base with applied 'Soladite' stone indices, and thats it. A clean design that speaks by way of its execution rather than text. The blue stone indices are complimented by a blue-painted 'pencil' handset. It is powered by AP's Cal. 2003 manual-winding movement. Stunning, rare, and objectively impressive. This then, is a representation of a bygone era not just for Audemars Piguet, but for what a high-end dress watch used to be. Only in the last few years have collectors and enthusiasts alike started to pay a bit more attention to pieces like these and, we think, its long overdue.