Audemars Piguet Royal Oak 'A-Series Jumbo' Ref. 5402ST

A steel watch 'never done before'

The Royal Oak began as a request from salesmen. On February 5, 1969, Audemars Piguet signed a distribution agreement with SSIH, the Swiss group behind Omega, which gave the small Le Brassus maker access to a network of 160 agents and 15,000 retailers. On April 10, 1970, on the eve of the Basel Fair, managing director Georges Golay met three of those agents: Carlo de Marchi from Italy, Charles Bauty from Switzerland and Charles Dorot from France. According to the brand's own history, it was then that the three men, later nicknamed 'the three musketeers,' challenged him to make a luxury watch in steel.

Golay explained the logic in a 1982 interview: the agents 'had reservations about the marketing value of gold alone' and asked for 'a stainless steel wristwatch more in tune with the way we live today,' sporty yet stylish enough for evening wear. It was a risky brief for a company that then made about 5,500 watches a year, mostly in tiny series, and whose strength was ultra-thin dress watches. A luxury sports watch in steel had to compete with established models from Omega, Heuer, Jaeger-LeCoultre and Rolex while costing as much as gold.

That afternoon Golay telephoned the designer Gérald Genta. Genta remembered the '4 pm' call for the rest of his life and quoted Golay as saying: 'Mr. Genta, we have a distribution company that has asked us for a steel sports watch that has never been done before, and I need the design sketch for tomorrow morning.' Genta said he misheard the request as a watch 'whose water-resistance has never been done before,' and reached back to a childhood memory of a diver being fitted with a bolted helmet on Geneva's Pont de la Machine.

The sketch, drawn in gouache and pencil during the night of April 10 to 11, 1970, already held the essentials: an octagonal bezel pierced by eight screws, a visible seal, an integrated tapering bracelet and a dark blue guilloché dial. 'I had to come up with all that in one night,' Genta recalled. Golay showed the drawings to the agents on April 11, and they were won over. The brand's historians caution that Genta told the story 41 years later and that some of his dates 'do not stand up to cross-referencing,' but they say the heart of it holds.

Genta, Golay and the craftsmen who made it possible

Gérald Genta (1931-2011) was 38 and a trained jeweler when he drew the Royal Oak. He had already designed Universal's Polerouter (1954) and reworked the Omega Constellation (1959), and he had sold designs to Audemars Piguet since the 1950s. He went on to design the Patek Philippe Nautilus (1976) and the Bulgari Bulgari (1977), earning the nickname 'the Picasso of watches.' Georges Golay (1921-1987), a farmer's son from the Vallée de Joux, joined the company in 1945 and in 1967 became its first managing director from outside the founding families. 'We were like a tandem,' Genta said of their partnership.

Turning the sketch into a watch took two years and three outside specialists. Favre-Perret, a La Chaux-de-Fonds case maker that had never worked steel, built the case; Genta was told at first, 'Sir, it won't work.' On June 16, 1970, four prototypes in white gold were ordered in a letter signed by Genta himself, which also asked for a quote on 1,000 watches in steel and 100 in gold. The first firm order, for 1,000 steel cases, was signed on May 19, 1971, the largest the brand had ever placed for a single model. A patent application protecting the design's technical principles followed on December 6, 1971.

The dial came from Stern Frères, whose head of design, Roland Tille, had taken over seven old guilloché copying machines and some 300 templates from a neighboring company that had lost the only employee able to run them. Genta and Tille chose 13 patterns for prototypes; the one selected was 'Tapisserie 21,' or T21, now called Petite Tapisserie. The bracelet, 154 components with 34 different sizes, was made by the Geneva bracelet maker Gay Frères, though each one still had to be reworked by hand in Le Brassus.

Inside went Calibre 2121, a self-winding movement with date only 3.05 mm thick and 28 mm across, derived from the ultra-thin Calibre 2120 of 1967 and built on an ébauche supplied by LeCoultre. The brand calls it the world's thinnest self-winding movement with date of its day. The name came last: 'Royal Oak' was chosen more than a year and a half after the first sketch, and the brand credits Carlo de Marchi with suggesting it.

