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Old 25 May 2023, 11:29 PM   #1
Caramba
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15300st - different shades of blue?

Lately I've been doing some research on the 15300st to understand the different iterations of the model since the introduction in 2005 to 2012 when it was replaced by the 15400.

One of the things I've read, which I've never been able to verify, is that in the earlier series of the 15300st the blue dial was of a lighter shade of blue, which at one point turned darker. This is not the same as the later sunburst blue dials produced inhouse by AP as the service replacement dials.

I had dismissed this idea until I saw this ad on Chrono24: https://www.chrono24.com/audemarspig...id22750731.htm

Here you see a picture of two different 15300st blue dials side-by-side showing the differences. It says in the ad that the ligher blue dial version the "first series" of the 15300st, but that is not true since the serial number starts with F60xxx - the first series actually started with F40xxx.

Does anyone know more about this, and if yes - when did the dials change to a darker color?
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Old 26 May 2023, 06:49 AM   #2
Caramba
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Caramba View Post
Lately I've been doing some research on the 15300st to understand the different iterations of the model since the introduction in 2005 to 2012 when it was replaced by the 15400.

One of the things I've read, which I've never been able to verify, is that in the earlier series of the 15300st the blue dial was of a lighter shade of blue, which at one point turned darker. This is not the same as the later sunburst blue dials produced inhouse by AP as the service replacement dials.

I had dismissed this idea until I saw this ad on Chrono24: https://www.chrono24.com/audemarspig...id22750731.htm

Here you see a picture of two different 15300st blue dials side-by-side showing the differences. It says in the ad that the ligher blue dial version the "first series" of the 15300st, but that is not true since the serial number starts with F60xxx - the first series actually started with F40xxx.

Does anyone know more about this, and if yes - when did the dials change to a darker color?




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Old 26 May 2023, 07:10 AM   #3
V25V
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There are two shades as shown above. Mine is an F serial, which would be the darker blue is my understanding. But I have never seen the other shade in person. Pic of mine below, which is an F serial.




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Old 26 May 2023, 12:08 PM   #4
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There are two shades as shown above. Mine is an F serial, which would be the darker blue is my understanding. But I have never seen the other shade in person. Pic of mine below, which is an F serial.




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Those are two amazing watches you've got there buddy. The one on the left (lighter color) in the picture above is a F60xxx. May I ask what is the serial number on yours?
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Old 26 May 2023, 12:27 PM   #5
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Originally Posted by Caramba View Post
Those are two amazing watches you've got there buddy. The one on the left (lighter color) in the picture above is a F60xxx. May I ask what is the serial number on yours?

I said above, mine is an F serial. G was the newer one I believe. H I believe had some overlap between late 15300’s and early 15400’s but it could be 15300 stopped with G. I had an H serial 15400.


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Old 27 May 2023, 12:12 AM   #6
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Originally Posted by V25V View Post
I said above, mine is an F serial. G was the newer one I believe. H I believe had some overlap between late 15300’s and early 15400’s but it could be 15300 stopped with G. I had an H serial 15400.


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I should have made myself more clear. The F series is not one uniform series as such, it's split in at least 5 different production batches - and depending on the first two digits after "F" I'd be able to tell which batch your watch belongs to.

The different "batches" of F that I'm aware of are:
F40xxx-43xxx
F60xxx-61xxx
F72xxx
F80xxx
F91xxx-F93xxx

The same goes for watches in the G and H series. There are some iterations both on dial, caseback, clasp, datewheel and perhaps other things too which I haven't mapped yet, but not necessarily between each batch.
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Old 27 May 2023, 12:56 AM   #7
V25V
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Caramba View Post
I should have made myself more clear. The F series is not one uniform series as such, it's split in at least 5 different production batches - and depending on the first two digits after "F" I'd be able to tell which batch your watch belongs to.

The different "batches" of F that I'm aware of are:
F40xxx-43xxx
F60xxx-61xxx
F72xxx
F80xxx
F91xxx-F93xxx

The same goes for watches in the G and H series. There are some iterations both on dial, caseback, clasp, datewheel and perhaps other things too which I haven't mapped yet, but not necessarily between each batch.
Mine is F60
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Old 28 May 2023, 03:16 AM   #8
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I had an H serial 15300 blue that I sold. [Takuya still has it for sale at the same very high price it was listed at in April 2022...]

The dial color was closer to the one on the right in the 2nd post. It's a dark blue that has very subtle violet undertones in some lights.

How the dial color looks in pictures can really vary depending on lighting.

Here's a few pictures I took next to some of my others:

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