Few vintage wristwatches command as much collectors’ respect and admiration as Audemars Piguet’s vintage calendar wristwatches. Bound by the company’s very limited production, they are amongst the scarcest complicated vintage timepieces by any brand: the total output for non-perpetual calendar timepieces by Audemars Piguet between 1924 and 1967 amounts to an incredibly meagre 176 examples.
This production is split into two “phases”, implying different movements. The first phase, exemplifies by the present watch, goes from 1924 to 1954 with the vast majority of this production employing cal. 10GHSM (one exception is recorded at the very beginning: the first calendar watch employs cal. 10HPVM). Then the second phase switches to cal. 9/10RSQ. This representative in white gold of such a highly sought-after family of timepieces shines in all its unabashed beauty thanks to a full restoration undertaken by the Heritage department of Audemars Piguet. The Breguet numerals dial is now in practically flawless condition and allows the beholder to fully enjoy a quirk of this timepiece: the absence of the brand’s name on the dial, rather bearing only the retailer’s - hallowed and still very much active Lausanne-based “A l’Emeraude”. In fact, this characteristic is shared by the aforementioned 10HPVM piece, which features a white gold case of very similar shape, and an equally similar dial (bearing only the retailer’s - Gubelin - signature) with the difference of featuring painted dauphine numerals - rather than applied Breguet.
Even more remarkable, the movement itself is not signed by Audemars, but rather bears the A l'Emeraude signature. This is a watch which, in typical early 20th century fashion, was totally outsourced to a company (Audemars Piguet) by another company (A l'Emeraude) who subsequently sold it as its own proprietary product: a remarkable window into the industry's mechanisms of the time.
One of the most unusual specimens of one of the rarest and most sought-after lineages of calendar wristwatches, the present timepieces will elicit exhilaration in even the most jaded collector.