25829PT Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar

Audemars Piguet remained independently owned through the tumultuous 1990s and 2000s (still are), led by Georges-Henri Meylan and later Philippe Merk, where many of their peers were gobbled up by corporate jockeying. The former spearheaded this highly contemporary Royal Oak QP Skeleton, a continuation of the first 25636. This daring project was a first for the brand, only tolerated because of the autonomy independence provided. The design was barely changed, owing to the success of what was AP’s first ever and rather daring skeletonized perpetual calendar of any kind. In an old-world design move, the hands moved to feuille-shape, finished in rhodium. This creates a Royal Oak QP that, while technical, still incorporates a historic flourish, nodding to complication posterity.

Photography for this Find comes from both A Collected Man and Phillips, of two prior sold PT examples. 

Despite a 17 year production run from 1996 until 2013, just 156 examples of the 25829 were made in this platinum. That is alongside 371 in steel, 102 in yellow, 174 in pink gold, and 47 in unusual tantalum bimetals. These were all made after the introductions of both leap year indication and the addition of a mixed capitals AP signature. Other typography evolved as well, where the 25636 featured a more delicate font, the 25829 grew bolder with more defined serifs. Finishing on calibre 2120/2802 grew marginally more refined as well, with various elements of the 920 ébauched finished in more intricate of varied ways: just compare the areas around the 10 marker on each.

Values have been surely and slowly rising over decades, extrapolating to average out some of the outlier auction results (390k CHF in 2021 is certainly an outlier). These have been led by the ultra rare tantalum configurations, closely followed by platinum where the market centers around 325K USD. Consider that the nowhere near as beautiful 26585XT 150^th Skeleton is selling north of 500K and this makes no sense whatsoever. While still independently owned, AP are no longer taking risks of comparable magnitude. This is the value buy of today in many ways, even though it’s ridiculously expensive. No Royal Oaks better embody AP history than the collection of early QPs, and they are particularly perfect in platinum. Long live the original king of sporting complication.

This example looks to be perfectly sharp from afar. It comes without the papers, which should be noted, from a well-regarded Italian retailer.