Steel priced like gold

What happened

On 15 April 1972, at the Basel fair, Audemars Piguet showed a 39-mm steel watch with an octagonal bezel held by eight visible screws, an integrated bracelet and a price above many gold dress watches. It took three years to sell the first thousand.

Who

Audemars Piguet, Le Brassus, Switzerland. Managing director Georges Golay telephoned the designer Gérald Genta on the evening of 10 April 1970 asking for “an unprecedented steel watch” by the next morning; Genta drew it overnight, with a diver’s helmet in mind.

Why it mattered

It made steel a luxury material. The Patek Philippe Nautilus of 1976 and the IWC Ingenieur SL of the same year, both also by Genta, followed the template, and the luxury steel sports watch has dominated the top of the market ever since.

Worth knowing

Calibre 2121, an ultra-thin self-winding movement 3.05 mm high, kept the case to 7 mm. The bezel screws pass through the case and are tightened by nuts underneath, compressing a gasket. The dial pattern is called petite tapisserie. Sources give the launch price as 3,300 or 3,650 francs.

Where it is now

Early A-series watches are in Audemars Piguet’s collection at Le Brassus and at auction.

Historian’s noteOften called the first luxury steel sports watch. It was not the first steel watch, nor the first steel sports watch; steel Rolex Oysters and steel Patek Philippe chronographs are decades older. What was new was the price and the intent, which is why it is listed here as a turning point rather than a first.

SourcesAudemars Piguet · Sotheby’s