
Pocket Watches · Pocket watch
Audemars Piguet pocket watch, ref. BA5555, circa 1985
- Maker / attribution
- Audemars Piguet (brand / maker)
- Date
- circa 1985
- Historical period
- Quartz Revolution (1969 – 1990)
- Country of origin
- Switzerland
- Object type
- Pocket watch
- Materials / technique
- 18k yellow gold
- Dimensions
- 47 mm. ; weight 80 gr.
- Auction house
- Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva
- Lot
- Lot 390-21
- Credit line
- Auction lot record: LOT 21
- Catalogue title (original)
- AUDEMARS PIGUET, SWITZERLAND, REF. BA5555, PERPETUAL CALENDAR MOONPHASE POCKET WATCH, 18K YELLOW GOLD
Record summary
Catalogued by Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva (lot Lot 390-21), this is a pocket watch by Audemars Piguet, made in Switzerland, dated circa 1985. The Atlas places it in the Quartz Revolution period (1969 – 1990) of its Pocket Watches collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: 18k yellow gold. Recorded dimensions: 47 mm. ; weight 80 gr. The record is illustrated with 1 photograph.
Assembled from the source record's structured fields. Dates and attributions are given as the source states them; where a field is missing the Atlas leaves it blank rather than estimating.
Catalogue description
Antiquorum catalogue description
A very fine, elegant and rare 18k yellow gold, manual wind open-face, keyless-winding, round- shaped, perpetual calendar, moon phase pocket watch with cabochon sapphire-set crown.
Lot specifications (Antiquorum)
Caliber: 5020, rhodium-plated, fausses cotes and oeil-de-perdrix decoration, 20 jewels, straight-line lever escapement, monometallic balance adjusted to heat, cold, isochronism and 5 positions, self-compensating flat balance spring, shock absorber.; Case No.: B63083 Number 19; Movement No.: 244005; Signature: Dial, case and movement; Accessories: Original box and push pin
Historical context
Quartz Revolution (1969 – 1990)
Seiko's Astron begins mass quartz timekeeping; traditional industries contract sharply.
Quartz pocket watches and inexpensive novelty watches appeared, while traditional mechanical pocket watches survived mainly as collectibles and gifts.
Read the period in the timelineMore pocket watches from this periodEarlier: Modern Mechanical Horology
Atlas type guide
Calendar, moon-phase and perpetual calendar watches
Calendar complications range from a simple date to the perpetual calendar, which automatically allows for months of different lengths and leap years until 2100. Pocket watches with perpetual calendars were made in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; Patek Philippe made the first perpetual calendar wristwatch in 1925, and series production followed in 1941. The annual calendar (Patek Philippe, 1996) needs correction only once a year.
Moon-phase displays use a disc with two moons and 59 teeth advanced daily, approximating the 29.5-day lunation; more precise trains reduce the error to one day in over a century.
What to look for
- Apertures or subsidiary dials for day, date, month and leap year.
- Moon disc under a 'bosom' shaped aperture.
- Recessed correctors on the case band for setting the calendar.
Dating clues
- Triple-date wristwatches: popular c. 1940–1955.
- Perpetual calendar wristwatches: from 1925 (unique) and 1941 (series).
General guidance written by the Atlas editors about this kind of object. It is not a statement about this particular piece; for that, rely on the source record above and on physical examination.
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