Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Chronograph 'Panda' 26331ST 2021

Reference 26331ST is the Royal Oak Selfwinding Chronograph in steel, and the silvered dial with black counters is the one the market calls the Panda. Of the chronograph dials Audemars Piguet has put in this case, it is the one that best survives being looked at every day.The dial is the thing to understand. Grande Tapisserie is not a print or a stamp — it is a grid of tiny raised squares cut into the brass blank on antique rose-engine machines, one square at a time, before the plate is galvanised and finished. It takes hours per dial and it cannot be rushed, which is why the pattern has depth that photographs badly and reads beautifully in the hand. Tilt it and the whole surface changes character; hold it still and it is almost plain.Audemars Piguet describe this as a two-tone dial with the black chronograph counters at nine and three deliberately expanded, and that asymmetry is what makes the Panda work. Enlarging the two flanking registers pushes them towards the dial edge and leaves the centre open, so the watch reads as a face with two eyes rather than a cluster of holes. Against the frosted white gold and grey-dial chronographs in the same case, this is the plainest and the most legible.A 41 mm stainless steel case with the octagonal bezel on its eight hexagonal screws, the integrated bracelet that made the design, and water resistance of 50 metres per the factory tag supplied with the watch.Brand new, 2021, offered as a full set. A second hand watch that has not been worn.Every watch is authenticated by an independent watchmaker before it changes hands, never by us. Viewing by appointment at our Collins Street boutique in Melbourne, insured delivery Australia-wide. We buy Audemars Piguet outright and source specific references on request.