Manufacturer: Audemars Piguet
Year: Circa 2007
Reference No: 26065BA.OO.D088CR.01
Movement No: 418150
Case No: No. 1, G25587
Model Name: Royal Oak Grande Complication
Material: 18K yellow gold
Calibre: Automatic, cal. 2885_SQ, 52 jewels
Bracelet/Strap: Leather
Clasp/Buckle: 18K yellow gold Audemars Piguet deployant clasp
Dimensions: 44mm Diameter
Signed: Case, dial, movement and clasp signed
Accessories: Accompanied by Audemars Piguet Warranty stamped Audemars Piguet Boutique New York, New York, and dated December 3, 2008, Extract from the Archives confirming production of the present watch in 2009, blue One Drop Audemars Piguet presentation box with automatic winder, wooden Audemars Piguet presentation box with automatic winder, box key, Audemars Piguet Timepiece Life and Card, and outer packaging, and signed letter by Guy Laliberté.
Through One Drop’s founder Guy Laliberté and his passion for watches, a long-term relationship was born with Audemars Piquet which resulted in a meaningful and mutually beneficial collaboration. The Audemars Piguet Foundation has been a funder of a One Drop project in El Salvador from 2012 to 2014 with a total contribution of more than $400,000. Thanks to this collaboration, One Drop has been able to include eco-energetic stoves to significantly decrease the use of wood for the preparation of food and, therefore, preserve the forests in the region where One Drop implemented its water, sanitation and hygiene projects.
Audemars Piquet has also donated exquisite watches to be auctioned off at One Drop’s flagship fundraising event, One Night for One Drop in Las Vegas. These watches raised $460,000 and have therefore enabled One Drop to improve the living conditions of thousands of people in Latin America, Africa and India.
Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Grande Complications
The history of watch complications is a fascinating view into horology’s past, and some of the most intriguing watches ever produced. “Grande Complication” watches are the ultimate expression of watchmaking at its very finest. They are mechanical works of art that bring together three refined complications: a minute repeater, a perpetual calendar and a split-seconds chronograph. While collectors today see them in wristwatch format, their lineage dates back to well over a century.
Swiss Haute Horlogerie manufacturer Audemars Piguet has, since its founding in 1875, created exceptional complications under its own name but also supplied movements to others . Since 1882, the Manufacture has made a point of keeping the Grande Complication at the spearhead of its production even during times of crisis, passing on this ancestral craftsmanship from one generation to the next. In 2016, Phillips was honored to auction an extremely rare and previously unknown Audemars Piguet Grande Complication Clock Watch from 1892 with no fewer than 11 complications.
In the early 2000s, Audemars Piguet made the bold decision to create a line of rare open worked Grande Complication wristwatches, and they chose the Royal Oak model to house this spectacular movement . Released in 1972 in the midst of the quartz crisis, the Royal Oak brought the watchmaking industry in a new direction. As the world’s first high-end sports watch in stainless steel, the Royal Oak designed by famed horologer Gérald Genta revolutionized high-end watches with a monobloc case featuring an octagonal bezel secured by eight hexagonal white gold screws.
Phillips is very pleased to offer this set of four unique examples interweaving ancestral craftsmanship and avant-garde design. The four open worked models, each numbered ‘1/1’, in 18-karat white, pink and yellow gold, as well as stainless steel, feature the in-house, self-winding caliber 2885. As stated by Audemars Piguet, the caliber combines “the three categories of horological complications represented by short-time measurement, striking mechanisms, and astronomical indications”, that was “hand-crafted by a single master watchmaker in the Audemars Piguet grande complication workshop”. These Grandes Complications watches, freshly serviced by Audemars Piguet in Le Brassus, are being sold to benefit The One Drop Foundation, a non-profit organization striving to provide access to safe water to all communities. Each is accompanied by the original dated warranty from the Audemars Piguet Boutique in New York City, the original wooden Audemars Piguet presentation box, custom-made, blue One Drop presentation box, and an Audemars Piguet Resonance Box in the form of a piano. These unique boxes were designed to amplify the sound of the minute repeater, and were crafted by Stéphane Lassueur a talented cabinet-maker and marquetry specialist.
Audemars Piguet’s Grande Complications are true gems not only for their modern-day appeal and wearability, but also for the watchmaking legacy they uphold. These very rare timepieces are a unique opportunity to own wonderfully preserved examples of these iconic masterpieces by Audemars Piguet.
Through One Drop’s founder Guy Laliberté and his passion for watches, a long-term relationship was born with Audemars Piguet which resulted in a meaningful collaboration.
The Audemars Piguet Foundation has been a funder of a One Drop project in El Salvador from 2012 to 2014. Thanks to this collaboration, One Drop has been able to include eco-energetic stoves to significantly decrease the use of wood for the preparation of food and, therefore, preserve the forests in the region where One Drop implemented its water, sanitation and hygiene projects. Audemars Piguet has also donated exquisite watches to be auctioned off at One Drop’s flagship fundraising event, One Night for One Drop in Las Vegas. The amounts raised through these auctions enabled One Drop to improve the living conditions of thousands of people in Latin America, Africa and India.
"You’re asking me what time it is? I’d say it’s time to act. Time heals all wounds if you don’t waste it. Remember this."
— Guy Laliberté