Buying, Selling, & Collecting: The Full Story Of Audemars Piguet's 'John Shaeffer,' A Neo-Vintage Classic

In the 1920s, Audemars Piguet would create a watch that would eventually become known as the brand’s most important watch in its heritage and permanent collection. Around seventy years later, it would spawn a full collection, created by one of the brand’s most influential designers and greatest watchmakers of the time. And yet, if you spend a few minutes online, you realize that very few people could tell you the name of the watch.

They’ll try. There are loads of Chrono24 listings of Audemars Piguet “Schaeffer” watches. Google and Everywatch both try to force you to use the same. Well-respected dealers often use “Schaeffer.” Actually, between Christie’s, Sotheby’s, Phillips, and Antiquorum, none of the major auction houses has escaped the typo unscathed. What typo? Well, the watch is the Audemars Piguet John Shaeffer, a small, square-ish little watch with a name that should be easy to remember. How so?

Count the letters. J-O-H-N-S-H-A-E-F-F-E-R. Twelve letters, no “C.”  The story of the watch, its American industrialist owner, and the short-lived mid-1990s collection all tie back to the watch above, with one letter for each hour. As someone who has been fascinated by the watch, its story, and the dearth of information, the typo has been a thorn in my side as I’ve spent the last few years collecting information about this curious little watch.

I found further impetus for the story in the factory customization of Tom Brady’s AP Royal Oak, which sold at Sotheby’s late last year for $720,000. When I posted about it on Instagram, many found it gaudy and gauche. They privately told me they felt it was a hype-driven customization that Audemars Piguet would never have done before. They were very wrong—not just about AP, but also about Patek and other brands. In 2014, Ben covered the original “John Shaeffer” watch from Audemars Piguet, a platinum minute repeater with a shape known internally to the brand at the time as a “tortue.” Now we’re going in-depth.

There isn’t much information widely available about the history of the original John Shaeffer or the eventual collection, but it’s incredible what you can learn if you ask. Audemars Piguet has one of the most robust archives and production catalogs of any major brand. However, that knowledge is not always easily categorized by model (though they’re actively working to do just that). They were willing (happy, even) to help research for me, taking a lot of time to answer my many, many questions.

With help from the heritage team at Audemars Piguet, alongside my own research, a simple inquiry to the brand instead resulted in a story that tells the near-complete narrative of not only the neo-vintage revival of the John Shaeffer but also rewrites the history of what Audemars Piguet has called “one of the most significant timepieces in the Audemars Piguet Heritage collection.”

It’s the 30th anniversary of the commercial launch of the model and the 100th anniversary of the original’s delivery to the United States for the first time. That means it’s the perfect time to explore the 1990s John Shaeffer collection. But first, let’s go back even further.

1907 – The Untold Story of the Original ‘John Shaeffer’

If you peruse Audemars Piguet’s book “20th Century Complicated Wristwatches,” you’ll find a treasure trove of information, the most widely cataloged of which covers the 2120/2800-based perpetual calendar watches. AP made thousands of those watches, so the data is invaluable. But Chapter 1 focuses on miniature chiming watches, of which AP made 228 examples from 1882 to 1930. At the beginning of the 1900s, a watch with an eight ligne (17mm) minute repeater movement cost CHF 2,700 while a grand complication pocket watch cost only CHF 2,000. However, until the 1990s, AP only produced some 35 minute repeating wristwatches, all of which were unique. Only seven were made from 1945 to 1960.

Flipping through the book, there are some truly tremendous watches. I’m partial to the above 1934 “Carree Coins Arrondis,” made for the American client named W. Talmann, which looks like a minute-repeater Cartier Santos Dumont and might be, bar none, one of the top three coolest watches AP ever made. The titular watch, the “John Shaeffer,” is listed alongside a number of other tortue repeaters, including ones for Gübelin and Cartier (which sold at Phillips in 2015 for CHF 509,000). The bones of its story are outlined in the book, but thanks to new research from Audemars Piguet, we have a much more in-depth understanding of its circuitous path to AP prominence.

