REVOLUTION_International_Vol 54

the knowledge or the know-how to differentiate because
there’re a lot of rumors and a lot of people online, who’d say,
“oh, the dial should look like this. It should look like that”.
But none of it is verified by AP. So you don’t really know what
to trust and what to believe.
It was only after I built a relationship with AP that I just
asked them about buying a vintage watch. And they’re very
open about this. You can literally just e-mail the museum
and they’ll tell you what’s legit and what’s not. That’s
incredible. So I did that essentially and it took me a year to
find this because it’s a full set that was sold to the Middle
East. And it comes with a metal box. I didn’t bring it because
I’m travelling but it’s a metal box and I don’t know how many
they made but it says “Royal Oak” on it, it’s super cool. I
didn’t even know that that box existed. So I thought it was
fake, initially. And I sent it to the museum and they’re like,
“this box is so rare”. So I had to get it. And it was a full set,
with box and papers, and it took a year to find. People knew
from my Instagram that I was looking for an A-series 5402
and so they’re constantly sending me photos. But I mean
obviously I can tell if the dial has been swapped, just like the
simple stuff you can tell.
This dial is absolutely breathtaking. This grey is very
different from the B-series gold model dials, which are
darker. Yours is really luminescent.
It’s killer under natural light. But what’s super cool about
this watch is, the papers are stamped by [Middle Eastern
luxury watch distributor] Seddiqi. So this watch was shipped
to the Middle East towards the end of 1972, but it wasn’t sold
until the end of 1973. On the papers, the date was October
1973. So that’s how unpopular these were. It took a year to
sell. And I mean I just had to get one because not only does it
represent history for AP, it was also a paradigm shift for the
A stunning
example of the
Royal Oak Jumbo
reference 5402
A-series in steel,
with a kuminous
slategraydial.
The closed
caseback reveals
the simplicity of
Gérald Genta’s
design formula
for the Royal Oak,
one that still stirs
heartstrings today.
entire watch industry and it created an entire segment that
didn’t even exist — a luxury sports watch.
You make a really good point. In the ’70s, there was an
emergence of international jet-set culture, and people
wanted to have watches that were really elegant, that they
could wear in the swimming pool and do some sports or
whatever. And I think it’s an embodiment of the era which
we are in. The same way that Concept is really cool, as you
were saying, because there’s an embodiment of the era
which it’s born into. It’s a little bit more demonstrative.
It’s very techie. It’s a watch that appeals to connoisseurs,
but also appeals to, you know, like musicians and I believe
there were quite quite a few rappers that have them as
well. Well, thank you so much for joining us. Absolutely
amazing array of watches.
Thanks!
VINTAGE 167