Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar 25820ST Luxury Watch Review

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The 39mm Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar 25820ST might be the ideal first complicated Audemars Piguet for a collector of high horology exemplars.
Its classical Royal Oak styling features and triple-complication Jaeger-LeCoultre-based movement provide a pedigree that is beyond reproach.
Gerald Genta designed the original 1972 Audemars Piguet Royal Oak to read as a single metal continuity. The bezel flowed seamlessly into the case, the case merged into the bracelet, and the bracelet tapered into a delicate mailed foil below the wrist. While precious metal Royal Oaks are outstanding showcases for Audemars Piguet’s prowess in metallurgy, the stainless steel models remain the closest descendants of Genta’s opus.
This Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar exhibits all of those virtues, and it also preserves the exquisitely detailed combination of brushed and polished facets that speak to the quality of the watch under close scrutiny.
AP's famous Royal Oak white gold bezel bolts, octagonal bezel, visible bezel gasket, and integrated bracelet complete the image of traditional craft quality.
This Royal Oak Perpetual calendar includes a unique dial treatment rarely seen on the traditional (non-Offshore) Royal Oaks: a gloss lacquered “tapisserie” dial. With a combination of complex texture and rich blue lacquer, this Royal Oak is dynamic in character and transforms its appearance in shifting light. In all cases, the effect is scintillating.
The final celebrity chef in this haut-de-gamme dish is Jaeger-LeCoultre of Le Sentier. Long famed as the "watchmaker's watchmaker," JLC provided the movement for the very first AP Royal Oak in 1972, and JLC provides a thin automatic base movement for this Audemars Piguet caliber 2120/2805. The complications - a day, date, month, and moon phase - are alternately practical and romantic.
With a movement lineage that includes JLC's awesome engineering heritage, the Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar packs serious horsepower in the engine room.
Audemars Piguet. Gerald Genta, and Jaeger-LeCoultre. The roster watch industry superstars with a hand in this Royal Oak read like a laundry list of Switzerland's watchmaking greats.
Take a one-watch tour of the horology heartland and see this stainless steel Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar 25820ST with all Audemars Piguet accessories in high-res images on www.the1916com...
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Video and content by Tim Mosso.
Video and content by Tim Mosso