{"title":"Audemars Piguet","description":"Audemars Piguet wristwatches from Le Brassus, researched and documented by The Estate Collection.","products":[{"product_id":"audemars-piguet-huitieme-chronograph-25644tr-tantalum","title":"Huitième Chronograph in Tantalum and Yellow Gold, c.1988-1990","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eAn automatic chronograph from Audemars Piguet's Huitième line, cased in tantalum and 18ct yellow gold in the first years the firm worked the metal.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTantalum is the reason for this watch. The metal is blue-grey, close to 18ct gold in weight and very hard. It cannot be soldered, so a case has to be cut as one piece, and it is hard on the machines that cut it. Audemars Piguet took it on at the end of the 1980s, first for the Royal Oak and then for this chronograph, and never produced it in quantity: the difficulty of machining kept numbers small, and by the early 2000s the firm had stopped using it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe 25644TR puts gold only where it counts. The bezel ring, the fluted crown and both flat-topped pushers are 18ct yellow gold, and at twelve a gold plaque is let into the bezel, engraved with the maker's name and framed by two recessed channels cut into the tantalum on either side. Against the grey metal the gold reads as detail rather than decoration. The case is 40.2mm across, with lugs that turn down sharply to the strap, 42.7mm from tip to tip.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe dial is anthracite, close in tone to the case, so metal and dial read as one surface and the gold picks out the structure: applied batons, a gold AP monogram, and a fine gold ring around each of the three sunken counters. Running seconds sit at twelve, the thirty-minute counter at nine and the twelve-hour counter at six, with a tachymeter scale at the edge. The hours, minutes and counters take gold hands; the chronograph seconds hand is slim polished steel, which keeps the timing hand apart from the time. The date at three is read through a magnifier set inside the crystal rather than mounted on top of it, an arrangement rarely seen.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt comes from the first years of Audemars Piguet's work in tantalum, and it is the yellow gold version, made alongside one in rose gold. It is still on its Audemars Piguet crocodile strap, and the clasp is the Audemars Piguet double folding type, with the AP monogram on its cover plate.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe marks, the movement and the condition are set out in the drawers below.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Audemars Piguet","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55076602544467,"sku":"WW-0005","price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1080\/3121\/3907\/files\/audemars-piguet-tantalum-wristwatch-1.jpg?v=1790506339"}],"url":"https:\/\/estatecollection.nl\/collections\/shop-by-maker-audemars-piguet.oembed","provider":"The Estate Collection","version":"1.0","type":"link"}