While today famed for their octagonal design elements as best seen in the Royal Oak, Royal Oak Offshore, Royal Oak Concept, Code 11.59 and others, Audemars Piguet have also got a long list of timepieces that broke from that convention and utilized different designs that broke from their design convention in one way shape or form. One such model is the Huitieme Chronograph that we have here. Launched in the mid-1980s and produced until the late 1990s, the Huitieme features a round 40.5mm case with a stepped bezel that features Audemars Piguet’s name engraved at 12 o’clock. While its design does break away from what has since become AP’s typical design language, the Huitieme is still an intensely unique and classical timepiece that serves to remind us of AP’s status as a fine watchmaker. Made of the extremely rare metal tantalum and 18kt yellow gold, this two-tone example features a simple grey chronograph dial, to match its tantalum case, with a cyclops lens over its date aperture at 3 o’clock, three gold-trimmed subdials and applied indices that ensure the Huitieme is intensely legible, reserved and under-the-radar, all of which it has remained all of these years later.

With a design that celebrates its differences compared to the traditional designs of the time, the Huitieme Chronograph's cyclops lens and unique engraved bezel make for a timepiece that is unlike not just what AP produced at the time but what most other watchmakers would even dare to create, thus highlighting AP's standing as a truly avant-garde watchmaker - especially in this two-tone configuration where tantalum and gold are married together.