The book condenses the story into something a bit more understandable, but here’s the entire timeline. The manufacture of what would be the “John Shaeffer” began on February 26, 1907, when movement no. 11649 went into production. The movement was based on an L.E. Piguet ébauche repeater caliber 12SMV. By 1908, the watch, cased in pendant form, was placed under the account of Guignard and Co. The watch is listed in AP’s archives as having the following finishes (translated from French and somewhat clarified):

12″‘SMV movement no. 6, 18k, caliber L.E. Piguet. Matte 14k gold. Enameled Breguet hours. Black, nameless [no signature]. Wide, soft stripes. Blue Breguet hands. Pointed lens. Pendant without collar (?). Ann Paris special (?) case, 32mm by 29.5mm, 18k yellow gold without cuvette, American hinge. Inlaid-style movement, caseband clear of its entire width. Movement & 12″‘ dial

In additional paperwork added to the register (probably around 1915), the archive adds that the watch was finally sold to Asprey in 1908. That was just the start.

Audemars Piguet’s “Complicated Wristwatches” jumps ahead to 1923, but before then, AP actually took the watch back from Asprey on exchange, “restored it to perfect condition” (according to the notes at the time), had it readjusted by an E. Nicole, and returned the watch to sellable stock by June 1915. According to the same register, the movement WAS next revised for Gübelin in 1923. A letter, sent April 18, 1923, to casemaker Eggly & Co., stated that it was “extremely urgent” to recase the watch with “utmost care” in 18-carat green gold and platinum. By then, the watch had started to take its final form, and despite asking for this and lugs with “hoops,” the watch was finally delivered with the following designs: 

“Total diameter 31.5 mm on sides. Fineness and assay: 18k gold and platinum. Shape: Cubist cushion, platinum bezel, without cuvette, tortoise lugs, polished. Dial, size: striped finish [barely legible], 22mm enamel minute track. Hands: [barely legible] Breguet hour markers in gray relief. Engraving: Audemars Piguet. Miscellaneous: gray leather strap with a movable gray gold buckle.” The minute repeater slide also runs in the reverse direction.

On October 16, 1925, the watch found a new home with the Metric Watch Company in New York. According to a sheet added to the movement register, there are not many details regarding the sale. In fact, the register notes a possible accounting error of a lost invoice. It’s possible that the lost paperwork would also answer one unknown question, when the watch was sold to one of the oldest American jewelers, Black, Starr, & Frost, which was founded on 5th Avenue in 1810. Their name appeared on the edge of the curved caseback. Probably at the same time, the watch was engraved for the first owner who would keep it for more than a few years.

John Wallace Shaeffer was vice-chairman of the Allied Chemical and Dye Corporation. The US company had been founded just a few years earlier, in 1920, and operated in the sectors of chemicals, automotive, oil, and gas. Just like other industrialists, such as James Ward Packard, Shaeffer seemed to have an affinity for watches.

In 1927, Shaeffer made his final modification to the watch. It was sent back to Audemars Piguet, and the dial was remade with his name in place of the hour markers. The watch was refurbished yet again, including the case, and returned to the customer by Véron & Egouvillon in Paris on August 3, 1927. Shaeffer must have spent a lot of time in Paris, as evidenced by the fact that in 1935, the repeater wasn’t triggering properly, and the watch was returned for repair via Paris once again.

While the personalization might seem odd, it was somewhat en vogue at the time. This kind of customization has been found on watches made by everyone from Waltham and Illinois to Patek Philippe. In American pocketwatch collector parlance, these are often called “Runic dials,” a term also used by those early American watch manufacturers like Waltham, as evidenced by a sample dial that, in addition to the names “Rafael Y Lusia,” reads “Runic” and “Extra Old Eng.” for the font. 

Some prefer the term “personalized dials” over “Runic,” as the latter was more likely to be specific to the font.  These dials were hand-painted at the factory as part of a customization service, such as printed retailer signatures or “private label” watches for the United States market. My instinct tells me, based on the number of these that I’ve seen, that this kind of customization was probably more common in the Americas in general than anywhere else.

1990s – The Origins of Rebirth

The rebirth of the “John Shaeffer” didn’t start with the model itself. As the Swiss watch industry still reeled from the quartz crisis, a few young specialists emerged to take up the mantle of complicated watchmaking. There was a renewed energy from brands trying to tackle the most complicated watches and wristwatches in the world, while others were trying to revive rarely used complications. All this was made easier by new technologies that were previously unavailable. 

