Yahoo Finance Shopping Time: Prices on AP Royal Oaks Are Dropping Fast. Here Are 5 You Can Buy Right Now.
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Royal Oaks were so expensive a few years ago that it seemed a fool’s errand to shell out the big dough for one. Today, with a sagging watch market devoid of pandemic collectors, the prices for Royal Oaks are coming down significantly, especially for classic references—and especially the 39 mm reference 5402.
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We detailed a similar price dip for Rolexes last week by analyzing market data, and we also offered up five classic Rolexes you could go buy right now. Today, we are excited to share that we’ve got the same good news—and curated recommendations—for specific references of the acclaimed Royal Oak.
Audemars Piguet defined the luxury sport watch genre with the release of the Royal Oak in 1972. The design, which was penned by Gerald Genta (who also designed the rather similar Patek Philippe Nautilus a few years later), remains largely unchanged to this day. The Royal Oak collection itself has grown and diversified, but we will trace the thread that ties the modern Royal Oak back to the original reference 5402. For more on that lineage, you can find an in-depth look at the history of the Royal Oak right here on Robb Report.
While curating this list of significant Royal Oak references, we chatted with experts James Lamdin, founder of Analog:Shift, Giovanni Prigigallo, co-founder of EveryWatch (which you can learn more about in our article on how to use data to collect watches), and Eric Wind of Wind Vintage. Each of these experts tells us exactly where to look for the best deals on classic Royal Oaks, and they all point to the original Royal Oak Reference 5402 and its various descendants.
Lamdin lays it out like this: “The market has definitely turned sour on the ultra-over-retail current [Royal Oak] models. Most of them you can get at, or pretty close to, retail on the secondary market. The brand is still in demand, and so they’re hard to get at the boutiques, but a lot of people are letting [the current models] go very close to retail. So that’s had a knock-on effect [for vintage models], as the sort of hype market has come down on the new stuff. That’s [focused] growth on the vintage market, which are truly desirable, rare, wonderful, historical pieces.”
Just 4,288 examples of the Royal Oak reference 5402 in steel were sold during the model’s 15 year run in the Audemars Piguet catalog. The 5402 are further divided up into lettered series, which point chronologically to different dial configurations: A, B, C, and D. The early A series examples remain the most desirable, yet—even through they still cost north of $100,000—there are still deals to be found on these now.
As Prigigallo told Robb Report earlier this week, “The market for Audemars Piguet Royal Oaks has declined from its peak, but it now offers incredible opportunities. For instance, the original Royal Oak, reference 5402…currently trades between $30,000 and $100,000, depending on the series (A, B, C, or D) and its condition.” To be clear, that price range is far lower than it was a few years ago, when prices for a 5402 Series A were up over $250,000 and often cresting beyond $300,000. Go for a later series—a C or a D—and the prices are getting downright tasty. Prices are so good that even the current-catalog version, reference 16202ST, has made our list.
Eric Wind adds a larger view of things: “The 5402ST is the origin of an icon. The A Series is worth about 2x the B and C, and the first 1,000 A Series are worth even more.” When we asked Wind about the overall market for Royal Oaks, he said, “Overall I’m still bullish with the first series. Watches are still behind art and cars [as collectibles], but the gap for early versus later [watch models] will continue to grow, just as it has with prints and cars.” When it comes to collecting in the luxury sector, nothing is ever as valuable as the original iteration.
If you’re not looking for the earliest examples, however, and have an interest in complications, things get even more interesting. James Lamdin told Robb Report that, “This is definitely a good time to buy if you’re interested in vintage, or sort of quasi-neo-vintage, Royal Oaks.” Lamdin adds that, “The reality is, if you’re looking at 5402s, if you’re looking at 14790s 4100s—any of the sort of mid-size to jumbo models from the 70s and 80s, and maybe into the 90s—it’s a really good time to buy. This includes calendar models, moon-phase models. And I think the best deals are in the bi-metal [a.k.a. two-tone] and solid gold models.”
