Audemars Piguet Two-Tone 'Zebra' Dress Watch ref. 4274, 'Zebra' Dial

Dealer description — Oliver & Clarke

The year 1972 was the advent of what is undeniably Audemars Piguet's most famous, significant, and yes, iconic line of watches, the Royal Oak. It was also the year that the 'high-end dress watch' would forever change. Prior to 1972, ultra-thin and design-focused precious metal watches represented the pinnacle of the genre, not what appears to be an industrial-styled stainless steel sports watch with a bracelet. While the brand never stopped producing traditional dress watches, per-se, production of their new golden goose would dominate the rest of the lineup. And this is after considering that prior to the Royal Oak, AP made far fewer watches to start with... The piece that we have here, colloquially known as a ‘Zebra’ for its two-tone 'striped' construction, is a two-tone stainless steel and yellow gold dress watch dating to circa the 1980s. It incorporates two major trends from this era: integrated-bracelets and ultra-thin cases. This example is almost certainly the rarest configuration of the 'Zebra' — the large size case with a manual-winding ultra-thin movement within. It comes in at 25mm x 32mm with a perfectly integrated flat-link bracelet, a signed locking 'butterfly' clasp, and a yellow gold crown. The dial inside would be almost imperceivable if not for the yellow gold bezel framing it, utilizing the same two-tone striped pattern as the rest of the watch, with an applied logo, minimal text on the lower half, and a 'dauphine' handset. The condition of this piece is simply outstanding. Unpolished throughout, it shows only light wear with no notable damage and a stiff bracelet. Stunning, rare, and objectively impressive. This then, is a representation of a bygone era not just for Audemars Piguet, but for what a high-end dress watch used to be. Only in the last few years have collectors and enthusiasts alike started to pay a bit more attention to pieces like these and, we think, its long overdue.