The epic AP saga

Audemars Piguet made its debut in 1875 in the small village of Le Brassus in the Vallée de Joux. This mid-altitude region of the Swiss Jura mountains was already teeming with talented watchmakers and watchmaking was everywhere. Artisans had organised themselves into a dense network of professional, family and friendly relationships to create the world’s most complicated mechanical movements.

If you want to know more about the incredible watchmaking destiny of the Vallée de Joux, the connections between the families of Le Brassus, the youth of the two co-founders Jules Louis Audemars (1851–1918) and Edward Auguste Piguet (1853–1919) – in short, the circumstances that led to the creation of the first Audemars Piguet workshop – the article titled "Before 1875" is for you. Meanwhile, we pick up the story where that article left off, in 1875.

On 5 May 1881, the Vallée de Joux’s leading watchmakers convened to discuss the serious situation they were facing and signed a revealing letter: “The watchmakers of the Valley, who feel it is so important to breathe a little life back into our region through its main industry and perhaps bring back to this area many of the workers who have had to leave it and spread elsewhere knowledge that it would have been precious to be able to keep at home…”. To restore a semblance of prosperity, Edward Auguste Piguet, Jules Louis Audemars and their colleagues invited all watchmakers in the region to respect minimum sales prices, even if it meant compromising their sacrosanct freedom.

Was it on this occasion that the two co-founders launched the idea of signing their first partnership agreement? It is tempting to think so. On 17 December 1881, they did just that. Intended to last ten years, the partnership came into effect on 1 January 1882. As part of the founding capital, Jules Louis Audemars contributed 18 mechanical movements of which the production process was probably ongoing. When it came to allocating work, he reserved the right to prioritise his father and brother Albert as well as the other artisans he had been employing until then. Meanwhile, Edward Auguste Piguet contributed CHF 10,000: a substantial sum for the time since it corresponded to the price of a house with two dwellings along with a workshop, garden and fountain. It was enough to expand the Audemars Piguet workshop, acquire more equipment, invest in gold cases and even begin advertising – with the first advert appearing in February 1882.

Both men were talented watchmakers who decided to divide the tasks between them. Edward Auguste Piguet took commercial and financial responsibility for the company. A strong believer in networking, he belonged to the Vallée de Joux’s pioneering families that one is almost tempted to refer to as patricians. He took part in public life and excelled in communications.

For his part, Jules Louis Audemars retained management of the workshop he had founded in 1875. On 6 December 1882, at a time when the Swiss Intellectual Property Agency had just been set up, the company registered a trademark and its name: "Audemars, Piguet & Cie, fabricants, Brassus. Movements and watch cases made by them.” Complete watches were thus an integral part of the brand’s purpose right from the outset.

Let's go back to the first Production Register. The first page describes 13 watches. All have at least one classic complication, and some have several. There are nine repeaters, seven chronographs and three calendars, offering a fine introduction to the subject! Of the 1,625 watches in the decade-long register, 75% have one or more complications – 52% a repeater, 38% a chronograph and 8% a calendar  – while 20% feature more than one complication.

The first decades of Audemars Piguet's history were therefore strongly marked by watches with complications. This specialisation was no accident, as the Vallée de Joux had acquired its watchmaking credentials in this field. Since the 1850s, the small community of watchmakers in Le Brassus has developed and manufactured the majority of the world's most complicated calibres. These include the Merveilleuse by Ami Lecoultre Piguet (1878), the Leroy 01 (1900) and the Henry Graves by Patek Philippe in 1927. Whether signed in Geneva, Paris, Besançon or London, their movements come from the Vallée de Joux.

