Part of Assouline’s special series, the Legends Collection, each hardcover tome is housed in its own elegant slipcase. These titles are the authority on their subjects, influenced by mythic eras, artists, and high society. Fit for royalty, these books are inspired by tastemakers across the centuries, and are essential to the culturally inclined influencers of today. Royal Oak: From Iconoclast to Icon retraces how the Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak created a stir upon its release in 1972, with its armor of hand-finished stainless-steel encasing the thinnest self-winding mechanical movement of its era and has shone around the world in the decades that have followed. For the first time, steel was ennobled to the same status as gold. Inspired by the profound cultural, artistic, and industrial changes of the 1960s and early 1970s, this forward-looking timepiece anticipated a more active yet casual lifestyle, while heralding the beginning of a new high-end watchmaking era combining sportiness and refinement. The book presents the Royal Oak’s history from a broader cultural perspective, while shedding light on new archival materials uncovered by Audemars Piguet’s Heritage department alongside exclusive testimonies of long-standing friends of the brand. The lively narrative text is illustrated with imagery from six decades of groundbreaking art, architecture, fashion, music, and cultural history, paralleling the evolution of this trailblazing timepiece beloved by innovative tastemakers and influential celebrities around the globe.