In the early 1970s, three executives from the SSIH, or Société Suisse pour l’Industrie Horlogère, asked Audemars Piguet managing director George Golay for a type of timepiece that had never been made before—namely, a luxurious take on a stainless steel sports watch. Golay called up a young Swiss watch designer, Gérald Genta, on the eve of the Swiss Watch Fair (later “Baselworld") and conveyed his request for an initial design. The resulting sketch, launched in Basel in 1972, would change the very nature of Swiss watchmaking, manifesting the request from the SSIH and making stainless steel as expensive as gold. The reference 5402ST—the very first Royal Oak—featured an octagonal bezel inspired, so the story goes, by a diving helmet (some say it was a ship’s window), plus a unique integrated bracelet and a textured dial. Inside beat a thin, automatic movement powering a time-and-date display. At the time of its debut, the 5402ST cost several times the price of a contemporary Rolex Submariner—today, its modern equivalent still does.
Though it was joined by the Girard-Perregaux Laureato in 1975, the Patek Philippe Nautilus in 1976, and the Chopard St. Moritz in 1980, the Royal Oak was at the forefront of the luxury sports watch evolution by virtue of timing. That, of course, and its inspired, masculine design, which was joined in 1993 by the Royal Oak Offshore, a massive, thick take on the R.O. designed by Emmanuel Gueit. Today, much of Audemars Piguet’s catalog is still based upon the Royal Oak platform: There are ultra-thin time-and-date versions, ultra-complicated iterations in futuristic materials, ladies’ versions—even a perpetual calendar version designed by star guitarist and songwriter John Mayer. Notoriously difficult to buy at retail and held in esteem by virtually the entire watch industry, the Royal Oak’s star is one that seems to continuously rise.
From the article by Allen Farmelo, Paige Reddinger, Victoria Gomelsky, Oren Hartov, Blake Buettner