Audemars Piguet took part in this quest for ultra-complication. In April 1899, the workshops received a very special movement blank from the workshops of Louis Elisée Piguet, a cousin and neighbour. It took several months to complete the finishing of more than 1,000 components driving 19 complications. The cased-up watch was sent to Germany to be finished and marketed by the Union Dürrstein company in Glashütte under the name "Universal Uhr". Nicknamed the Universelle, the watch was acquired by the Audemars Piguet Heritage team in 2016 after four years of restoration. It is on display at the heart of the Musée Atelier in Le Brassus and inspired the creation of the Code 11.59 by Audemars Piguet Ultra-Complication Universelle (RD#4) wristwatch, winner of the “Aiguille d’Or” award in the 2023 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève.

Audemars Piguet has never stopped making watches with complications, an art that remains at the very core of its expertise.

From the 19^th century to World War I, production grew slowly, from around a hundred watches a year finished by a handful of watchmakers in the 1880s to half a thousand in the 1910s by around 25 artisans. In the era of établissage, Audemars Piguet mainly employed watchmakers known as repasseurs. They did not make the watch components themselves, but instead coordinated the work of dozens of small workshops scattered across the Vallée de Joux and conducted inspections that involved going over their colleagues' work in detail. They adjusted, adapted, set into operation, finished, assembled, fit together and checked completed watches. At the time, time, the profession of repasseur was regarded as the most prestigious in the industry.

1907 was a pivotal year in the company's history, with the construction of a new building at 16 Route de France, the brand's current head office. The company was transformed into a Société Anonyme. This legal form gave its owners a certain degree of security, but it was anonymous only in legal terms, since its capital remained in the hands of the founding families, who were joined by several watchmaking families from the Vallée de Joux, including the LeCoultres and the Capts.

World War I spelt the end of the Belle Époque era and ushered in a period of uncertainty. Although Switzerland remained a neutral country, world trade was hampered and watchmakers of military age were mobilised. A month before the Armistice in 1918, Jules Louis Audemars died of an illness, followed a year later by Edward Auguste Piguet.

The second generation of the family took over. This was the time of two Pauls. A talented watchmaker, Paul Louis Audemars (1881–1969) had been active in the workshops since 1901. He succeeded his father in 1918, serving as technical director and Chairman of the Board until 1948. Paul Edward Piguet (1890–1979), a lover of the Vallée de Joux who was much admired for his communication skills, joined the workshops in 1910 as an apprentice watchmaker. He was appointed director in 1917 and succeeded his father two years later, taking over the firm’s financial and commercial management. Until his death at the age of 89, he travelled to the workshops every day by moped, spending a total of 68 years in the service of the company.

In taking over from their fathers, the two Pauls had no idea of the difficulties they would have to overcome.

Although wristwatches had been around since the 16^th century, it was not until the 1910s–20s that they became a necessary attribute of modern times. For watchmakers, the wristwatch posed several challenges. Firstly, the miniaturisation of the mechanism. Secondly, shock resistance, as the watch was much more exposed on the wrist than in the pocket. Finally, there was the matter of how to secure the strap/bracelet itself.

Audemars Piguet played a pioneering role in the development of wristwatches with complications. In 1892, the brand created one of the first minute repeater wristwatches with Louis Brandt & Frère (Omega), followed by several tiny chiming watches. The first wristwatches with calendars arrived in the 1920s, with chronographs making their appearance in the next decade.

This boom coincided with that of Art Deco. The movement dreamt of associating modernity with tradition as well as combining pure lines, geometric shapes, speed and light with fine craftsmanship – and that is exactly what Audemars Piguet did.

The artisans of Le Brassus collaborated with the case makers of Geneva and La Chaux-de-Fonds to explore and combine new shapes – cushion, barrel, rectangle, baguette, square, etc. – along with oversized or mobile lugs, representing seemingly boundless creative territory.

In 1945, a wind of optimism and modernity swept across the world. After the disasters of war, everything had to be rebuilt, rethought and reinvented. The West entered three decades of spectacular growth, dubbed the Les Trentes Glorieuses (the post-war boom years). Swiss watchmaking rocketed from around 12 million watches exported in 1945 to over 80 million in 1974.

