Released in 1972 and designed by Gerald Genta, watchmaking's most famous designer, the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak was the first stainless steel luxury sports watch ever to exist. Released as a tactic to survive the quartz crisis, the Royal Oak can single-handedly be thanked for AP's existence today due to its astounding success, albeit it wasn't an overnight hit. Its sizeable tonneau-shaped case, signature integrated bracelet, octagonal bezel, exposed screws, and steel construction failed to win over collectors until a few years later. Today, the Royal Oak is one of the most highly-coveted timepieces in all horology as its previously dismissed design details have permeated across the industry and into watches like the Patek Philippe Nautilus, Vacheron Constantin Overseas, Rolex Oysterquartz, amongst many other legendary timepieces.

Existing as a celebration of both; AP's longstanding tradition as the masters of skeletonization and openworking and pure horological engineering, the Royal Oak Double Balance Wheel Openworked ref. 15407ST is the distillation of the very thing that makes watchmaking so spectacular and entrancing for us enthusiasts. A piece of art in and of itself, the ref. 15407ST does not only provide an unfettered view of its exceptionally finished and heavily-skeletonised automatic cal. 3132 movement; it does so while delivering exceptional accuracy via the use of two balance wheels sharing the one axis. Furthermore, its iconic Royal Oak bracelet and case are as fantastic and intricate as ever, yet the ref. 15407ST's dial still steals the show and slingshots it into the annals of watchmaking history thanks to its meticulous approach to elevating the Royal Oak beyond what was initially thought possible through the prism of the tapisserie dials that typical adorn the Royal Oak. While they are fabulous, they aren’t quite up to what the ref. 154707ST has for a dial, which is what makes this such a desirable piece of Genta-designed iconography.