Breaking News: The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak 15202ST Will Be Replaced Next Year

Audemars Piguet has just announced that the Royal Oak ref. 15202ST will be replaced with another reference next year, which just so happens to be the 50th anniversary of the Royal Oak. The 15202, aka "Jumbo," is the clearest contemporary connection back to the original Royal Oak in steel as conceived by watch design virtuoso Gérald Genta with the ref. 5402 of 1972. In its current guise, the 15202 has been a mainstay in the AP collection since it was announced in 2012 as part of AP's year-long celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Royal Oak. It was back in January that the watch world learned, via a run-out list sent to retailers, that Patek Philippe's ref. 5711 was being retired. The news marked one of the rare moments when insidery watch gossip spilled out into the mainstream, with Patek President Thierry Stern even clarifying the thinking behind the decision in a highly publicized interview with the New York Times. In a recent video conversation on the AP Social Club with the company's Head of Complications Michael Friedman, CEO Francois Bennahmias dropped the major news relating to his own company's steel inheritor of the Genta mantle . It happened toward the end of the conversation, when Friedman and Bennahmias answered questions about a range of topics, including the one below. Question: "Any major changes in the 15202 next year?" Françios Bennahmias: "So another huge watch company said recently that they would stop making the 5711, which is so Patek. The 5711 is Patek. So we could say there will be a new reference for the 15202 next year. So we will not make 15202ST, but that will be replaced by something else, and for specific reasons that we will not talk about today." There you have it, straight from the AP boss' mouth. The steel 15202 will be replaced with another watch next year. Let the speculation begin.Another one bites the dust.