An automatic chronograph from Audemars Piguet's Huitième line, cased in tantalum and 18ct yellow gold in the first years the firm worked the metal.
The 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.
- 1Gold-ringed countersRunning seconds at twelve, the thirty-minute counter at nine and the twelve-hour counter at six, each sunken and ringed in gold.
- 2The AP monogramAn applied gold AP monogram among applied gold batons.
- 3The date magnifierThe date at three is read through a magnifier set inside the crystal rather than mounted on top of it.
- 4Chronograph secondsSlim polished steel, which keeps the timing hand apart from the time.
- 5Tachymeter scaleA tachymeter scale at the edge, graduated from 60 to 500.
Tantalum 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.
The 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.
The case number is stamped on the snap-on back. It falls below the numbers of documented 25644TR cases from around 1990, and below one delivered new in April 1991, which places this watch at c.1988 to 1990, in the first years Audemars Piguet made cases in tantalum. The watch is signed on the dial and on the gold bezel plaque, and it remains on its Audemars Piguet signed strap and double folding clasp.
- Maker
- Audemars Piguet
- Model
- Huitième Chronograph
- Reference
- 25644TR
- Case
- Tantalum and 18ct yellow gold
- Diameter
- 40.2mm
- Lug to lug
- 42.7mm
- Movement
- Automatic chronograph, calibre 2126/2840
- Jewels
- 51
- Functions
- Hours, minutes, running seconds, chronograph with 30-minute and 12-hour counters, tachymeter, date
- Dial
- Anthracite, applied gold markers
- Case number
- C42054
- Date
- C.1988-1990
- Origin
- Switzerland
- Strap
- Audemars Piguet crocodile strap and double folding clasp
- Box and papers
- None
- Warranty
- 12 months, mechanical, through Vintage Times Amsterdam from date of delivery
12-month mechanical warranty through Vintage Times Amsterdam from date of delivery.
