Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, AudemarsPiguet’s the Royal Oak is an icon of modern watchmaking, but this is where it all began: with a drawing by Gérald Genta, designed overnight, inspired by a childhood memory of seeing a man in a vintage diving suit. The first ever luxury sports watch made of steel, it revolutionized the industry when it launched in 1972, retailing at $4,000, an astonishing figure for a watch made of steel at the time. Today we're announcing that this original design and around 100 more by the ‘Picasso of Watchmaking’ Gérald Genta are to be offered in a series of dedicated worldwide auctions next year, each accompanied with a unique NFT, enabling buyers to own these one-of-a-kind designs in both digital and physical form. The Royal Oak design will lead the first ‘Gérald Genta: Icon of Time’ sale in Geneva in February. gerald.genta.heritage #SothebysXGenta #GeraldGenta #SothebysWatches #RoyalOak #WatchesofInstagram #IconofTime #AudemarsPiguet