Tag: Steel Replica Watches

From its earliest concept to where we are today, the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak replica watches for sale has broken numerous rules in pursuit of its own development. Here are four of my favourite key developments in the timeline of the Royal Oak, along with useful images supplied by AP chronicles. Underneath, I have added some interesting but slightly off topic facts for my fellow nerds.

1972 — The First Luxury Steel Sports Watch

It only seems right to start at the beginning. It was the annual Basel Fair in 1972 where the world of best UK fake watches changed forever, all at the hands of Audemars Piguet and Gerald Genta. It was here that reference 5402 was released. The dawn of the mighty Royal Oak.

Creating a high end sports watch from stainless steel was an incredible and groundbreaking concept born between Audemars Piguet and Genta, and it broke every rule in the book. It was subject to case and bracelet finishing of a standard greater than any other stainless steel wristwatch, something that still remains true to AP today. It boasted a Tapisserie dial made with the help of the guilloché copying machine, and commanded and staggering retail price of 3750 Swiss francs, more than most 18 carat luxury copy watches at the time. It was a lot to take in.

Genta took inspiration from his past as a jewellery designer when designing the integrated bracelet, which gave the Royal Oak a unique and elegant look, despite its sporty nature. From the narrowest point at the clasp, a steady taper found its way to the extra-thin yet 39mm wide case, nicknamed the Jumbo. It was powered by the Jaeger-Le-Coultre 920, which at the time was the world’s thinnest automatic date driving movement available. It allowed Audemars Piguet to shave large amounts off the thickness of the Royal Oak case, with the price being paid in diameter. The calibre 920 was imported from JLC, then subsequently finished in house by AP and re-branded as calibre 2121.

Over the following 15 years, the brand sold a total of 4288 stainless steel units of the 5402, far more than the originally planned 1000 units. This number was split amongst four different series of production: A, B, C and D, nearly all of which had their relevant series letter and subsequent case number engraved on the back.

Series A was produced from the beginning in 1972, with 1937 units delivered. Series B was introduced around 1975, and consisted of 845 deliveries. Series C was introduced around 1976 and was responsible for 952 deliveries. Finally Series D was brought in around 1978 and was delivered in 404 instances. There were also 150 examples produced without either a series letter or number. Why — We may never know.

The 5402 however, was only exclusive to stainless steel for five years. In 1977 Audemars Piguet chose to introduce a smaller quantity of top replica watches with the addition of gold, or gold in their entirety. 876 examples were sold in a pairing of yellow gold and stainless steel, baring suffix SA, 736 examples were sold entirely in yellow gold, baring suffix BA, and finally 150 examples were sold entirely in white gold, baring suffix BC.

Reference 5402 laid the foundation not only for the Royal Oak but also for the luxury sports fake watches for sale in general, as its release was followed by Patek’s 3700 in 1976 as well as Vacheron’s 222 in 1977, both of which also used the calibre 920 from Jaeger-Le-Coultre. It was evident that Royal Oak found success in the rules it broke, and for over 50 years it went on to break any more that stood in its way, one by one.

1984 — Combining The Sports Watch and Perpetual Calendar

Coming into the 80s Audemars Piguet had its sports line, lead by the Genta designed 5402, but also its dress line, lead by the Dimier designed 5548. The latter used the ultra-thin perpetual calendar calibre 2120/2800 which was born from the addition of adding a perpetual calendar module on top of the original calibre 2121. It became the world’s thinnest automatic perpetual calendar, and was kept very separate from the Royal Oak, which by comparison was simple in complication terms.

In 1984 however, the two forces joined as Audemars Piguet chose to insert calibre 2120/2800 into the case of the Royal Oak to create the very first Royal Oak perpetual calendar. It was bestowed the reference 5554, quickly renamed 25554. A luxury perpetual calendar sports replica watches UK wholesale had never been seen before.

Just like the unveiling of the Royal Oak 12 years prior, this combination of a highly complicated yet ultra-thin perpetual calendar movement inserted in a sports watch was equally wild for the 80s. Something which took the other brands of the holy trinity many decades to achieve. The 25554 was well and truly ahead of its time.

Reference 25554 was only delivered 270 times, and unlike the 5402 it did not first arrive to the public in stainless steel. Instead, the first and only unit delivered to a paying customer in the year of launch, 1984, was dressed entirely in yellow gold, baring case number 17. It’s important to note however, that case numbers are representative of the order in which the case was produced, not when the cheap 1:1 super clone watches was completed or delivered to a customer. The yellow gold 25554 dominated production and was responsible for 223 of the 270 sales for the entire reference. Most of them were produced with either smooth white or champagne dials.

Only 46 units were delivered in stainless steel, and they were all fitted with cases originally intended for the D series of the 5402. As a result, they featured both the case markings for reference 5402, as well as reference 25554; A unique novelty. They nearly all had smooth matte grey dials, but there were also rare or perhaps even a unique instance of a black dial.