For Audemars Piguet, prospects gradually began to improve. In 1945, the workshops employed around 30 artisans with an annual production of over 500 watches a year, but profits still seemed a long way off. The two Pauls wanted to benefit from the experience of Manufacture LeCoultre & Cie – located in the neighbouring village of Le Sentier and employing several hundred people – which had mastered mass production since the 19^th century and had a modern distribution structure based in Geneva.

1948 was a year of major decisions. Audemars Piguet took part in the Basel Watch Fair for the first time; the collections were reshuffled; the brand was modernised; the words "& Co" gradually disappeared from dials and advertisements; the distribution network was reorganised; and the APCO and Audiguet sub-brands were abandoned. Production was overhauled, with LeCoultre & Cie becoming the main supplier of movement blanks. Audemars Piguet’s Board of Directors welcomed a number of key figures from the SAPIC group (Société anonyme des Participations Industrielles et Commerciales) founded in 1927 and which has holdings in Manufacture LeCoultre & Cie, the Jaeger-LeCoultre sales firm, Vacheron Constantin, Établissement Jaeger and other watchmaking companies. Jules César Savary (1899–1966) became Audemars Piguet’s Chairman of the Board. A man of action, a salesman, a visionary and a watchmaking connoisseur, he remained in this role until his death in 1966.

While the founding families retained ownership of the company, the contribution of new ideas, experience and resources enabled far-reaching modernisation that produced rapid results. In 1952, sales topped one million Swiss Francs and the 1000-watch mark was surpassed for the second time since 1926. Three years later, Audemars Piguet sold more than 2,000 watches. In 1970, the workshops employed 86 people who produced almost 5,500 watches.

Georges Golay was the first Audemars Piguet executive who did not belong to one of the founding families. His career and his role nonetheless proved decisive for the brand.

The story begins with a chance encounter. In 1933, at the age of 23, Jacques-Louis Audemars (1910–2002), grandson of Jules Louis, joined the AP workshops as a watchmaker. Assistant manager since 1939, he knew that his father would one day hand over the reins of the company to him. While he was well aware of the fragility of the business, having lived through the lean years, he also saw its immense potential. One day in the spring of 1945, he got into a casual discussion with 23-year-old Georges Golay (1921–1987) with whom he had crossed paths at the Le Brassus gymnastics club. When Golay told him about his commercial training and his convictions, Jacques-Louis offered him a job.

Georges Golay began his career as an accountant, revealing exceptional commercial talent as well as strategic vision. A native of Le Brassus, this inveterate traveller with a charismatic personality played an active part in the brand's revival. At the end of the 1950s, he joined the Board of Directors as secretary and representative of the Lecoultre family. In 1962, he took over the role of Sales Director. A member of the Board since 1965, he served as Managing Director from 1966 until his death in 1987. It was during this pivotal period that he enabled the birth of two legends: the Royal Oak and the ultra-thin selfwinding perpetual calendar watch.

This man of contacts and conviction is said to have dined once a month with André Heiniger, President of Rolex, and Henri Stern, President of Patek Philippe, at the Venus restaurant in Geneva. The three men were known as the "Haute Horlogerie triumvirate". He played cards with the region's watchmaking bosses, employees, families, cousins and friends at the Hôtel de France in Le Brassus; and as a fervent promoter of his region, he notably presided over international ski events in Le Brassus.

The space race, rock music, the birth of electronics, the sports boom and motor cars, utopias, economic growth... In the 1950s and 1960s, people imagined that by the year 2000, everyone would be spending their holidays on the Moon or Mars and travelling in flying cars.

This creative energy is reflected in the design of Audemars Piguet watches, inspired both by brutalism and Space Age design. With their taut lines, radical geometric shapes, perfect finishes and expressive dials, the watches created during these years were a reflection of their era and paved the way for the Royal Oak.

