This slim and elegant piece couldn't be any further removed from the bulky brutishness of the Royal Oak Offshore line for which Audemars Piguet is perhaps best known.
Harkening to the days before the Royal Oak became a must-have accessory for the well-heeled, this stunning timepiece is representative of an era in which the maison made far fewer timepieces per year - so few in fact that many were unique pieces, or part of incredibly limited production runs, making for truly rare finds in today's collector marketplace.
This special piece dates to the 1990s and features a 33mm 18k white gold case with a white gold Clous de Paris bezel and a matching integrated multi-link bracelet with a hidden clasp. Simply and gracefully executed, its blue dial, known to collectors as a ‘Yves Klein’, a French artist known for his blue monochrome paintings, features a micro-tapisserie texturing at its center with an iridescent sunburst chapter ring with applied indices and a matching 'pencil' handset that jump off the dial ever-so elegantly.
With a case thickness of only 6mm due to its hand-cranking manual movement, watches such as this one are a testament to the amazing diversity AP once had in its catalog, and is sure to delight on the wrist!