ROME, 1655. The sun sinks behind the colonnades, bells ripple over the Apostolic Palace and Pope Alexander VII frowns at a clock that ticks too loudly in a room meant for sleep.
The complaint lands with Giuseppe and Matteo Campani, who invented a silent escapement, an astronomical idea made practical, time gliding like a planet along its orbit; no sound, no fuss, only motion.
Centuries later, in Le Brassus, Audemars Piguet, the master of dress complications, took this old Roman dream and gave it a wrist. Enter the Star Wheel, launched in 1991 and still one of the most poetic ways to read an hour.
Three sapphire disks, each carrying 4 hours, orbit a central hub, taking turns to sweep along an arched minute track at the top of the dial. The hour floats forward, handless, unhurried, as if traced by starlight. It’s the Campani idea reimagined with Swiss finesse: time that wanders, but never loses its way.
Which brings us to this unicorn.
The Audemars Piguet Star Wheel, reference 25720BA, in 18k yellow gold with the elusive guilloché dial. The engine-turned pattern catches light like ripples on a Roman fountain; the sapphire hour discs hover above it, as if levitating.
Here is the kicker: this example is new old stock, a full set. Boxes, papers, the works; preserved as if time, for once, chose not to wander at all.
Pieces like this didn’t flood the market when they were created; they were made in precious metal, in small numbers, for people who appreciated discretion. In New Old Stock, Full Set condition? That’s not just rare; it’s practically impossible.
