Black Audemars Piguet Royal Oak "Karl Lagerfeld": does this prove that he had more than one of these blackout versions?

Jul 06, 2019,05:31 AM
 

KL did - as we know - own an AP Royal Oak 5402 which had been PVD's in black in an aftermarket process in Italy  (i.e. not delivered as such by Audemars Piguet).

Years back, when I had the chance to get hold of my black Royal Oak A-Series:

- it was publicly known that KL owned an AP Royal Oak as he made this statement in at least one interview

- it was NOT publicly/widely known that the AP Royal Oak he owned was totally black. I guess I was the first person to make this widely know here at Watchprosite www.watchprosite.com

- I was told by the seller that the black AP Royal Oak that I was going to buy came from the entourage of KL

- I was told by the seller that KL might have owned several of these black AP Royal Oaks


Now comes the watch-nerd piece of the story and - I guess - another piece of "News" regarding KL and black Royal Oak 5402: I discovered on the pictures below that on both pictures he is being seen with a/the black Royal Oak, but whilst on the first (older) picture you see that the watch has the "AP at 6" configuration, it has the "AP at 12" configuration on the b/w picture.

I am not sure if these details will be visible in this post, but I have the High-Res pictures where this is clearly visible.

What does it mean: this might be prove that he owned several black AP Royal Oak ref. 5402, probably earlier ones (like the black A-Series that I own with the "AP at six" configuration) and probably some later ones (the "AP at 6" moved to "AP at 12" somwhere towards the end of the C_Series production run).


"If's" - "but's" and "when's" - that is the fascination of vintage watch collecting.


Cheers, HSTE


KL on April 2, 1979



KL on June 6, 2002



Detail of the 1979 picture: clearly visible "AP" logo at 6 o'clock and the double line writing (1st line: "Audemars Piguet" / 2nd line: "Automatic") at 12


Clearly visible: the "Automatic" writing at 6 o'clock


"AP at 6" configuration which was the Standard in A-, B- and majority of C-Series


"AP at 12" configuration which started towards the end of the C-Series and in the D-Series







More posts: 54025402STRoyal OakRoyal Oak Jumbo

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Very observant- well done! The entire story fascinated me

 
 By: ChristianDK : July 13th, 2019-15:52
as i was also hugely fascinated with KL. He was a true renaissance man. Sharp, witty and with an enormous flow of creativity.