THE WORLD OF FINE WATCHES SPOTLIGHT www.watchtime.com THE MILESTONE WATCHES OF AUDEMARS PIGUET PRESENTED BY WATCHTIME MAGAZINE

AAUUDDEEMMAARRSS PPIIGGUUEETT al gic lo he ro e t o ar ’s r h e nd fo er ra n H b w rs. iss no ea w k y e S en 0 th be 12 n s n s i ha ha ce et e t ie gu or ep Pi m im rs or t t a s f an em n rt d tio po y. u a m or A ov t i ist nn os h i m us 4 io 1 tr er s nn lu ru il . B t L er isB G THE MILESTONE By WATCHES OF AUDEMARS PIGUET MILESTONES Audemars Piguet

1892/1907 1921 MINUTE REPEATER HEURE SAUTANTE Audemars Piguet is among the pioneers of the minute-re - The manner in which watches display the version pictured here, which had win - peater wristwatch. The company completed its first such time has changed over the years with dows cut into the metallic front of its timepiece, for Louis Brandt & Frère, in Bienne in 1892. The fashions and tastes. In the early 20th cen - case, was delivered to the American re - first model to bear the Audemars Piguet signature on the dial tury, digital time displays became a popu - tailer Metric Watch in 1926. Unlike the followed in 1906. The relatively small size of the movement lar alternative to the classical analog style fragile glass or Plexiglas crystals that and its case appealed to connoisseurs of that era, who be - with hands. Audemars Piguet introduced were commonly found on wristwatches lieved that genuine virtuosity expressed itself in uncommonly its first wristwatches with digital “jump - of that era, the little windows on the front small dimensions. Audemars Piguet delivered the wristwatch, ing hours” in 1921; the display’s unusual of this one are practically immune to with its pillow-shaped gold case and its movement measuring appearance was a major selling point in shocks and hard knocks. The rectangular, only 22.56 mm in diameter, to Gübelin Jewelers in Lucerne in those days. But the little disk, printed white-gold case contains hand-wound 1906. One year later, Audemars Piguet cased hand-wound with numerals for the hours, also had its Caliber GHSM, which is 22.5 millimeters caliber SMV, bearing the number 11649 and measuring shortcomings: reading the hour wasn’t al - in diameter and a mere 2.8 millimeters 27.07 mm in diameter, inside a white- and yellow-gold case ways easy, especially in poor lighting. The thick. and shipped that watch to Metric Watch in New York. The American importer had specially ordered it for John Shaeffer, a successful industrialist who wanted his name prominently displayed on the dial. When the 12 indices are read clockwise, they spell out his name.

1921 1926 FULL CALENDAR CALIBER 2003 Calendar mechanisms rank among the ment manufacturer LeCoultre. Three Extra-slim calibers are prized by horological connoisseurs. The reason: oldest complications that can be added to hands indicate the day, date and month. tolerances shrink as constructive height is reduced, so very conscientious mechanical movements. For technical There’s also a moon-phase display at 6 craftsmanship is required from the movement’s designers and assemblers. reasons, they are usually installed directly o’clock; its disk has exactly 59 teeth, and Audemars Piguet has specialized in such slim movements for generations. below the dial. Full calendars indicate the two small moons are positioned opposite It introduced the world’s thinnest pocketwatch, which contained a move - date, the day of the week, and the month, each other on the front of the display. The ment based on a LeCoultre ébauche, in 1925. The hand-wound move - but require manual correction at the end watch thus approximates each lunar cy - ment is a mere 1.32 mm thick: it was completed and finely adjusted at of all months with fewer than 31 days cle to 29.5 days. Audemars Piguet also in - Audemars Piguet. Together with LeCoultre, Audemars Piguet developed and on New Year’s Eve. This arrange - cluded two inset buttons in the flanks of another milestone in the years prior to 1946: ultra-thin hand-wound Cal - ment of functions is found in the hand- the rectangular, white-gold case to make iber 2003 is a mere 1.64 mm thick and 20.3 millimeters in diameter. Un - wound caliber that was completed in manual corrections easy. As was usual on like other constructions, which sometimes malfunctioned under rough 1921 and bears the number 31996. Au - Audemars Piguet watches from this era, wearing conditions, Caliber 2003 proved to be very reliable, which part - demars Piguet bought the 10-ligne base the dial bears the signature of the retailer ly explains why this caliber is still produced today, and still used in ele - caliber (GHSM 17/12) from the move - — in this case, “E. Gübelin Lucerne.” gantly slim timepieces like the two-handed wristwatch shown here. MILESTONES Audemars Piguet

