Audemars Piguet Buys Original Royal Oak Design at Auction For $610,586 USD

The original hand-painted design of the watch that would go on to become the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak was sold at auction in Geneva yesterday for $610,586 USD.

Legendary designer Gerald Genta hand-painted the many thousands of watch designs he created over a five decade-long career.

Thirty bidders battled it out to secure the painting, in the first of the Gerald Genta: Icon of Time series of auctions to be held by Sotheby’s this year offering up 100 of Genta’s original designs, each paired with NFTs containing biographical information on the late designer.

Genta’s designs resulted in not only the Royal Oak, but also the Patek Philippe Nautilus, the IWC Ingenieur, the Omega Constellation, the Universal Geneve Polerouter and the Bulgari Bulgari among countless others.

The auction also saw the “first draft for the prototype of the Royal Oak” sold for $163,544 USD, which saw the watch’s famous octagonal bezel in a different alignment to the final production model and a line running down the middle of the bracelet.

The auction series continues in Hong Kong in March, headlined by the original design of the Nautilus and then New York in April, which will offer designs of the many “Retro Fantasy” Disney character watches produced by Gerald Genta’s eponymous watch brand.

The series finale in May will see Genta’s personal Audemars Piguet Royal Oak watch auctioned off.

Update: Industry title WatchPro received confirmation from Audemars Piguet that the Le Brassus brand was the winning bidder and the artwork will go on display in its museum.

In other watch news, Bonhams sells Royal Navy-issued Rolex “MilSub” Submariner.