Elegant Swiss gold skeletonized keyless dress watch Circa 1981

Thin gold lever dress watch
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An elegant and thin Swiss, 18K yellow gold skeletonized keyless dress watch, circa 1981. Accompanied by an Audemars Piguet pouch, a copy of the original invoice and an Audemars Piguet overhaul receipt dated April 2015. A solid case, stepped bezel, sapphire crystals. Transparant dial with black feuille hands. Gilt brass movement, skeletonized and hand-engraved, twenty jewels, straight line lever escapement, mono metallic balance, adjusted for heat, cold, isochronism and five positions, shock absorber, self-compensating flat balance spring.
Case and movement signed.
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Diameter: 44 mm
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Thickness: 5 mm
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Signed: Audemars Piguet  Swiss
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Audemars Piguet: Jules Louis Audemars, born on March 28th, 1851 and died on October 15th, 1918 and Edward Auguste Piguet born in 1853 and died in 1919 were two young and ambitious watchmakers who established their workshop in 1875 in their home village Le Brassus, Vallée de Joux, Switzerland. Audemars was in charge of production and technical aspects while Piguet focused on sales and management. Believing in the power of the Vallée de Joux’s network of artisanship and following their firm convictions, they set on crafting unique complicated mechanisms by hand at a time when serial production was looming with the rise of industrialisation.
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While the two entrepreneurs first produced complicated movements that were sold to Geneva-based firms, they soon orchestrated the production of complete watches in the region by coordinating the activities of a variety of craftsmen, buying in blanks, cases, dials, bracelets and sending out pieces for gem-setting and decorating. The miniaturisation, design, assembly and setting of movements were then done at Audemars Piguet’s workbenches. The company ledgers demonstrate that nearly 80% of the 1600 watches produced by Audemars Piguet between 1882 and 1892 included at least one, if not several complications. Refined chiming, chronograph and astronomical watches, assembled and finished by hand, have remained the beating heart of Audemars Piguet ever since.