1957 1972 PERPETUAL CALENDAR ROYAL OAK Perpetual calendars “know” the various onds on a subdial at 6 o’clock. With a In 1970, representatives from the French, Swiss and Italian lengths of the months in ordinary years Dubois Dépraz calendar module mounted markets turned to Audemars Piguet in their common quest with 365 days and also in leap years with on its front side, the 29.5-mm movement is for a new wristwatch that would be simultaneously elegant, 366 days. Audemars Piguet debuted its designated as Caliber VZSSQP. The screw sporty and exclusive. When the object of their desire debuted first pocketwatches with this complication balance, which oscillates at a pace of 2.5 in 1972, it came as something of a surprise to visitors at that in 1883, but did not equip a wristwatch Hz, has a generous diameter of 12 mm. year’s watch fair in Basel. The brand’s former chief Georges with it until the mid-20th century, and then Audemars Piguet offered these gold watch - Golay had commissioned designer Gérald Genta to create only in very small numbers. To the best of es with two different calendar assemblies. the new watch, which boasted an appealing porthole-like ap - contemporary knowledge, AP only made Both feature an ordinary month-hand at 3 pearance, a screwed octagonal bezel and a linked bracelet. nine of these perpetual calendar timepieces o’clock as well as a leap-year indicator and Audemars Piguet manufactured the entire piece from stain - (all with manual winding) between 1957 a moon-phase display, but one version less steel. Despite its high price (for the time), the first series and 1969. The base movement is the 13- shows the moon at 12 o’clock while the of 1,000 watches quickly sold out. Connoisseurs called for ligne Caliber VZSS, which shows the sec - other puts it at 6 o’clock. more – and Audemars Piguet responded by eventually devel - oping an entire collection. The watch’s name was influenced by its maritime design: England’s King Charles II, fleeing from his enemies after his defeat at the Battle of Worcester in 1651, concealed himself inside the hollow trunk of a great oak tree, which would later be known as the “Royal Oak.” Several battleships of the British Royal Navy would later be christened with this name. The apertures for cannons in the 1986 hull of one such ship, the “HMS Royal Oak” (which was built in 1862), were similar to the bezel of the iconic wrist - watch that debuted 110 years later. TOURBILLON Patent protection was granted in 1801 to a rotating regulating organ that compen - 1967 sated for the detrimental effects of Earth’s gravitational pull on the rate of pocket - AUTOMATIC watches. Tourbillons were first integrated into a very small number of wristwatches CALIBER 2120 starting in 1945. Audemars Piguet pro - duced its first such watch, in a very small Audemars Piguet took its first steps into the world of self-winding series, in 1986. The company invested watches with automatic Caliber 2499 in 1956. This movement was more than a million Swiss francs in the supplied exclusively to Audemars Piguet by the LeCoultre ébauche project, which was the world’s first, manufacturer. It measured 13 lignes in diameter and was relatively smallest and slimmest self-winding wrist - thick, at 5.4 millimeters. Caliber family 207x, which AP first used in watch with a one-minute tourbillon. The 1958, was also not particularly slim, measuring 5.1 mm. It wasn’t overall height of just 4.8 mm was made until 1967 that Audemars Piguet could manifest its philosophy of ul - possible by a clever trick, first conceived tra-slim construction in automatic movements. Caliber 2120, which by the Swatch brand: the back of the case debuted in 1967, refutes the opinion that a functional thickness of also serves as the baseplate for the move - less than 3 mm can only be achieved by including a microrotor. ment. A platinum-iridium rotor provides Equipped with a central rotor, this caliber is just 2.45 millimeters the kinetic energy to automatically wind thick – an unprecedented feat in mechanical watchmaking. Again, the mainspring. A ratchet system conveys LeCoultre assisted with the development of this 12½-ligne move - kinetic energy to the barrel. The energy ment. The rotor has a 21k-gold segment and runs atop four periph - stored inside the barrel keeps the watch erally arranged ruby rollers. It originally used a Gyromax balance running for 50 hours. Audemars Piguet with a freely breathing flat hairspring paced at 19,800 vph, but this fabricated the miniaturized, rotating car - initial version was succeeded by Caliber 2120/1, with a Glucydur an - riage from titanium. The crown is posi - nular balance and a regulator mechanism. (Caliber 2120/1 should tioned on the back of the movement, not be confused with version 2121, which includes a date display.) which measures 32.5 by 28.5 millimeters. MILESTONES Audemars Piguet