As well as this, there was a single unit of the 25554 produced in full platinum. This featured a navy blue Tapisserie dial and was delivered to Germany in 1986.

The perpetual calendar from here on became an integral part of the Royal Oak collection, and Audemars Piguet remained the only brand producing a luxury perpetual calendar sports watch for quite some time.

1986 — The Openworked Perpetual Calendar Sports Watch

After the introduction of the perpetual calendar to the Royal Oak in 1984, it only took Swiss made Audemars Piguet replica watches a year or so to come up with a way of making its appearance even more striking. In 1986, the very first openworked perpetual calendar Royal Oak was born, a model I still find amongst my very favourites to this day. It was the reference 25636.

The 25636 was born in the openworking workshop that was responsible for the delicate art we know so well today. Whilst openworking was not entirely new, it hadn’t been seen on a sports watch, and certainly not a perpetual calendar sports watch. The workshop was lead by Regis Meylan from its inception in 1975, and he was heavily responsible for the development that went into creating reference 25636.

Quite like the 25554 that was released two years prior, the 25636 was offered initially in yellow gold, with only one unit sold in its introductory year. It housed the calibre 2120/2800 SQ, the openworked version of the original ultra-thin perpetual calendar movement used in both references 5548 and 25554. It remained ultra-thin indeed, and was the thinnest automatic openworked perpetual calendar calibre that 80s money could buy.

Despite reference 25636 being sold just 313 times, it was produced in a spectrum of metals that represented the vintage era so well. Yellow gold was seen in abundance with 156 cased and sold, representing just under half of the total sales of the reference. The warmer pink gold was slowly creeping into production during this period, making its way onto a very small six units of the 25636. Stainless steel and platinum were also used to case the this model, around 61 and 41 times respectively.

Audemars Piguet also chose to make two special limited edition versions using metal combinations involving platinum. The first, and undeniably the most striking was cased in pink gold with a matching bracelet, with the sparing use of platinum for the bezel and centre links — A quick way of identifying that it was not stainless steel. It bore suffix RP. The other was instead cased in stainless steel with a matching bracelet with once again with platinum used for the bezel and centre links. It bore suffix SP. Both editions were limited to 25 pieces and numbered.

Reference 25636 was undeniably one of the coolest and most incredible 2024 China fake watches from Audemars Piguet upon its release, and whilst it is coveted to this day, it remains undervalued in my opinion. Whilst openworking in itself has since become something AP is reknown for, it has been mainly kept for non complicated watches. The presence of openworked perpetual calendar Royal Oak models has diminished significantly in the modern age, remaining almost legend of the past.

2017 — A Modern Generation Of Materials

Much later on in the timeline, when the vintage era had well and truly been been left behind, something special was in the pipeline. Materials hadn’t seen much innovation across any manufacturers and this was Audemars Piguet’s time to break another long standing rule, perhaps even the oldest rule in the book. The rule that Swiss movements replica watches must only be made from metal.

The then CEO François-Henry Bennahmias was determined to develop a Royal Oak built entirely in ceramic, from the case to the bracelet. Bennahmias was quickly told that this wouldn’t be possible, but in true Bennahmias style he persisted. Eventually at the start of 2017, this vision became a reality, and reference 26579CE was unveiled. From the bezel to the clasp, it was dressed from head to toe in highly scratch resistant black ceramic. A whole new look had been brought to the historic Royal Oak lineup.

It was the dawn of a new era, one in which the brand would use modern technology to push the boundaries of materials. Remarkably, all ceramic surfaces on this model were finished to the exact same standard as those of stainless steel or gold, with a mixture of brushed and polished finishes. This was no easy achievement, taking watchmakers five times as long to finish the bracelet compared to a stainless steel one. Just as I mentioned earlier, you won’t find sharper external finishing than on a Royal Oak, and AP wasn’t going to let that trophy slide on this new ceramic.

As a modern piece, it’s hard to determine precise production numbers for the 26579CE, however it has been suggested at around 600 units in total. Following its creation, ceramic became a large part of the Royal Oak collection with cases having been produced since in white, baring suffix CB, blue, baring suffix CS and even brown ceramic, baring suffix CM.

Conclusion

For over 50 years, the Royal Oak has been a hugely important collection both for Audemars Piguet and the world of perfect UK copy watches. It has pioneered development both technically and aesthetically, with its next move almost always remaining in the dark. From its initial concept, to the use of a perpetual calendar, followed by an openworked movement and the introduction of a new material, the Royak Oak has consistently taken us by surprise.

The bottom line is that the Royal Oak is here not to please everyone, but instead to break rules and shake up the way we see replica watches online. And that won’t change, whether you like it or not.