Author Topic: A week on the wrist: Audemars Piguet Quantième Perpétuel “Open-Worked” 25668BA  (Read 1251 times)

Offline r3kahsttub

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Here we are again with some late night ramblings...

The 3 long years of Covid has brought about much change to the landscape of watch collecting. We’ve seen prices soar to unbelievable heights, so much so that I have come to question myself, are some of these watches worth their supposed market prices? Don’t get me wrong, the Rolex Daytona, Patek Philippe’s Nautilus and Aquanaut and Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak are all, still, very nice watches. Can their market rates justify their capabilities in the real world? Heck, I would go as far to say that I have begun to question even the current retail prices for a whole lot of watches (but that would be a long story again for another day.

It has been two years since I acquired my Élégante 48 and I had started to look towards the left field, to see if I could see other watches which I could find value in. While I have always been that guy who has always echoed the “Base is Ace” logic, often settling for the 3-handers, there was an itch that was starting to develop. In fact, I had always wanted to find an appropriate birth year watch, but never could seem to find a suitable candidate.



Fast forward to late 2022 and I had started look at calendar and retrograde complications; specifically annual calendar and perpetual calendar watches.  There is a specific era of perpetual calendars that is interesting: between 1978 to 1985 where the Holy Trinity of watches produced ultra-thin, automatic perpetual calendars – and in an era where quartz watches (Seiko debuts the first quartz watch on 25th December 1969) had nearly decimated the Swiss watch industry. Think about it – why bother assembling a complicated mechanical timepiece when you can have cheap and reliable, battery powered time-keeping?

But back to the story and blip to early 2023 when a good friend offers to let me wear his AP QP for a week. It was an offer I could not refuse. Specifically, the watch in question was an AP reference 25668BA: an open-worked version of AP’s perpetual calendar from the 1980s.





Now, it is not easy to produce an aesthetically pleasing open-worked watch – after all, there is literally nowhere to hide. And yet AP have produced a stunningly beautiful watch with the 25668BA. Housed in a 36mm YG case with short lugs, the perpetual calendar is displayed clearly with a moonphase indicator at 6 o’clock (although lacking a leap year indicator). While the hour and minute baton hands are in YG, the sub-dial hands are in blued steel and sitting just behind the dial is the intricate network of springs, gears and bridges – all of which are hand-finished to perfection.

Turn it around however, and you have an exhibition caseback which displays an intricately engraved winding rotor. Truly a masterclass of finishing from AP, evident even in some of the watches which they produce today.  It is easy to get lost when staring into the watch, forgetting to read the time. 

Reading through some of the information that is available online, it would seem that AP produced some 7,219 perpetual calendars over the course of fifteen years, across 70 different models and 200 variations. However, the reference 25668 saw only 205 examples made, with only 94 ever made in YG. In other words, it is highly unlikely you’ll run into another one of these, the next time you’re at a social situation.





On the wrist.
There was a time when I could never have imagined owning or wearing a watch that measures just 36mm. Even a Datejust 36 feels small on my wrist; a boy-size watch that a larger fella like me could never pull off. However, I never once had an issue contemplating whether I should strap the 25668BA on for the day. It was always a grab and go affair. Again, I have never been one to worry about trying to match my watch with my attire, so perhaps this never really mattered.

At 36mm wide and just 7.5mm thin, it can be easy to forget you have it strapped on, even after a long day. But oh, what a sight to behold when your mind is weary after a brutal day in the office. Whether with a t-shirt or with long sleeves, shorts or more formal attire, I have found it to be a perfect companion in every way. It feels like almost a pity that most manufacturers today seem to have forgotten their glory days, focused instead on larger and more bling watches.

Have I also mentioned how this watch feels almost… discreet? It may be an open-worked AP, but no one really knows if it isn’t a Nautilus or Royal Oak or Daytona. Right? And in the real world, I consider this to be a plus point. All this for less than a Patek 5711!





And fin.
By the end of the week, I know that this sits very high on my list of holy grail watches. Through the time I spent wearing this watch, I also seem to have evolved and perhaps in some ways, understood myself a little better. I have found myself more accepting of smaller sizes, more excited with complications, and truly appreciative of ultra-thin watches. And perhaps in some selfish way, there is some desire to have what no one else can -- and for that nod of acknowledgement only from someone who understands.

In the meantime, this has also ignited my desire to search for a birth year perpetual calendar. A decade long of searching, and finally scratching that itch… ahh what a way to close a chapter. In reality, that book has been closed already and that remains to be a story told for another day.

Just in case you were wondering: yeah, not very many people with perpetual calendars bother to set the correct day, date, month, year, leap year and moonphase indicator. Especially not on these older QPs which are a little more complicated to set.

Offline hoho1111

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Jesus that is an absolutely stunning piece. I’m sorry I didn’t read your post yet but had to comment on the looks first before I start reading.