The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak: the watch that changed luxury
The Cotswold Jeweller · 14 October 2026
In 1972 Audemars Piguet launched a steel sports watch that cost more than many gold watches. Many thought it was a mistake. Today the Royal Oak is one of the most recognisable watches ever made.
Audemars Piguet
Audemars Piguet was founded in 1875 in Le Brassus, in Switzerland's Vallée de Joux, by Jules Louis Audemars and Edward Auguste Piguet. It remains owned by the founding families, one of very few major watchmakers still in family hands.
Gérald Genta's design
The Royal Oak was designed by Gérald Genta, who, the story goes, sketched it overnight. Its octagonal bezel, inspired by a diver's helmet, is held by eight hexagonal screws, and the case flows into an integrated steel bracelet. The dial's fine chequered pattern is known as “tapisserie”.
A steel watch at a gold price
The first Royal Oak, reference 5402ST, measured 39 mm, large for its day, which later earned it the nickname “Jumbo”. It used an ultra-thin automatic movement, and it was priced above many gold watches. It took time to find buyers, but it created a whole category: the luxury steel sports watch.
Why “Royal Oak”?
The name comes from the Royal Navy ships HMS Royal Oak, themselves named after the oak tree in which King Charles II hid after the Battle of Worcester in 1651.
The Royal Oak Offshore
In 1993 Audemars Piguet launched the Royal Oak Offshore, a bigger, bolder chronograph designed by Emmanuel Gueit. Its size earned it the nickname “the Beast”.
See the Royal Oak watches in our shop, or read about the Royal Oak's sibling by the same designer, the Patek Philippe Nautilus.
