25554BA Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar

AP have made a large song and dance this week about their new perpetual calendar works, which, in their defense, are remarkable. But it all began here. This is the grandfather: ref. 25554. It is the exact same as the first-ever 5554 Royal Oak QP, only made after AP updated their reference system to five digits. It’s one of 229 made in yellow gold, and without leap yeaer indication. In a few words, this really is the best of Audemars Piguet. And they could stand to be quite a bit more valuable than they are currently, given that this reference began a category.

This is the earliest example of complicated watchmaking shaking hands with sporting pedigree. Post quartz crisis, AP had two successful watches in the market. The first was the 5548 (and its descendants), the perpetual calendar developed in secret which was the sole watch that brought fine mechanical watchmaking back to supremacy. The second, Genta’s masterpiece: the 5402. All that was left to do was combine them. Which was no small task, given that the diameters didn’t exactly line up, and maintaining any semblance of water resistance with correcting pushers was a challenge. That’s why its RRP was fourteen times a steel Sub back in the day. Nothing about this watch was easy to create, that’s how it should be.

The 25554 has what’s known as a block signature or Mark 1 dial, where the height of all letters in the Audemars Piguet line are the same. Replaced or service dials for this reference will have a capitalized A & P. Across QPs, Mark 1s are mostly up to early C-Series but a handful in D as well. This is what a collector’s example looks like, in a word: attractive. There are about 1600 Royal Oak QPs made prior to the leap year indication. They’re the collector’s darlings, outside of a few special dials made after. It’s the first of the kind of watch that is de rigueur today. And that matters. In 1999, a platinum 25658 was 31K at Christies. In 2022, the same dial and metal sold at 460K USD at Phillips. But now they’ve settled, and one of these all-time greats will meet you under 150K today. That’s a huge figure, but not as huge as some similar and less significant peers. There are no drawbacks to ROQPs currently.  

This example is quite tasty. The case looks quite sharp, not just the bevels but the brushing and bezel as well. The dial is unblemished and beautiful. It comes with an original box and Certificate of Authenticity from A, noting delivery in 1986. It comes from a well-regarded Geneva-based retailer.