Steel at the price of gold, Basel 1972

The watch arrived in a period of upheaval. The brand's history notes that the United States had just suspended the dollar's convertibility to gold, and that Swiss watchmakers were wondering whether quartz was the future of luxury watches or the death of mechanical ones. Golay judged the gamble worth taking and reduced his risk by persuading his distributors to commit to the watches before they were made.

Nerves ran high in Le Brassus. One watchmaker remembered colleagues calling the new watch 'a monster,' and Golay, a cigar lover, reportedly arrived one morning saying, 'I think we're crazy. We will never sell steel watches at this price!' If they did not sell, he added, the movements would be recovered and the cases scrapped. On April 12, 1972, the head of the casing workshop personally cased the first 20 watches. Four traveled to Basel, where the fair opened three days later.

The price was the shock. According to the brand's archives, the Royal Oak sold for CHF 3,300 in 1972; other published accounts give CHF 3,650, and the brand notes quoted prices varied between CHF 3,650 and 3,750 by 1975, with a US price of $1,950 in 1976. In the brand's own 1972 catalog, a yellow gold ultra-thin dress model was listed at CHF 2,990, and Genta later said the most expensive steel watch of the time cost CHF 850. The advertising leaned into the paradox with lines such as 'Steel at the price of gold' and 'The costliest steel watch in the world.'

Reactions were mixed and thinly documented. Golay's 1972 report to his board said only that 'as far as products were concerned, nothing much changed in 1972.' But witnesses recalled crowds at the display cases, and the Shah of Iran, who had seen a prototype, ordered the first white gold example plus steel watches for his entourage. By the end of 1972 the workshops had produced 565 Royal Oaks and delivered 490, which the brand says was already a record for identical units of one model sold in a year.

From the first serial numbers to a million-dollar record

To make a run of 1,000 steel watches feel exclusive, Golay moved the internal case number inside and had a bold serial number engraved on the caseback, prefixed with the letter 'A' in case further series followed. They did. One history of the model says more than 1,000 had sold by the end of 1973, so the A-series was extended toward 2,000. The brand's archive lists A-series numbers A1 to A1999 and 1,937 watches sold: 490 in 1972, 543 in 1973, 614 in 1974 and 243 in 1975, then a trickle of stragglers through 1989. Some auction catalogs describe the A-series simply as a first batch of 2,000.

The fate of the very first watch is disputed. An unpublished memoir by the brand's former sales manager, cited by the brand, says number one was not delivered until July 8, 1974, to a director of a jewelry firm. An auction catalog for the A2 said it is 'believed' the A1 went to an 'Imperial' family and that its whereabouts are unknown. The same memoir says the very first buyer was a representative of a London jeweler, whose only comment was 'Royal Oak is a pub name here.'

The best-documented early example is 'the A2,' the second Royal Oak made and one of the watches presented at Basel in 1972. It was sold in May 1972, weeks after the launch, and given to its owner as a wedding gift by his brother-in-law, then a retailer of the brand. He wore another Royal Oak every day and put this one away. Offered unworn, unpolished and deliberately left unopened, with box and certificate, it sold for CHF 1,058,500 (about $1,073,319) at a Royal Oak anniversary sale in Geneva on May 6, 2022, a record for any Royal Oak at the time.

Four days later, on May 10, 2022, Genta's personal Royal Oak sold in Geneva for CHF 2,107,000 with fees, doubling that record. It was not an A-series watch: it is a C-series case (C1556) that Genta acquired on May 15, 1978, and fitted with a yellow gold bezel in his own workshop. His widow said it was the only Royal Oak among his roughly 40 watches. Audemars Piguet itself was one of the last three bidders and dropped out.

Ordinary A-series watches trade far below those trophies. One, with an archive extract confirming production on November 8, 1972, realized $32,500 at an online sale in New York that closed on November 7, 2018. Another, case number A 134 with a factory service dial and its original bracelet, sold for $57,150 at auction in New York in June 2025.