2006 CABINET NO.5 1996 This wristwatch belongs to the Tradition d’Excellence series and was produced in a limited series of just 20 pieces. The left GRANDE half of the transverse-oval Millenary case is reserved for a special escapement that traces its ancestry to the year 1791 COMPLICATION and to Robert Robin, watchmaker to the French royal court. The construction saps significantly less energy than a Swiss Audemars Piguet presented its first pocketwatch with a grand lever escapement. Reducing the energy requirement enables complication in 1889. A significantly smaller version for the movements to run noticeably longer with the same main - wrist debuted 107 years later at the Basel watch fair. The 42- spring. Furthermore, its clever geometry makes lubricants un - millimeter platinum wristwatch, with split-seconds chrono - necessary, even without the use of modern materials. As the graph, perpetual calendar and minute repeater, is even more perfect partner for this unconventional escapement, Aude - complex than the pocketwatches that preceded it: first, be - mars Piguet chose a large balance with a variable moment of cause its movement is equipped with an automatic winding 2002 inertia and a frequency of 21,600 vph. Two hairsprings posi - system and an indicator for the calendar weeks; second, be - tioned one atop the other, and with diametrically opposite cause considerably more than 600 components are installed fixation points, “breathe” beneath the elongated balance into the smallest possible amount of space. The resulting cal - ROYAL OAK bridge of hand-wound Caliber 2899. Each of the hairsprings iber is small enough to power a timepiece that can be worn on CONCEPT oscillates in the opposite direction of its counterpart, thus the wrist. With a diameter of 31 millimeters and a height of achieving higher equilibrium and also offering better oppor - 8.55 millimeters, Caliber 2885 has a volume of just 6.45 cu - In anticipation of the Royal Oak’s 30th tunities for fine adjustment. Rather than advancing in the bic centimeters. An engraved, golden rotor winds the main - anniversary, Audemars Piguet began the rhythm of the balance’s oscillations, the seconds hand on the spring in one direction; when fully wound, the barrel stores creative process that would produce the subdial leaps forward in one-second increments. The Cabinet enough energy to keep the watch running for approximately first ultra-sporty Royal Oak Concept No. 5, which has a power-reserve display and perpetual cal - 50 hours. Audemars Piguet chose a very traditional solution watch. While developing the case and endar, can store seven days’ worth of power. for the design of the oscillating and escapement system: the movement, the manufacture’s engineers engineers opted for a screw balance with a frequency of 3 Hz. chose to work with innovative materials A push-button integrated into the winding crown controls from the worlds of aerospace, medical the split-seconds chronograph hand. and electrical engineering. The case has a totally revised look and is fabricated from alacrite 602, a notoriously difficult- to-process alloy that was originally devel - oped for aeronautical applications and tool technology. Titanium was the mate - rial of choice for the octagonal bezel and the movement. The resulting watch is wa - ter-resistant to an impressive 500 meters 2006 and largely unaffected by stresses from sudden acceleration and extreme shocks. MILLENARY MC 12 This is all the more surprising because the movement also includes a tourbillon. In This ingenious timepiece was created to demonstrate the tech - addition to showing the time, this watch nical potential of watchmaking in the 21st century. Tradition - uses a patented “dynamograph” to dis - al horological craftsmanship is united with high-tech elements play the power reserve and the torque. Fi - in AP’s oval-shaped, hand-wound Caliber 2884, which con - nally, the Concept also offers a unique sists of 336 individual components and is fitted inside the case winding and hand-setting system: a but - of the Millenary MC 12. Two barrels amass 10 days of power ton is pressed to pre-select each of the reserve. Plates made of carbon fiber and bridges made of blue crown’s three functions (winding, hand anodized aluminum provide a light but sturdy framework. setting, and neutral), so the crown never The spectrum of functions includes a linear power-reserve dis - needs to be extracted. In the button’s neu - play at the left edge of the dial and a chronograph with hands tral position, the crown is completely un - that start running without an undesired stutter. The one- coupled from the gear train. minute tourbillon weighs a mere 0.45 grams. MILESTONES Audemars Piguet

2007 ROYAL OAK OFFSHORE ALINGHI TEAM After the launch of the ultra-sporty Royal sult from the arrangement of pressed Oak Offshore in 1993, Audemars Piguet pieces of carbon fiber. The process begins introduced a further evolution of that with molds that are filled with carbon watch in 2007. This edition sold out threads measuring between one and two quickly, so a connoisseur could count mm in thickness. Each of these larger himself lucky if he was able to get his threads consists of several thousand hands on one of these regatta chrono - fibers, which are held together by minus - graphs, each of which weighs a mere 100 cule threads made from a special polymer. grams. The watch’s primary draw was its The mold is filled with this mass, which is unique case, which was the first in watch then heated to around 240° Celsius and history made of wrought carbon, an ultra- compressed under more than 300 kilo - light and extremely tough material. Be - grams of pressure. The material generated cause it was without precedent, Aude - by this process consists of 76 percent car - mars Piguet had to develop a new manu - bon fiber; the remainder is polyamide. facturing method to ensure that the sharp Distinctive graining makes each carbon edges and surfaces were perfect right from case unique. Audemars Piguet went on to the start because post-processing wasn’t use wrought carbon for the cases of sever - possible. The quality and appearance re - al other subsequent watch models.

2011 MILLENARY 4101 The Millenary case offers a surprising number of options for technicians to create watch movements that differ from con - ventional ones. At first glance, model 4101 looks like it has a tourbillon. But it is actually only the oscillating and escape - ment system, which have been repositioned forward and placed prominently alongside the dial. The oscillating fre - quency is 4 Hz. A balance with variable moment of inertia eliminates the need for a regulator mechanism. The automat - ic movement is 7.46 millimeters thick and consists of 253 components. The unconventional construction is based on manufacture Caliber 3120, which has a ball-borne rotor that winds the mainspring in both directions. After its mainspring has been fully wound, Caliber 4101 will keep ticking for ap - proximately 60 hours.