According to Audemars Piguet, during a conversation in the late 1980s, then-Technical Director Serge Meylan and young watchmaking phenom Giulio Papi (formerly a watchmaker at AP, then part of Renaud et Papi, which would later become part of Audemars Piguet in 1992) discussed their dream watches. Meylan wanted to do a jump hour (something AP had done many times in the past). Papi wanted to do a minute repeater, but not just any one. He wanted to do one small enough that it could be used in ladies’ watches. Eventually, they decided to do both together.

At the time, the brand’s archival collection did not feature jump hour or minute repeater watches. Instead, Meylan gave Papi poor-quality photocopies of advertisements for jumping-hour watches from the 1930s and for a minute repeater from the 1950s. Later, they’d learn that the repeater featured a 10-ligne caliber, but at the time, there was no frame of reference for the size. Instead, Papi took off his wedding ring and measured the diameter. 

The 22mm was close to 9¾ lignes. After less than four years of research, the ref. 25723 was introduced, featuring the caliber 2865, which would become the foundation for repeaters from the brand. It also featured a quintessentially Vallée de Joux-style design, with elegant, sloping finger bridges, a long, straight bridge supporting the mainspring, and a snaking central bridge that resembles a half violin.

Then came the design of the John Shaeffer itself. In 1989, Audemars Piguet found inspiration for its next watch. That year, Sotheby’s offered a watch at their October New York auction labeled the following: “A Rare Two-Tone Gold Cushion-Form Minute Repeating Wristwatch, Audemars Piguet, Genève, no. 11643, Circa 1908, Sold 1915, Retailed by Black, Starr, and Frost, New York.” The watch featured a nine-line beads of rice bracelet with the clasp engraved with John Wallace Shaeffer’s monogram. The catalog even misspelled Shaeffer’s name in one reference. The watch was consigned by Shaeffer’s son, with an estimated value of $100,000 to $125,000. AP purchased the watch for $220,000, including buyer’s premium. 

To turn the inspiration into an actual product, AP turned to one of its biggest stars. Jacqueline Dimier was one of the first female designers in the industry, and by the 1990s, she’d already been working at AP for over 15 years. She, in fact, designed the majority of the brand’s watches over her 24-year career. 

While on a Zoom call with Sebastian Vivas, Heritage and Museum Director at Audemars Piguet, he held up a sketch in front of the camera, saying that they had literally just found it shortly before the call. On the design for the Shaeffer was Dimier’s unmistakable signature. It seemed that, with her prolific career, her role in creating the modern Shaeffer design was relatively unknown or just a foregone conclusion.

Looking through the designs, you can see a number of watches that made it into production and some that didn’t. Perpetual calendars, star wheels, and even simple time-only watches or minute repeaters all featured in her drawings. Some watches featured round dials, others had dials that mirrored the cushion case shape. One curious watch had a half-hunter style front of the dial, which would have allowed for engraving for numerals, but instead, the idea was later used for four unique pieces made for the brand’s 125th anniversary in 2000. There was even a John Shaeffer designed with a bracelet (and one similar example was made).

1995 – The Shaeffer Returns

Despite the names involved, the John Shaeffer line was a short-lived experiment that survived only two years, from 1995 to 1997. And yet it was an impressive run, encapsulating everything from time-only watches and simple calendars to perpetual calendar minute repeaters. However, I’d argue that any true Shaeffer watch should have a minute repeater. That’s a key feature of the original, as much as the name on the dial. But among many questions I had when starting the problem, there was one simple one that bothered me: was “John Shaeffer” the actual name of the model? Part of me thought it could have been just a nickname, just like Tuscan dials were made up by an Italian associated with Audemars Piguet. 

A little background, however, about where this whole project started. While in Singapore last year, I visited the Pygmalion Gallery. It’s a beautiful, discreet space where nothing is for sale and everything will blow your mind – which is saying something for Singapore. It’s become a cornerstone of the Audemars Piguet collecting community in the country, hosting events and sharing their knowledge and collection. It’s also home to a wide variety of rarities of AP’s history. Tom Chng, a collector and founder of Singapore Watch Club, was kind enough to offer to bring out basically anything I wanted, but I focused on Shaeffer repeaters, if for no other reason than I think they’re a good change of pace in the current collecting space.

First things first, yes, John Shaeffer was the name of the watch. It turns out that when a watch doesn’t find much success, there’s not much advertising to go on. Of course, AP knows the name of the watch, but they were also able to share some of those neo-vintage advertisements. They look more like catalog entries from the brand or for retailers versus anything we’d see touting an icon like the Audemars Piguet.

