The AP Starwheel Is Suddenly On Every Collector’s List

For years, the Code 11.59 collection lived in the shadow of the Royal Oak, criticized for its launch design and widely seen as Audemars Piguet’s “experimental” line that struggled to find its audience.

Yet within that same family sits one of the most interesting modern APs from an investment-collector perspective: the Code 11.59 Starwheel, reference 15212NB.

What has changed in the last two to three years isn’t just the design narrative around Code 11.59 gradually improving as collectors adjust to its unconventional aesthetic. More importantly, secondary market pricing, liquidity metrics, and vintage Starwheel auction results now provide enough hard evidence to treat this piece as more than just a design curiosity or niche complication watch.

The data increasingly suggests the Starwheel represents one of the few modern Audemars Piguet references outside the Royal Oak universe where story, technical execution, and emerging scarcity align in ways that could credibly support long-term investment value.

This matters because the watch market has become saturated with variations on familiar complications (perpetual calendars, chronographs, and annual calendars that blend together regardless of brand execution). Collectors increasingly hunt for unusual, historically-rooted complications that offer immediate visual interest and conversation value rather than requiring expertise to appreciate.

The wandering hours complication fits this profile perfectly, combining mechanical theater with legibility that anyone can understand within seconds of seeing the watch on wrist.

What Makes the Starwheel Uniquely Compelling for Collectors

The Starwheel’s appeal begins with its complication heritage, which runs deeper than most modern watches can claim. The “wandering hours” display dates back to the 17th century and was originally used in clocks made for Pope Alexander VII, who struggled with insomnia and didn’t want loud striking mechanisms in his chambers.

Audemars Piguet rediscovered the system in the late 1980s and in 1991 launched the first modern wrist-worn Star Wheel, reference 25720, after eighteen months of development work adapting the centuries-old principle to wristwatch scale.

The modern Code 11.59 Starwheel keeps that fundamental DNA but wraps it in thoroughly contemporary execution that feels distinctly 21st century rather than nostalgic. The case measures 41mm in diameter but just 10.7mm thick, constructed in 18-karat white gold with a black ceramic mid-case and the openworked lugs that define the Code 11.59 architecture.

This complex case construction felt excessive and overwrought on simple time-only models, but suddenly makes complete sense when housing a theatrical complication that deserves visual drama in its presentation.

The dial execution uses blue aventurine as the backdrop with three black aluminum hour discs mounted on star-shaped carriers that give the complication its name. The current hour “wanders” along a 120-degree minute arc positioned at 12 o’clock, creating a display you can actually read and explain to anyone in seconds without requiring watch expertise to understand what’s happening.

Powering the display is caliber 4310, an automatic movement delivering 70-hour power reserve at 4Hz frequency with 32 jewels, developed as a wandering-hours evolution of AP’s modern 4300 base caliber.

What distinguishes the Starwheel most fundamentally is that it represents the rare modern AP where case, movement, and complication all feel genuinely aligned toward a coherent purpose. This isn’t “Royal Oak lite” trying to capture that icon’s magic through superficial design cues.

It’s Audemars Piguet demonstrating what the brand can accomplish when freed from constraints of maintaining a 1970s design icon that must remain recognizable across decades while somehow staying contemporary.

Why Boutique Scarcity and Discontinuation Are Changing the Story

On paper, the Starwheel was never marketed as a numbered limited edition when it launched in 2022 at a retail price around $57,900, positioning it broadly in line with high-end wandering-hours independents like Urwerk that appeal to similar collector demographics seeking unusual complications.

Fast-forward to late 2025 and the availability picture looks dramatically different in ways that reshape the investment calculus.

WatchCharts now lists the Starwheel 15212NB as a “Discontinued Model” with a global retail price of €58,900 and current estimated market price of €47,903. While “discontinued” doesn’t always mean production has completely ceased, it signals that Audemars Piguet has moved this reference into a different status than actively promoted current collection pieces that boutiques receive regular allocations for.

Boutique anecdotes from collectors reinforce this scarcity narrative in ways that hard data sometimes misses.

On the Audemars Piguet subreddit, collectors report sales associates saying they “don’t think they’ll be receiving them anymore,” suggesting boutiques are winding down deliveries in favor of newer releases that need floor space and sales associate attention.

Multiple posts show people being “offered a Starwheel as an allocation” or discussing whether it counts as a third or fourth allocation piece, something you receive because you already have purchase history with Audemars Piguet, implying it’s definitely not a casual walk-in purchase for new clients.

Grey market sourcing difficulty provides another data point about real availability beyond official statements. Dealers like AuthenticWatches and Krolux list the Starwheel as “join the wait list” or “request us to source,” indicating supply remains thin even in secondary channels that normally stock hard-to-get pieces for clients willing to pay premiums.

This isn’t “Royal Oak level impossible” where certain references trade at double retail, but for a Code 11.59 piece, this level of allocation discussion and sourcing difficulty represents a significant departure from the collection’s general availability.

A the same time, recent auction results from 2024-2025 show various 25720 references in yellow gold, platinum, and rose gold repeatedly achieving results between $22,000 and $50,000-plus, with several lots beating high estimates by 20% to 120% as multiple bidders competed for increasingly scarce examples. These numbers confirm that original Star Wheels, once slightly misunderstood niche watches, have become genuinely collectible with robust auction demand and double-digit annualized returns in documented cases.

The scarcity creates interesting positioning within Audemars Piguet’s broader lineup. Most Code 11.59 references remain readily available at boutiques, often with immediate delivery for clients without requiring purchase history or allocation status.

The Starwheel’s different treatment suggests either genuine production constraints around the complication or, more likely, that Audemars Piguet recognized stronger-than-expected demand and deliberately tightened supply to maintain exclusivity and pricing power in ways they couldn’t with simpler Code 11.59 models that flooded the market.

The Investment Case for AP’s Most Underrated Complication

Defining whether the modern Starwheel qualifies as “investment-grade” requires acknowledging both supporting evidence and legitimate risks that could undermine the thesis.

On the positive side, it trades at smaller discount to retail than time-only Code 11.59 references by substantial margins. It’s been classified as discontinued while core Code pieces remain current production, effectively capping future supply. It carries direct lineage to 1990s Star Wheels now achieving €20,000 to €50,000-plus at auction with documented examples showing 13% annual appreciation.

And it’s mechanically and aesthetically distinctive enough to avoid being dismissed as “just another Code 11.59” that gets lumped with the collection’s general market weakness.

The risks deserve equal consideration. The watch carries a high short-term risk score of 73 out of 100 with recent one-year performance of negative 17.5%, making it emphatically not a short-term flip opportunity. It shows lower liquidity than time-only Codes based on fewer annual sales and longer median days on market, meaning exit timing matters and forced sales could prove costly.

The practical takeaway for anyone considering the Starwheel as an investment requires realistic expectations about timeframe and market behavior. If you’re chasing fast returns or need liquidity within one to two years, the Starwheel doesn’t behave remotely like a Royal Oak and will likely disappoint.

But if you’re a collector with a seven to ten year horizon willing to buy at or near current market pricing around €48,000 rather than paying full €58,900 retail, accept short-term mark-to-market volatility without panic selling, and focus on the long-term trajectory of historically important Audemars Piguet complications, then the Code 11.59 Starwheel represents one of the few modern AP references outside the Royal Oak universe where story, technical execution, complication significance, and early market data align in ways that can credibly be called investment-grade for patient capital.