Incoming (vintage)

[dh1]

I always wanted a tropical dial!

[Benzsiam]

It looks very charming. What is the ref. No.?

Is this 39mm?

[dh1]

It's a C series 5402ST. It's early in C given the dial layout is the same as A and B series. 39mm: yes.

[winst]

Nice - congratulations!

[Dun]

Spectacular enjoy it

[10XRolex]

Interesting. Like to hear the story behind the find.

[BNA/LION]

Originally Posted by 10xrolex

interesting. Like to hear the story behind the find.

x2

[GregoryZ]

Lucky you!! I'm hoping to get one of those too!

[charger_vital]

Originally Posted by BNA/LION

x2

x3


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[dh1]

Originally Posted by 10XRolex

Interesting. Like to hear the story behind the find.

Not much of an exciting "find" story to tell (other than checking internet sites compulsively) but I'll describe what led me to it!

I have a 15300 and a 15450, but I had been wanting to get a vintage AP RO that had some vintage signs to differentiate it. Something with features like the old font style, the older style tapisserie, charcoal dial, etc. I'd initially started getting interested in the 14790ST, but I only liked the MK 1 and MK 2 generation dials. MK 1 have "Audemars Piguet" in a vintage font, for example:


I reached out to a dealer near me, and he had a tropical 14790ST that was incoming in a few days (see below). I hadn't really thought about tropical dials before that, but this got me thinking that if I got a normal 14790ST or 4100ST dark dial with the AP at 12 o'clock, visually it wouldn't look that much different from my 15300. A tropical dial would be more differentiated. So I arranged to see the watch in person on a Thursday at 2pm. He received the incoming watch Wednesday and posted pictures on his site around 4pm on Wednesday evening. It was sold by 10pm Wednesday to someone else!


So I started looking for a tropical dial vintage piece focused on the mid-sizes but things kept selling too fast or weren't quite what I was looking for. When it comes to the tropical dials I'm somewhat picky about the pattern: some patterns I like while others don't do it for me. I wasn't looking for one where the dial is entirely one uniform brown color or ones where the patina is too localized (e.g. just around hour markers). Here are a few examples of ones that weren't the "look" I was searching for:




I was focused around the mid-size pieces and the 5402 wasn't much on my radar because you don't see much on the open market except the high priced pristine specimens. So it seemed like looking for a unicorn. And if the 5402 dial layout was the second generation, I wouldn't want to pay the premium for 5402. I might as well get a 14790 for far less since 36mm would wear fine for my wrist size and look very similar visually (with the 14790 having a secondhand).

So, I had a giant list of dealers' websites / instagrams / search results that I would check every day looking for something. I even bid on a tropical 5402 (Lot 27) in the May 8th Phillips Geneva Watch Auction, but the final "sold price" is higher than I expected. It is between the A and B series and is in good shape but the dial is a service dial with the second gen layout. This is the one:


One day something popped up that looked very promising, and I inquired and jumped on it!

[agsstructures]

beautiful congrats!

[BNA/LION]

Fantastic journey to hunt down that beautiful AP! Thank you for sharing the story.

[10XRolex]

Well done. Determination is the key to success.

[jbro352]

Beautiful piece, that dial makes it truly unique!


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[Alex6340]

Huge congratulations for this fantastic 5402


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[1William]

Congratulations.

[gqmagic]

People in the other forum could learn from this process, well done!

[Heu]

Congrats!

[dh1]

Thanks all :-)

Since I'm nerdy, I pulled out the digital microscope to see what the "patina" looks like on the dial up close.

[seadubs]

very neat!