Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Lady Quartz Ultra Thin 33 mm 1999

The story

The beginnings of Audemars Piguet's Royal Oak date back to 1971, exactly one year before its presentation at the 1972 Basel Fair. In the wake of the quartz crisis, the House of Audemars Piguet had its back to the wall: the brand had to come up with a revolutionary idea quickly, or AP could kiss more than a century of watchmaking expertise goodbye. The managing director at the time, Georges Golay, contacted watch designer Gérald Genta, asking him to design a stainless steel sports watch that could meet the needs of the Italian market - all within a very tight timeframe.

Genta rose to the challenge, proposing a watch with a design that was revolutionary for its time. The result was the world's first luxury sports watch, in stainless steel, for the price of a gold watch. With this launch, nothing would ever be the same again. Inspired by a scuba diver's helmet, its design is avant-garde, with an octagonal bezel secured by eight screws, visible seals and a dial adorned with the brand's exclusive Grande Tapisserie guilloché pattern. A sure-fire way to defy watchmaking codes.

At the time, its slim case measured just 7 mm thick and 39 mm in diameter. The watch beat to the rhythm of the superb self-winding calibre 2121, the fruit of a collaboration between Audemars Piguet, Jaeger-LeCoultre and Patek Philippe.

An "Ultra-Thin" gold and steel variant

The first Royal Oak combining gold and steel was made for women. It was then model 8638SA (the "SA" code is a contraction of "ST" for steel and "BA" for yellow gold), bearing case number 14103. It left Le Brassus on February 23, 1977 for the Swiss market, followed the next day by two identical watches, one destined for Italy, the other for New York. This Royal Oak model is one of the first in history to combine steel and gold, both on the case and on the bracelet. This marriage enriches the play of light with contrasting colors.

When Jacqueline Dimier designed these first ladies' models, she worked them like paintings. The background is uniformly gray: bracelet, case middle, T21 tapestry slate dial and crown. The gold components stand out, the better to highlight their salient features. The yellow bezel encircles the dial, also punctuated by hands, hour-markers and the AP monogram, all crafted in yellow gold. As for the bracelet, it's punctuated with gold studs that extend the yellow touches throughout the timepiece.

The reference 56303SA thus takes up this principle and design. This model was introduced in the 1990s and offers an ultra-slim 33 mm-diameter case, thanks to its quartz movement, caliber 2612!

The package

Audemars Piguet offers us a highly successful interpretation of its iconic model with this Royal Oak 56303SA! It gently revisits the look and makes appreciable nods to the original model that gave birth to this watchmaking legend 50 years ago now!

This 56303SA dates from 1999. It is in very good condition and comes with its case and documents. For the record, this is one of the rare 56303SA references to leave the factory with a diamond-set dial! Like all the watches presented on 10h10, this Royal Oak has been tested and inspected by our watchmakers.