Birth year watches
Watches made in 1972.
The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak arrived in 1972: steel, angular, with an integrated bracelet and visible screws, and priced like gold. Gerald Genta designed it in a single night, and it created the luxury sports watch as a category.
Its influence spread downwards quickly. A good deal of what an ordinary 1972 watch looks like, with its faceted case and a bracelet flowing straight out of the lugs, comes from the same design mood.
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Made in 1972
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More from the 1970s
71 watchesSee all 74 from the 1970s
c.1971
Seiko 2206-0090
- Movement
- Case size
- Strap
- Condition
£140
c.1971
Seiko 17-0240
- Movement
- Case size
- Strap
- Condition
£175
Box
c.1973
Certina Club 2000
- Movement
- Case size
- Strap
- Condition
£420Box
1970s
Bulova Accutron
- Movement
- Strap
- Condition
£180
1970s
Rhino -
- Movement
- Case size
- Strap
- Condition
£125
1970s
Sekonda -
- Movement
- Case size
- Strap
- Condition
£150
1970s
Vintage Retro Led Digital Led Silver
- Movement
- Strap
£150
1970s
Vintage Retro Led Digital Led Gold
- Movement
- Strap
- Condition
£250
Further reading
Buying guide · 9 min readSeiko 5: the world's most sensible automatic watchThe 5 is a promise Seiko made in 1963, and almost nothing explains what it actually was. Here are the five attributes, the calibres worth knowing, and what to check before buying one.Buying guide · 9 min readLED, LCD and ana-digi: a guide to vintage digital watchesRed LED displays, always-on LCDs and the ana-digi watches that put hands and a screen on the same dial. What each era was, what goes wrong with them, and what they cost now.Guide · 6 min readHow to date a vintage watchSerial numbers, reference numbers, movement calibres and design clues: a practical guide to working out exactly when a vintage watch was made.
Frequently asked questions
What was significant about watches made in 1972?
Audemars Piguet launched the Royal Oak in 1972, the first luxury sports watch in steel, which reshaped how watches looked for the rest of the decade. It was also the period when quartz began reaching ordinary buyers in real volume.