The absolute ultimate expression of watchmaking at its very finest, the present lot features the three elements that collectors and scholars define as a “Grande Complication”: a minute repeater, a perpetual calendar and a split-seconds complication.

In terms of technical mastery, Audemars Piguet has, since its founding in 1875, proven to be one of the greatest, not only creating bewildering complications under its own name but also supplying movements to others.

The movement of the present lot dates from 1908 but was only cased in 1970 and is a gem of horological design with its large stepped case and no frills legible dial counterbalanced by the sublime hand decorated movement with a fully three dimensional architecture. It is interesting to note that, in the early 1970s, even though the market for pocket watches was almost non existent and that the quartz crisis was about to hit the Swiss mechanical watch industry, Audemars Piguet had the courage and desire to continue producing these extraordinarily costly pocket watches, beautifully embodying the brands expertise in complications.

Pocket watches remain undervalued today and the present ultra-complicated piece with superlative hand decoration made during a time where no computers existed, presents an exciting and rare opportunity for the savvy connoisseur to own a true horological masterpiece.