Audemars Piguet Automatic Cal.K2120 18ct c1974

Audemars Piguet

Audemars Piguet is a Swiss manufacturer of luxury watches, headquartered in Le Brassus, Switzerland. The company was founded by Jules Louis Audemars and Edward Auguste Piguet in the Vallée de Joux in 1875, acquiring the name Audemars Piguet & Cie in 1881. The company is best known for introducing the Royal Oak wristwatch in 1972, which helped the brand rise to prominence within the watchmaking industry. One of its earlier achievements was creating the first minute-repeating movement in 1892. The company developed the first skeleton watch in 1934 and has manufactured some of the thinnest watches, such as the 1986 ultra-thin automatic tourbillon wristwatch.

Description

Vintage Audemars Piguet are very hard to find and are highly sought after. Here we have an incredible Audemars Piguet 18ct yellow gold dress watch which is completely original, unrestored and untouched. The outstanding original silver-white dial looks perfect against the 18ct yellow gold case. This watch sits beautifully upon the wrist and is easily read in any light. This watch carries the extremely high grade calibre K2120, 36 automatic movement which has been freshly serviced and is running woderfully.

The Dial

This dial is the most iconic of vintage Audemars Piguet dial designs, which in essence carries through to this day. The silver-white dial carries black ‘Index’ hands with 1 – 12 Roman numerals, all of which make this dial very easy to read when on the wrist.

The dial catches the light beautifully, as we have tried to demonstrate in the photographs, however it looks even better face to face in real life.

The dial is signed with ‘Audemars Piguet Geneve’ at the very top of the dial below 12, along with ‘Automatic’ at the bottom of the dial above 6 and ‘Swiss’ at the very bottom of the dial below 6.

As this dial is in original, unrestored condition, this has been left untouched by our restoration team due to its superb condition. Usually, we restore the dials of the watches we sell, however we decided in this case to leave it alone, due to its unusually good condition and to retain its originality and charm for those who prefer this. It also helps to contrast with almost all of the other watch dials you see on our website, which have been restored. The hands, likewise, have also been left in their original untouched condition.

Please note, studio lights, professional-grade digital cameras, and macro lenses can be very unkind to an unrestored vintage watch dial. Also the dial here measures less than 1.25 inches across, so the image you’re seeing may be between 5 – 25 times larger than the watch itself. Therefore please keep in mind you are seeing many tiny flaws which cannot be seen, or will be very hard to see with the naked eye, even under close examination. Suffice to say, on the wrist, in natural light, this dial looks much better and carries a great deal more charm than the photographs portray.

The Movement

The super high grade calibre K2120, 36 Jewel automatic movement is in incredibly clean and sparkling condition and has just been fully overhauled and serviced by our expert vintage watch specialist watchmaker. The Audemars Piguet Calibre K2120 is a highly regarded mechanical watch movement known for its exceptional thinness and technical sophistication. The Calibre 2120 is an ultra-thin, self-winding movement developed by Audemars Piguet in collaboration with Jaeger-LeCoultre and Vacheron Constantin in the late 1960s.

The example here is running perfectly, having been calibrated to run consistently within plus or minus 9 seconds per day! This is truly outstanding for any vintage watch ands been checked and confirmed on our electronic watch timegrapher. This movement has a power reserve of 40 hours.

This particular movement is in beautiful condition and with regular servicing, say every 3 to 4 years, we would fully expect this watch to continue to run very happily for another 50+ years! We are therefore totally confident in offering this watch with our 12 months written warranty*.

The movement is signed Audemars Piguet, ‘Automatic’, ’Thirty Six (36) Jewels’ and ‘Adjusted to heat cold ’ with the serial number 102645.

*Please note – our 12 months’ warranty is only applicable if the list price is paid.

The Watch Case

The large, very high quality and substantial 18ct yellow gold watch case measures 34mm in diameter, excluding the correct unsigned crown. This incredible example is an ultra thin example measuring only 6mm including the lens, this is incredibly thin for an automatic watch.

From its very early beginnings, Audemars Piguet has been the torchbearer of Haute Horlogerie. This is reflected not only in the quality of its movements, but also in its watch cases. Here, the case is of an attractive two-piece design with elegant straight lugs and a screw-down case-back for improved dust and moisture protection.

The case, the case-back and bezel are all in superb condition with no marks or scratches visible to the naked eye. The watch has been beautifully well cared for and so after a close inspection, has simply required a careful clean and a gentle polish to bring it back to its current, almost as new condition.

The inside of the case back is correclty signed with ‘Audemars Piguet’, ‘Swiss’ along with the correct Swiss 18ct hallmarks, on the exterior of the case back is correctly signed with the case serial number 43415.

Please note – even though this watch was specified as waterproof when new and the rubber seals have been replaced on the case-back and crown, the water-resistance of this watch has not been tested and is not guaranteed.

As ever, our standard advice applies: Vintage watches should be kept clean and dry at all times.

The Strap & Buckle

A high quality brown lizard strap has been fitted, along with a plain gold-plated buckle. However, if a different colour or style of strap is preferred, please let us know and we will do our best to oblige free of charge. We carry tan, conker, dark brown and black in stock, in plain padded leather, crocodile skin or lizard skin, but can also obtain most types and colours of strap from our partners at ‘Watch Obsession’ within 48hrs. Please take a look at their huge range of straps if you wish, here.

Box and Papers

Although there are no original papers with this watch, the reference numbers, markings, signatures and hallmarks are all correct, dating this watch to c1974.

Detailed particulars will be included with our purchase receipt for your interest and security. A separate insurance valuation for the replacement value of this watch will be provided at the time of sale along with our unique ‘Lifetime Authenticity Guarantee’ which states: “If this watch proves to be anything less than 100% genuine, authentic and original, a full refund will be given at any time”.

The high quaity hardwood presentation box shown in the photographs is included in the sale.

Payment and Delivery

If you would like to pay by bank transfer, we will be pleased to assist you with this. Similarly, if you wish to pay by International SWIFT or Bank Wire Transfer we will provide you with our BIC / Swift number and our IBAN number.

Please check the import duties and any taxes your government may apply, these are different for each country and, unfortunately, out of our control.

We understand there may be some ‘loopholes’ that may help you avoid these charges; however, attempting to use these could impact our ongoing ability to serve our growing international customer base.

For those who happen to visit London on occasion, we are, of course, more than happy to store your watch until we can meet you in our offices in Kensington, London, and hand your watch directly to you there.

As with all our watches, this watch will be sold under our 14 days no-quibble sale or return policy.