Discover the Evolution of a Masterpiece: The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar

Few complications in the world of horology are as respected and venerated as the perpetual calendar, a feature that Audemars Piguet has intricately woven into its very identity. Although the brand’s mastery of the perpetual calendar harks back to the early 20th century, it was the surprise introduction of the Royal Oak sports watch that marked its true renaissance within the horological world.

First introduced in 1972, the Royal Oak stunned the watch industry with its daring design and luxury interpretation of the steel sports watch. Keeping it mechanically simple at first with just a date display, the Royal Oak only began introducing complications in the form of calendar displays in the 1980s.

With its perpetual calendar complication becoming more integral to the brand’s identity over the years, Audemars Piguet continued on its path to horological greatness. Three of its watchmakers collaborated in the 1970s to introduce a thin, modern, wrist-watch suitable perpetual calendar movement, transcending one of watchmaking’s most fabled complications into the contemporary era, thus sealing the Royal Oak’s place in the annals of horological history.