While certain Jules Audemars pieces from the same period have slowly risen in price on the secondary market, Shaeffers have not gotten quite the same attention. Yes, the minute repeater versions are rarer (making up about a third of the total production), but in general, it seems that the modern collector hasn’t yet come around to the tonneau shape. There are logical reasons. First, the watches measure approximately 33.5mm in width and (for the minute repeater without other complications) 9mm in thickness. Younger collectors are overcoming a phobia of “small” watches (hell, some even like them), so it’s possible we’ll see these watches gain value. However, as we’ll see in my market analysis, the rare items already command high prices.

Frankly, I find the watch charming in a vintage way and remarkable in a landscape where the smallest repeater I know of on the modern market is Patek Philippe’s ref. 7040 at 36mm by 10.41mm thick. They’re not only impressive today, they’re doubly so since they were made in the 1990s. The idea of such a small minute repeater during an era of giant watches like IWC’s Destriero Scafusia is remarkable. The only thing that really matched the compactness and wearability at the time was Blancpain’s ref. 5335, which measured 34mm by 10.2mm.

Shaeffer repeaters are also kind of thin-sounding when compared to other options on the market currently. I’d imagine some of that comes down to size (smaller gongs and less force with smaller hammers) and construction. But at the current market price, you’re still getting a great deal for a mechanical minute repeater with a cool bit of neo-vintage history. 

There are numerous variants to consider, and although I provide a breakdown of them later, I can walk you through a few (with examples from the Pygmalion Gallery). Below you see the simplest of the repeaters, which is probably the most direct callback to the contemporaries of the original AP tortue minute repeaters. Many of those watches featured Breguet numerals and cathedral hands, as seen below.

The same concept can also be found in a transparent dial. Audemars Piguet labeled these as squelette or skeletonized versions, but they don’t show much skeletonization from the front. Instead, they simply resemble models trapped between modern and vintage styles. They’re also, as you can see, not the most legible. However, as you can see in the photos from Tom Chng above, the back does feature some unique finishing, such as engraved bridges, which are not commonly seen anymore.

Maybe my favorite anachronism of the bunch is the “sport version” of the John Shaeffer minute repeater. At least that’s what I call it. The combination of Royal Oak hands and very bold Arabic numerals, both with luminous material, makes for a very odd combination that I can’t help but like. The whole point of a minute repeater is that you don’t need to see the dial in the dark. Why add lume? Who knows. But why the heck not, I guess? The black dial with red accents and gold case is just so odd it’s perfect, while the grey on white metal case is perfectly “Hodinkee.”

If you’re willing to shell out some cash (but maybe aren’t making Fortune 500 SVP money), the two variants worth looking at are the guichet jump hour watch with wandering minutes, which came in various metals. They combine a touch of vintage aesthetic (especially from when brands like Cartier and Glycine were producing such watches) with modern watchmaking in the movement. They’re still reserved and slightly more vintage in size, so they hit all the high notes for a watch like this.

My top pick, and one that Jacqueline Dimier did actually design (as seen in the sketches above), is the starwheel minute repeater. Many people are familiar with the starwheel display, as seen in Urwerk or Audemars Piguet’s recent Code 11.59 launches. However, in my opinion, AP’s starwheel watches were at their best when they used these transparent discs. 

There are numerous variants (which I’ll address shortly), including those with only a small opening on the dial to enhance legibility. However, by using transparent discs and a track at the top, the other numerals recede and are less distracting, making the display far more intuitive for a first-time wearer.

The two versions of the watches that I didn’t see in person included arguably the ultimate one: the John Shaeffer Minute Repeating Perpetual Calendar. It’s truly a phenomenal watch, but one that commands a high price on the secondary market. The other one we didn’t see? A jump hour watch with a regulator-style minute hand, just like the original rectangular ref. 25723 jump hours that pre-dated the Shaeffer collection just slightly.

By the Numbers

Over a short three-year span of production (excluding prototypes), from 1995 to 1998, the John Shaeffer was produced in approximately 670 pieces, according to data from Audemars Piguet. Of those, 209 (by my total) featured a minute repeater. This is actually one more than the total shared in Audemars Piguet’s own “20th Century Complicated Wristwatches” book, possibly because of the one unique example made for the brand’s 125th anniversary in 2000. But looking into the data and cross-referencing it against the market (with help from Everywatch), there are some fascinating stories of unique or unexpected watches to be found. You can parse the information below. I’ll highlight a few details.

