During our week in Geneva attending the SIHH 2014, we ran into some very interesting timepieces, some highly collectible grails and one watch in particular, that took our breath away. While meeting with one of our special friends from Audemars Piguet, we had the opportunity to peruse, perhaps one of the most unique and rare Royal Oaks ever made, the Royal Oak Automatique Tourbillon 25th Anniversary ref. 25831 of which only 5 pieces were ever made in 18K rose gold to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the creation of the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak. This exceptional limited edition watch was produced in very limited quantities in stainless steel —only 25 pieces—, 18K yellow gold —5 pieces—, 950 platinum —5 with blue dial and 5 with salmon dial— and it is the only Royal Oak Tourbillon fitted with an automatic calibre. It is also known, that there's one unique piece in a combination of 18K rose gold and 18K white gold created specifically for the Sultan of Brunei.
This particular watch bearing serial number 1 comes with an 18K rose gold case measuring 40 mm in diameter, an ivory off-white 'petite tapisserie' dial with off-centered hours and minutes, date indicator at 3, power reserve indicator at 9 and a tourbillon at 6 o'clock that is framed by a miniature squeezed octagonal Royal Oak bezel. The hands on the date and power reserve indicators are blued and the markers and hands on the off-centered hour/minute dial are fitted with luminescent material.
In case you have not noticed yet, the peculiarity of this timepiece, is that it lacks of a winding crown on the case band at 3 o'clock. In order to wind and set the time, the watch is fitted with a special crown on the case back right above the Royal Oak engraving. This timepiece is powered by the Audemars Piguet automatic calibre 2875 and it is known to be the only automatic Royal Oak Tourbillon ever made.
On the wrist, this watch is nothing but perfect. We were even lucky enough to make it fit on our wrist for the mandatory wrist shot. As some of you like to say on the watch forums: "wrist shot or it didn't happen". Well, here's a wrist shot for those of you wondering if this really happened or not, for those of you still wondering whether this is a day dream, just pinch yourselves twice to make sure you it is not and you are indeed reading this post.
Sticker Price 'Priceless'. For more info on Audemars Piguet click here.
