Swiss gold skeletonized dress watch with moon phases Circa 1990

Gold lever with perpetual calendar
–
A rare Swiss 18K yellow gold skeletonized dress watch, circa 1990. With a perpetual calendar, phases and age of the moon. Accompanied by a fitted box, guarantee and hang tag. A solid, polished and brushed case, stepped bezel, transparent case back, cabochon sapphire set winding-crown, sapphire crystals. Transparent outermost radial Roman numerals, subsidiary champagne ring dials for the date, the days of the week, the months, sector for the age of the moon, aperture for the moon phases, inner minute track and blued steel cathedral hands. A gold-plated movement, skeletonized and hand-engraved, 21 jewels, straight-line lever escapement, monometallic balance, shock absorber, self-compensating flat balance spring. Dial, case and movement signed.
–
Thickness: 7 mm
–
Diameter: 49 mm
–
Signed: Audemars Piguet  Genève
–
Audemars Piguet & Cie. Jules Louis Audemars, born on March 28th, 1851 and died on October 15, 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.
–
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.