Audemars Piguet

Audemars Piguet, historically a specialist in the production of complicated watches, has been offering the perpetual calendar complication for 150 years – the first examples produced by the company’s co-founders before officially establishing their workshop in 1875. In 1955, Audemars Piguet created the world’s first perpetual calendar wristwatch with leap year indication, the reference 5516, which was succeeded by the reference 5548 in 1978, powered by the caliber 2120.

The caliber 2120 was born in the face of the Quartz Crisis out of a joint development project by Audemars Piguet, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Vacheron Constantin, and Patek Philippe. For decades, this was the thinnest perpetual calendar movement with full rotor automatic winding. Jacqueline Dimier, Audemars Piguet’s Head of Product Design and the first designer to reinterpret the iconic Royal Oak, designed the restrained and elegant case of the reference 5548. The Quantième Perpétuel Automatique was a massive success.

The reference 25558 was among the first skeletonized variants of the Quantième Perpétuel Automatique and is commonly referred to as the brand’s first skeletonized perpetual calendar wristwatch. Research indicated that 217 examples were produced, with 154 in yellow gold. The present yellow gold example is dated to circa 1983, making it among the first of the reference produced.