San Francisco’s Stephen Silver Fine Jewelry Shares Its Favorite Audemars Piguet Watches

Nestled inside the Rosewood Hotel on Sand Hill Road, Stephen Silver Fine Jewelry has gained the notable distinction of being the second authorized seller of Audemars Piguet watches in the entire Bay Area. We recently sat down with Andrew Block, President of Stephen Silver Fine Jewelry, to discuss his feelings on a few of the new Audemars Piguet watches revealed at this year’s SIHH.

How do you feel about being an authorized Audemars Piguet dealer in the Bay Area?
It’s a cornerstone brand for us. It’s a brand that we plan on building our business around.  We know that there are very few authorized Audemars Piguet dealers in the United States. We feel that having this brand fits into our overall strategy of providing a curated selection of brands. We love the fact that our brand selection is one that reflects Silicon Valley. Brands that truly reflect technology, that reflect craftsmanship and innovation. To be the only authorized dealer in Silicon Valley and the Bay Area, we’re supremely proud to have it. Again, It’s one of our cornerstone brands that we plan on building around. So, in the first six months of operation, we’re glad to see momentum building in terms of sell through, and our partnership with AP has been one of tremendous cooperation. We’re extraordinarily happy to be one of their few authorized dealers in the United States.

RD1 Acoustic Research Project
I always love when manufacturers test the limits of how far they can push artistry, craftsmanship and design. I think what AP [Audemars Piguet] did was take a traditional complication like the minute repeater and create something that elevates that complication to levels that hadn’t been seen before. The Acoustic Minute Repeater was brilliant. The big question becomes ‘Will they make it on a commercial level?’ I love concept pieces. Concept pieces show the limits to where manufacturers can take their brand, and that’s really it. They’re concept pieces. It positions the brand as being superior in design and craftsmanship, so what commercial aspects are they going to leverage from that design and put it into commercial use? But it was a magnificent piece.

Audemars Piguet Millenary Hand-Wound Ladies
I like the fact that AP is focusing on women. It’s an area that we have a need for. I believe that it will be successful. It will be good for us to have more options for women besides just the Royal Oak, so we’re happy with it.

Royal Oak Offshore Tourbillion Chronograph
Everything that AP creates in the Offshore world is, to us, an asset because Offshore is a big part of our sell through. We hope to be able to get our fair share of them.

The Royal Oak Two Tone For Ladies and Men
We like them both actually. We were commenting that those two pieces go back to the classic days of the Royal Oak in steel and gold. They will be great commercial pieces, and we expect to be very successful with both of them.  I like them for women as well. We were very happy to see the steel and gold royal oak come back in that way, back to almost the original design when the royal oak first came out. I like it when watch brands don’t continually come out with pieces that are commercial challenges. In these cases, the steel and gold for women and men will both be commercially successful.