How to recognize an A-series 5402

The decisive mark is on the back: an engraving of the letter 'A' and the watch's serial number, which gives an approximate production order. The case is 39 mm wide but only about 7.15 mm thick, a monocoque built from two main parts, the bezel and a one-piece case middle and back, held together by eight hexagonal screws aligned with the bracelet. A visible gasket sits between bezel and case, and the watch is rated to 100 m. The screws were steel at first, but seawater corroded them and fused them to the case, so the brand switched to gold screws from 1972.

The dial is Stern's T21 Tapisserie, described in Stern's records as 'Bleu Nuit 1 + N50': a night blue with 'Nuage 50,' a cloud of black added to the protective lacquer. Because blue is hard to reproduce consistently by electroplating, the brand says the first dials vary slightly in color. With age, some have developed gold or copper tones; the A2's dial was described that way, and catalogs call such dials 'tropical.' The applied AP monogram sits at 6 o'clock, the date at 3, and the hands and markers carry tritium. There is no seconds hand.

The original bracelet is reference 344 by Gay Frères, whose name appears on the folding clasp, sometimes with a date code: the A2's clasp is stamped 'Gay Frères 1.72.' Bracelet 344 was gradually replaced by number 944 from the end of the 1980s. Some details point to later service work: the brand describes a 1979 watch whose 'SWISS MADE' dial transfer came from a refurbishment carried out from the 1980s onward, and the catalog for Genta's own watch said its 'Swiss Made' dial was most likely added later.

Inside, Calibre 2121 beats at 19,800 vibrations per hour, and its rotor runs on ruby rollers along a peripheral rail rather than on a central bearing, which keeps it thin. The brand's records show the first 20 watches carried case numbers 67001 to 67020, with even numbers going to the Italian distributor and odd numbers to the Swiss one.

The template for a whole category

Between 1972 and 1976 the 5402 was the only Royal Oak, in one material with one dial. Gold and two-tone versions followed in 1977, and the brand's archive counts 6,050 examples of Model 5402 sold between 1972 and 2002, against an original plan of 1,000. The steel 5402ST alone sold 4,288 across the A, B, C and D series and two unlettered batches. The brand says the 5402ST stayed in the catalog for 15 years; one auction catalog says the 5402 remained in the catalogs for 25.

The design became the 39 mm 'Jumbo' line: references 14802 (1992), 15002 (1996), 15202 (2000) and 16202 (2022), among others. Calibre 2121 powered every Jumbo until the end of 2021, after which the 16202 moved to the in-house Calibre 7121. The 'Jumbo' nickname itself began circulating in the mid-1970s for oversized watches, borrowing from the famous circus elephant and the Boeing 747.

The Royal Oak's argument, that hand finishing could make steel as precious as gold, was soon borrowed by others: in 1976, the brand notes, the Nautilus was advertised as 'one of the most expensive watches in the world' made of steel. Genta, writing for the Royal Oak's 30th anniversary in 2002, called it 'the masterpiece of my career.'

The numbers

Reference

5402ST (steel); A-series casebacks numbered A1 to A1999

Caliber

Audemars Piguet 2121, self-winding with date, 28 mm, 3.05 mm thick, 19,800 vph, no seconds hand

Case

39 mm stainless steel monocoque, about 7.15 mm thick, eight hexagonal bezel screws, 100 m water resistance

Dial

T21 'Petite Tapisserie' by Stern, 'Bleu Nuit 1 + N50'

Bracelet

Integrated tapering steel bracelet 344 by Gay Frères

A-series sold

1,937 (1972-1989), per the brand's archive; some catalogs describe a first batch of 2,000

All 5402ST sold

4,288 across series A, B, C, D and unlettered batches

All Model 5402 sold

6,050 from 1972 to 2002, including gold and two-tone versions

Launch price

CHF 3,300 (brand archives); CHF 3,650 in other accounts

Timeline

1. Feb 5, 1969

   Audemars Piguet signs a distribution agreement with the Swiss group SSIH after a year of negotiations.

2. Apr 10, 1970

   Three SSIH agents challenge Georges Golay to create a luxury steel watch; Golay phones Gérald Genta, who sketches it overnight.

3. Apr 11, 1970

   Golay presents the sketches to the agents in Basel, and they are won over.

