FLOAT 100 · Jewelry · No. 88
Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, Diamond-Set (rose gold)
In 1970 Gerald Genta sketched a steel watch overnight that its maker sold as the costliest steel watch in the world; half a century later the same octagon comes in solid pink gold with 40 diamonds around the bezel.
- Year
- current
- Maker
- Audemars Piguet
- By price in jewelry
- 41 of 100
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Create a free account- Reference
- 15451OR.ZZ.1256OR.01, Royal Oak Selfwinding 37 mm (current listing 15451OR.ZZ.1256OR.01.A)
- Case
- 18-karat pink gold, 37 mm across, 9.8 mm thick, glareproofed sapphire crystal and caseback
- Diamonds
- 40 brilliant-cut diamonds on the bezel, about 0.90 carat (the maker's page also gives about 0.88 carat)
- Dial
- Silver-toned 'Grande Tapisserie' pattern, pink gold applied hour markers, luminescent Royal Oak hands
- Bracelet
- Integrated 18-karat pink gold bracelet with AP folding clasp
- Movement
- Calibre 3120, self-winding, hours, minutes, seconds and date
- Introduced
- 2012 (the 15451 family)
- Designer of the original
- Gerald Genta, 1970
- Maker's U.S. price
- $74,200, taxes excluded, as of October 2026
A phone call at 4 p.m.
On April 10, 1970, at 4 in the afternoon, the Audemars Piguet executive Georges Golay called the designer Gerald Genta and asked for a steel sports watch of a kind never done before. Genta delivered the first sketch overnight. He later recalled a childhood memory of a diver being fitted with a helmet, and said he was tempted to put a highly prestigious movement inside a case that recalled that helmet.
The result had an octagonal bezel held by exposed screws and an integrated steel bracelet. Prototypes were ordered in June 1970, and on May 19, 1971, Jacques-Louis Audemars signed an order for 1,000 steel cases. The name came from the company's Italian distributor, Carlo de Marchi, who borrowed it from the British warships called Royal Oak, themselves named for the oak tree that hid the future King Charles II.
The Royal Oak, reference 5402, was launched at the Basel fair on April 15, 1972. It measured 39 millimeters, used calibre 2121, then the world's thinnest self-winding movement with a date at 3.05 millimeters, and cost CHF 3,300, billed as the most expensive stainless steel watch in the world. Its maker delivered 490 in the first year.
The house and the designer
Audemars Piguet was founded in 1875 in the Vallee de Joux by Jules Louis Audemars and Edward Auguste Piguet, took the name Audemars Piguet & Cie in 1881, and is based in Le Brassus, Switzerland. It has been family-owned since its founding. Its earlier achievements included the first minute-repeating movement, in 1892.
Gerald Genta, born in Geneva on May 1, 1931, went on to design the Patek Philippe Nautilus in 1976 and watches for several other houses. He died on August 17, 2011. The Royal Oak is widely considered the first luxury sports watch.
It arrived during the quartz crisis, when cheap, accurate electronic watches were undercutting Swiss mechanical watchmaking. A steel watch billed as the costliest in the world was a bet that luxury did not have to depend on precious metal.
The 37-millimeter jeweled version
A women's Royal Oak followed in 1976, and the line has grown into many sizes and materials. The 15451 first appeared in 2012: a 37-millimeter Royal Oak Selfwinding with a bezel set with 40 brilliant-cut diamonds, the gem-set sibling of the plain-bezel 15450. Both use the self-winding calibre 3120.
Reference 15451OR.ZZ.1256OR.01 is the version in 18-karat pink gold with a matching gold bracelet and a silver-toned dial. The maker lists the case at 37 millimeters across and 9.8 millimeters thick, with a glareproofed sapphire crystal and caseback and a screw-locked crown. The dial carries the Royal Oak's 'Grande Tapisserie' waffle pattern, pink gold applied hour markers and luminescent Royal Oak hands.
The bezel holds 40 brilliant-cut diamonds. The maker's own page gives the total two ways, about 0.90 carat in its summary and about 0.88 carat in its gem-setting detail. Calibre 3120 has 40 jewels, beats at 21,600 vibrations per hour and has about 60 hours of power reserve.
The maker's U.S. site lists the current version, reference 15451OR.ZZ.1256OR.01.A, at $74,200, a non-binding recommended price excluding taxes, as of October 2026.
From steel provocation to gold jewel
The Royal Oak is considered the most popular watch Audemars Piguet makes. Its 20th anniversary brought the larger Royal Oak Offshore, introduced in 1993, and the line has since added perpetual calendars, openworked models and concept watches.
The diamond-set pink gold 37 mm turns Genta's argument on its head: a watch first sold on the idea that steel could be a luxury now appears in gold and diamonds, while keeping the screwed octagonal bezel, the diving-helmet logic and the integrated bracelet that made it famous.
The numbers
- Reference
- 15451OR.ZZ.1256OR.01
- Case
- 18k pink gold, 37 mm, 9.8 mm thick
- Gem-setting
- 40 brilliant-cut diamonds on the bezel, about 0.90 ct (also given as about 0.88 ct)
- Calibre
- 3120: self-winding, 40 jewels, 21,600 vph, about 60 hours reserve, 26.60 mm
- Bracelet
- Integrated 18k pink gold, AP folding clasp
- Production
- Not limited; 15451 family introduced 2012
Timeline
Jules Louis Audemars and Edward Auguste Piguet found their company in the Vallee de Joux.
The firm takes the name Audemars Piguet & Cie.
Georges Golay calls Gerald Genta at 4 p.m.; Genta sketches the Royal Oak overnight.
Jacques-Louis Audemars signs an order for 1,000 steel cases.
The Royal Oak, reference 5402, launches at the Basel fair at CHF 3,300.
A women's Royal Oak is introduced.
A Royal Oak perpetual calendar is introduced.
The larger Royal Oak Offshore is introduced.
Gerald Genta dies.
The 37 mm Royal Oak Selfwinding 15451, with a 40-diamond bezel and calibre 3120, appears.
The maker lists the pink gold 15451OR.ZZ.1256OR.01.A at $74,200 in the U.S.
The world in 2012
The cruise ship Costa Concordia runs aground off Italy.
Psy releases 'Gangnam Style'.
The Summer Olympics open in London.
NASA's Curiosity rover lands on Mars.
Felix Baumgartner breaks the sound barrier in a record space dive.
Barack Obama is reelected president of the United States.
Xi Jinping becomes general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party.
Price record
This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.
By reference price, Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, Diamond-Set (rose gold) is number 41 of 100 in the jewelry entries of the FLOAT 100. 44 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (88 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.
Did you know
- Gerald Genta sketched the first Royal Oak overnight after a single phone call.
- The 1972 Royal Oak cost CHF 3,300, billed as the most expensive steel watch in the world.
- The name comes from British warships, which took it from the oak that sheltered Charles II.
- The original 1972 movement was the thinnest self-winding movement with a date, at 3.05 mm.
- Only 490 Royal Oaks were delivered in the first year.
- Genta said the design recalled a diver's helmet he saw as a child.
How this page is made
- The figure
- One reference price, shown with its own kind. FLOAT does not average it with anything or adjust it for time.
- Realized or not
- A realized price is a completed sale. An asking price, an estimate and a price-guide value are not sales, and are labeled as such wherever they appear.
- The story
- Researched from published records and checked fact by fact. Updated Oct 3, 2026.
- Archive
- Oct 5, 2026