WHAT IS SPECIAL
Newer collectors may not realize just how difficult life once was for Audemars Piguet. At the time, even the now-iconic 39mm Royal Oak “Jumbo” could be found discounted, yet still struggled to find buyers. The reference 14802 is a classic illustration of that period.
Created to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Royal Oak, the 14802 was conceived as a limited edition and as an update to the original 39mm Jumbo, the only size the Royal Oak had existed in for its first twenty years. Audemars Piguet announced a total production of 1,000 pieces: 700 in stainless steel (with either a blue dial or a salmon dial), 280 in yellow gold, and just 20 in platinum.
The reality, however, was stark. In the first year, only 401 pieces were produced, and merely 89 were sold. Such a scenario is almost unimaginable today. As a result, Audemars Piguet never completed the originally planned production run of 1,000 watches.
Among the steel versions, the material most closely associated with the original Ref. 5402 and the most archetypal expression of the Royal Oak, Audemars Piguet has since clarified, including through publications by the AP Museum, that the salmon-pink dial (officially referred to as a “pink gold” dial) was produced in significantly smaller numbers than the standard blue-dial Ref. 14802ST. Notably, this also represents the very first appearance of a salmon-colored dial in the Royal Oak lineage.