Incoming: Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar Steel/Platinum

[watchguy1234]

Hi friends. For the longest time, my favorite watch design has been the original Royal Oak Jumbo. I was lucky enough to add one to my collection a couple of years ago, well after the hype pushed the market prices up, before the craziness we've seen this year. I've also collected a few of the other modern Royal Oaks, such as the 15450 and 15500, but I've always come back to the original Jumbo as its proportions just reign superior for me. After having the Jumbo for some time, I started to look deeper into complications and into the history of the Royal Oak, and one, in particular, stood out to me. That would be the perpetual calendar. Over time I started to become more and more interested in them, as have others, which you can see with the doubling in price of most models over the past year or so. I went back and forth between many variations, and ultimately wanted a dial other than blue or black, to give enough variation between the QP and Jumbo. I landed on either a white or silver dial and searched for a few months. It's tricky to find the right combination of color, condition, set, provenance, and price. Ultimately I tracked down this 25860SP, which is made of steel and platinum, with a white dial. The reference is more commonly seen with the black dial, but I found that the moon phase pops a bit more on lighter color dials. The watch has a bit more heft than a strictly steel RO QP, which is a nice touch. The white dial plus polished bezel and center links provide a nice contrast with the 15202 Jumbo I also have. I was lucky enough to find it at a reputable dealer which is always nice with a large purchase like this. I also debated between this and the modern 41mm version, but ultimately I found the 39mm to be a bit more timeless for me.