Entrepreneur Steve Stoute spotted wearing a Audemars Piguet

Steve Stoute, the prominent music executive and entrepreneur, was photographed wearing an exceptionally rare Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar Openworked ref. 25829TR during a recent social engagement with McLaren Formula 1 driver Lando Norris. The bimetal execution—tantalum paired with 18k pink gold—immediately distinguishes this timepiece as a significant rarity in the collector's market, with production limited to just 16 pieces across 1997–2000.

The ref. 25829TR houses the calibre 2120/2802, a groundbreaking in-house perpetual calendar movement that made its debut in the ref. 25829 series in 1995 and marked the first official perpetual calendar calibre to incorporate leap-year indication. The 39mm case diameter was notably among the last of its kind before Audemars Piguet shifted to 40mm proportions. The sapphire dial construction is the defining technical feature: it permits unobstructed views of the perpetual calendar's underdial complications from multiple angles. Blackened yellow-gold hour and minute hands contrast with blued steel hands governing the calendar functions—a purposeful legibility hierarchy. The octagonal bezel, crown, and tapering bracelet interlinks all execute in 18k pink gold, while the tantalum middle case and caseback lend an industrial refinement rarely paired with precious metals in haute horlogerie.

The 25829TR occupies a singular position within the Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar lineage. Most of the 16 tantalum–pink-gold examples left the manufacture during the first production year, 1997, making later examples exceptionally scarce. This bimetal composition was superseded by full yellow-gold and platinum variants, rendering the tantalum–pink-gold configuration a collectors' outlier. The leap-year register at 12 o'clock echoes the visual language of a Native American medicine wheel when viewed through the sapphire dial—a testament to Audemars Piguet's design intentionality in openworked complications.

Stoute's pairing of the ref. 25829TR with Norris reflects the watch's standing among tastemakers and connoisseurs. The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar has long transcended sport-watch territory; it functions as a technical art object. Stoute's choice underscores a collector's philosophy that privileges depth of mechanics and production scarcity over contemporary prestige.

The 25829TR commands significant premiums on the secondary market, typically ranging from $180,000 to $240,000 USD depending on condition and service history. Official Audemars Piguet retail pricing for perpetual calendar Royal Oaks in comparable configurations historically positioned these watches at approximately $95,000 to $120,000 at launch. The limited production run, combined with the distinctiveness of the tantalum–pink-gold bimetal aesthetic and the calibre 2120/2802's technical milestone status, ensures sustained collector demand and strong appreciation.