Focusing solely on the 209 examples of minute repeaters, some surprising numbers jump out. Almost half (103 of 209, or 49.28%) of all John Shaeffer minute repeaters of the era were cased in platinum, arguably the worst metal for the complication when it comes to sound transmission. Rose gold made up about 22.5% of production, with 21% in yellow gold. Only one watch was made in white gold and one in steel, which I’ll break down in the collectability portion of this story, but neither has come to market. It’s certainly exciting to hear the combination of words, “Audemars Piguet minute repeater,” “stainless steel,” and “fresh to market,” if you’re a collector on the hunt.

Maybe the most surprising is that 13 John Shaeffer minute repeaters were made in titanium. This feels like a large number for the time, and while titanium is an excellent material for sound transmission, it doesn’t feel like the first choice for such a traditional case shape. Three were made for the Guichet jump hour watch, and three more for the closed-dial starwheel. In fact, I believe that there was a mistake in the listing of one auction in Antiquorum, where one of these titanium examples was misidentified as stainless steel (which AP states they never made). But one option reigns supreme (I’m leaving you in purposeful suspense here).

Collectability

There are 209 neo-vintage Audemars Piguet John Shaeffer minute repeaters out there in the world, which means there are fewer of these watches than Patek’s ref. 1518. No one is arguing that the two models are comparable, but rarity does count for something in collecting.

Over the past few years, the Shaeffer models have been on a steadily upward trend. Over the past 5 years, only time-only minute repeaters (and one skeletonized model) have sold for under $100,000. In 2019, a ref. 25798TI (double guichet with jump hour and wandering minutes, in titanium) sold for $52,500 at Christie’s. In 2024, the same model in rose gold sold for $138,600, even though the brand made 8 times more in rose gold. Funny enough, the case is engraved 24/25, but only 24 examples were actually produced.

Even more shocking, the same perpetual calendar minute repeater sold 10 years apart, both times at Christie’s, making $50,000 in 2015 and CHF 239,400 earlier this year (crossing the $300,000 boundary for the first time). With so few watches made in any variation and so few coming to market, it’s hard to nail down a specific trend beyond a general upward one. The most in-demand, collectible, and attractive are obviously the most complicated versions. 

How it took so long for a perpetual calendar minute, even one with a somewhat anemic chime, to reach a price like that is beyond me. The purple-dialed platinum starwheels are also attractive, and with only seven made, they’re rarer than the 10 planned. That said, I think we’re reaching a price peak. 

There are a few examples worth searching for, so much so that I wonder what happened to them. While you might not like the color, there’s no denying that the ref. 25835TI above, shown in Audemars Piguet’s “bible,” is pretty wild. The only example of a perpetual calendar minute repeater in a titanium case, the watch has a bright yellow dial and was delivered with a matching strap. It’s also never come to market. Nor has the white gold ref. 25835BC, with a blue dial, is also the only example in that metal. Neither has the single ref. 25835PT was made with a skeletonized display.

Titanium was already a rare material in the 1990s, and, according to my research, the Shaeffers are AP’s first minute repeaters in titanium. The fact that there are 13 total titanium minute repeaters from Audemars Piguet, including a singular titanium perpetual calendar minute repeater and another in steel, means there’s still a chance to strike gold. If either of the unique examples in steel or titanium comes to market, I’d take the “over” set at $349,999.50.

If you want something slightly more affordable (though obviously still expensive), the “sport” dials with luminous Arabic numerals are quite interesting. I like the oddball mix of subsidiary seconds and bold Arabic numerals on the ref. 25882. Or you could get the more traditional ref. 25760, with Breguet numerals and cathedral hands, both likely available around or just below $100,000. Since I can personally afford none of the above, I’ll probably keep trying to find a few of those holy grails. If you find them first, let me know.

Special thanks to the heritage team at Audemars Piguet for their help in researching the history and development of the watch and for images from their archives. Thanks as well to Tom Chng at Singapore Watch Club and the Pygmalion Gallery in Singapore for the additional images and for allowing me to photograph their collection. Finally, thank you to Everywatch for the use of their database for research on values and auction results.