Audemars Piguet Yellow Gold 'Coin' Watch - Satin Silver Dial
The year 1972 was the advent of what is undeniably Audemars Piguet's most famous, significant, and yes, iconic line of watches, the Royal Oak. It was also the year that the 'high-end dress watch' would forever change. Prior to 1972, ultra-thin and design-focused precious metal watches represented the pinnacle of the genre, not what appears to be an industrial-styled stainless steel sports watch with a bracelet.
While the brand never stopped producing traditional dress watches, per-se, production of their new golden goose would dominate the rest of the lineup. And this is after considering that prior to the Royal Oak, AP made far fewer watches to start with...
That said, you may have noticed that this isn't a watch. So whats going on?
What we have here is what is known as a 'coin watch' — a concept adopted a number of prominent brands in this era. These are generally made by using two gold coins, one for each side, with another watch case housed inside. Some were even produced with lugs and designed to be worn on a leather strap, but are the pieces like this one that almost perfectly resemble a coin that are the most interesting.
This example, of course, is an AP. A good start! The yellow gold case comes in at 34mm in diameter, and features 'coin edge' finishing on the profile with a 'hidden' push button to open the closure at the 3 o'clock position. Once opened, the actual timepiece becomes visible and can be tilted up on a hinge by way of a tab at the 6 o'clock position. The crown at the 1 o'clock position then becomes usable to both wind and set the timepiece. The dial within is silver in color and has a satin finished surface, along with simple printed 'stick' indices and a matching blued-steel 'pencil' handset. Inside the watch case, the movement is an ultra-thin manually-would calibre.
On top of being an obscure piece that is not immediately associated with AP, this watch — an 'object' really, is a glimpse into an era when subtlety and ultra-thin watchmaking rained supreme.
The phrase 'if you know, you know' may never be more perfectly applied to a timepiece....
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