Audemars piguet

In 1972, Audemars Piguet asked Gerald Genta to design a luxury sports watch in steel. He delivered the Royal Oak, and it became the blueprint for an entire category. A member of watchmaking’s “Holy Trinity,” AP’s heritage in grand complications, from minute repeaters to perpetual calendars, predates the Royal Oak by decades. The Royal Oak remains the brand’s center of gravity, with the Offshore extending the design into a larger, bolder format. The Code 11.59, introduced in 2019, brought a contemporary round-case collection with in-house chronograph and flying tourbillon complications. On the secondary market, Royal Oak references in steel consistently trade at significant premiums. If you’re researching AP, the Royal Oak is likely where you’ll start, but the catalog runs deeper than one silhouette.