With these expert insights in mind, we’ve curated five Royal Oaks you can purchase right now. This selection tells the Royal Oak’s story over its lifespan, and these listings represent the state of the Royal Oak market, as well.
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Audemars Piguet Royal Oak 5402ST Series A | $195,000
Let’s start at the beginning, with an A series Royal Oak 5402 ST available from Wind Vintage. When we say beginning, we mean one of the first 100 Royal Oaks ever produced. This example is a ‘full spec’ in original condition, and tells a crystal clear story of the origins of the watch. This watch’s age has only made itself known in a subtle and even manner across the case, bezel and bracelet, representing one of the better preserved examples currently on the market. The case appears to have experienced a light polish at some point in its past, but remains in remarkable condition considering its age from the first quarter of 1972. The last time one of the first 100 of the A series hit the block, it sold for 1,058,000 CHF (around $1.17 million USD) in May 2022 through Philipps. This example is being offered at $195,000.
Audemars Piguet Royal Oak 5402SA | $59,950
In 1977 Audemars Piguet released a bi-metal, or two-tone, Royal Oak in the reference 5402SA. This reference brought a gray dial to a steel case with a gold bezel, and the bracelet utilized gold links as securing points. The look was distinctly different from that of the base steel or full gold references, and while two-toned watches have never caught on in a huge way, they have their ardent supporters, including James Lamden, the seller of this specific one. Lamden told us, “I think a real focus for me is bi-metal: (a) they look really cool, and (b) it’s a very personal flavor. So if you don’t like it, you don’t want it. And if you do like it, it’s badass. I personally have a jumbo two-tone and I just can’t imagine wearing anything else.”
This reference also represents a great relative value in the Royal Oak range, and this example produced in the ‘80s is currently listed for $59,950. It is listed in overall excellent condition, and is offered with its Audemars Piguet service box.
Audemars Piguet Royal Oak 25820ST | $145,000
The Royal Oak may have started life as a simple time and date affair, but it was quick to adopt additional complications, and by the mid ‘80s hosted more complex calendar displays. With the development of the caliber 2120/2800 (the world’s thinnest automatic perpetual calendar when it was launched in 1978), Audemars Piguet had the perfect movement to place within a QP (or Quantième Perpetuel) Royal Oak. The reference 25820ST houses this caliber, and represents an evolution of the complication within the collection, which began with the 25554ST.
In an effort to clarify the abundance of information presented on the dial, the engraved tapisserie pattern has been removed. Instead, the dial is dominated by four sub dials presenting the day, date, month, leap year indication, and phase of the moon. This example offered by The Keystone for $145,000 dates to the ‘90s, and is listed in good condition.
Audemars Piguet Royal Oak 14802ST | $68,493
By the time the ‘90s rolled around, the Royal Oak was a well fleshed out collection, represented in a variety of metals and hosting a myriad of complications, but the simple time and date model was still a direct tie to the original. The reference 14802ST was released in 1992, and featured the AP logo at 12 o’clock, and a slightly revised tapisserie pattern. It was still instantly recognizable, and preserved the DNA of the original Royal Oak for a generation. This MKI example from 1994 available from Chrono24 represents a full kit in very good condition, and is listed at $68,493.
Audemars Piguet Royal Oak 16202ST | $94.950
Finally, we arrive at the current production of the “jumbo” reference 16202, complete with the “AP” down at 6 o’clock on the dial. This reference represents the modern incarnation of the original 5402, with largely the same dimensions at 39 mm in diameter, and a mere 8.1 mm thick thanks to the ultra-thin 7121 automatic caliber within. This example is untouched by age, and appears to be in like new condition, offered as a full set with box and papers.
Our favorite detail about the modern jumbo is the use of the petite tapisserie pattern on the dial, which is intricate and dynamic without overpowering the simple nature of the watch. This example is being offered at $94,950 from Analog Shift.
Please note that we are not affiliated with the sellers of the watches we recommend. We may point out aspects of a listing that we feel are positive, but only you can vet a seller. We can recommend viewing our video “How to Collect It: Vintage Watches” to glean some best practices, however.