4. Jun 16, 1970

   Four white gold prototypes are ordered from case maker Favre-Perret in a letter signed by Genta.

5. May 19, 1971

   The first order for 1,000 steel cases is signed, the largest the brand had placed for a single model.

6. Dec 6, 1971

   A patent application protecting the Royal Oak's technical principles is filed.

7. Apr 12, 1972

   The head of the casing workshop cases the first 20 Royal Oaks, case numbers 67001 to 67020.

8. Apr 15, 1972

   Official launch at the Basel Fair, the date the brand gives for the Royal Oak's debut.

9. May 1972

   The A2, the second Royal Oak made, is sold weeks after Basel and given as a wedding gift.

10. Jun 16, 1972

    Royal Oak A26, now in the brand's own collection, is delivered to the Swiss market.

11. 1972

    Gold bezel screws replace the original steel ones; 565 watches are produced and 490 delivered by year's end.

12. Jul 8, 1974

    Royal Oak number one is delivered, according to a former sales manager's memoir cited by the brand; another account differs.

13. Mar 21, 1975

    The first B-series 5402 leaves Le Brassus, per one history of the model.

14. 1977

    The 5402 is offered for the first time in yellow gold, white gold and two-tone.

15. May 15, 1978

    Gérald Genta acquires the C-series 5402 he wore until his death in 2011.

16. 1989

    The last A-series sale recorded in the brand's figures.

17. 2002

    The final Model 5402 sale recorded in the brand's archive.

18. Nov 7, 2018

    An A-series 5402ST realizes $32,500 at an online sale in New York.

19. May 6, 2022

    The A2 sells for CHF 1,058,500 in Geneva, a record for any Royal Oak at the time.

20. May 10, 2022

    Genta's personal 5402 sells for CHF 2,107,000 in Geneva, doubling the record set four days earlier.

21. Jun 2025

    A-series case number A 134 sells for $57,150 at auction in New York.

The world in 1972

• Jan 30, 1972

  Bloody Sunday: British soldiers shoot 26 unarmed civil rights marchers in Derry, Northern Ireland; 14 people die.

• Feb 21, 1972

  President Richard Nixon begins an eight-day visit to the People's Republic of China and meets Mao Zedong.

• May 26, 1972

  Nixon and Leonid Brezhnev sign the SALT I treaty and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in Moscow.

• Jun 17, 1972

  Five White House operatives are arrested breaking into the Democratic National Committee offices at the Watergate.

• Sep 1, 1972

  Bobby Fischer defeats Boris Spassky in Reykjavík to become the first American world chess champion.

• Sep 5, 1972

  Eleven Israeli athletes are murdered at the Munich Olympics.

• Dec 7, 1972

  Apollo 17 launches for the Moon, and the 'Blue Marble' photograph of Earth is taken.

• Dec 14, 1972

  Eugene Cernan becomes the last person to walk on the Moon in the 20th century.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, Audemars Piguet Royal Oak 'A-Series Jumbo' Ref. 5402ST is number 42 of 100 in the watches entries of the FLOAT 100. 54 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 (41 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Genta said he misheard Golay's request as a watch 'whose water-resistance has never been done before,' which is why he reached for the image of a bolted diving helmet.
• The name 'Royal Oak' was chosen more than a year and a half after the first sketch; the brand credits Italian distributor Carlo de Marchi with suggesting it.
• The Royal Oak's dial pattern was made on old guilloché machines that a Geneva company gave away after losing the only employee who could run them.
• The bezel screws were originally steel, but seawater corroded them and locked them to the case, so gold screws were used from 1972.
• Of the first 100 Royal Oaks sold in 1972, only four came back for water-resistance problems through 1982, according to the brand's casing records.
• Before the Royal Oak, Golay and Genta wore the same watch, a Model 5233 whose shape was inspired by an almost completely dissolved bar of soap.
• Gérald Genta owned about 40 watches but only one Royal Oak, and he wore it on his right wrist because he had broken his left as a young man.
• When Genta's own Royal Oak was auctioned in 2022, Audemars Piguet was one of the last three bidders and dropped out.