The house of Audemars Piguet
The house
Audemars Piguet
- Founded
- 1875
- Country
- Switzerland
- Based in
- Le Brassus
Jules Louis Audemars and Edward Auguste Piguet were two young watchmakers from the Vallée de Joux who went into business together in 1875. The company has never left the valley and has never left the founding families — the only one of the great complication houses that can say both.
For most of its first century Audemars Piguet made very complicated watches in very small numbers, often for other people to sign. What changed everything was a commercial crisis: facing the quartz era, the firm asked Gérald Genta for a watch and got, overnight, the Royal Oak of 1972 — steel, octagonal, visible screws, and priced like gold. It was widely considered a mistake at launch.
It was not. The Royal Oak made the luxury sports watch a category, and today it is most of what Audemars Piguet sells.
Known for
Royal Oak Jumbo Extra-Thin16202ST.OO.1240ST.01
The closest thing on sale to Genta’s 1972 original.
Royal Oak Selfwinding 4115500ST.OO.1220ST.01
The everyday Royal Oak, in the size most people actually wear.
Before you buy one
The Royal Oak lives or dies on its case finishing: the alternation of brushed surfaces and polished bevels is the watch. A polished-out Royal Oak cannot be restored without replacing the case, so inspect those bevels under light before anything else.
Integrated bracelets wear at the first link; check for sag. Note also that Audemars Piguet has tightened its position on servicing watches with non-original parts, which makes a fully original example worth paying up for.
Luxigate doesn’t authenticate pieces. For anything you’re serious about, have it checked independently before you pay. How buying works
Last revised 22 Oct 2026.
On the floor