It was also at this time that the figure of the watch designer began to take shape. Audemars Piguet watches were conceived either in collaboration with case manufacturers, jewellers, or even clients such as retailers or brands. By way of example, asymmetrical watches were designed by Leu, Croisier, Bergerioux, Cristofol and others. The Discovolante models were the brainchild of German designer Gebhart Duve, best known for his cutlery and jewellery. Inspired by design pioneer Raymond Loewy, Gérald Genta was one of the first to specialise in watches. He signed a contract with Audemars Piguet in 1962, by which he undertook to design models at the brand's request while remaining independent.

The Royal Oak introduced in 1972 marked a turning point in the history of Audemars Piguet and of Swiss watchmaking in general. Created in response to demand from the Italian, French and Swiss markets and designed by Gérald Genta in one night, it was the first watch in the history of watchmaking to elevate steel to the rank of a precious materials, as well as the first to combine refinement and sport, elegance and casual chic, tradition and design in such a radical way.

Since the birth of Model 5402, the Royal Oak has been the subject of extraordinary developments. We invite you to discover the articles detailing its Tapisserie guilloché dial punctuated with 50,000 small perforations; its integrated monocoque case combining satin-brushing, polishing, octagonal, round and tonneau shapes; its tapering metal bracelet; as well as its world's thinnest selfwinding mechanism. The Royal Oak was the first Audemars Piguet model to be produced in a run of more than 1,000. More expensive than a gold watch, it offended some conservatives, yet met with an enthusiastic response from the moment it was launched in April 1972.

Across just over half a century, the Royal Oak has led to the creation of over 800 different models, including the Royal Oak Offshore and Royal Oak Concept variants, extra-thin, calendar, chronograph, tourbillon and jewellery models, in materials as diverse as gold, platinum, titanium, tantalum, ceramic and BMG. It has inspired numerous collections throughout the watch industry.

In 1993, designer Emmanuel Gueit gave it a facelift by creating the Royal Oak Offshore that ushered in the era of oversized watches. In 2002, Claude Emmenegger revisited it by creating a high-tech variant that gave rise to the Royal Oak Concept collection, a platform for innovation that would notably help revive chiming watches.

When the wave of Asian and American quartz watches hit, the third generation of the founding families was at the helm. Jacques-Louis Audemars succeeded his father Paul Louis as Technical Director in 1959. It was he who oversaw the creation of Calibre 2121 and quartz research. At that time, the job included watch design, so Jacques-Louis supervised each new model, including the Royal Oak. A great fan of football, English boxing and motoring, he chaired the Board of Directors from 1966 to 1992.

The Piguet family was represented on the Board from 1979 onwards by Paulette Gabrielle Piguet (1921–2003). Discreet by nature, she was the first woman to sit on the Board, alongside her role as Secretary General of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. Another woman played a key role in the company, with Florence Piguet joining the firm in 1961 as an accountant, before becoming Head of Personnel and then Deputy Director. It was she who introduced the first computer in the Vallée de Joux to manage the staff roster.

When Georges Golay died suddenly in October 1987 after 42 years with the company, the Board asked Florence Piguet to succeed him. She declined out of modesty but agreed to take on financial management. The brand was co-directed by two men. The first, Steven Urquhart, brought with him a spirit of openness to the world at large. Born in 1946 in Trinidad, this economist with a flair for products, marketing and customers had taken over as Sales Director in 1974. The second director comes from one of the oldest families in the Vallée de Joux and bears the surname of the region's first watchmaker. An engineer who joined Audemars Piguet in 1985, Georges-Henri Meylan took over responsibility for Production. When Steven Urquhart joined Omega in 1997, where he had begun his career as a watchmaker and of which he would later become Chairman of the Board, Georges-Henri Meylan was appointed CEO of Audemars Piguet.

The "post-quartz" years featured spectacular creative dynamism in terms of products and collections. They also marked a turning point in the consolidation of distribution and the beginnings of vertically integrated production.

The success of the 5548 perpetual calendar watch (Chapter 18) paved the way for all other complications. In 1986, Audemars Piguet presented the first ever selfwinding tourbillon watch (Model 25643), based on an idea by André Beyner, the inspiration behind the Swatch. At the time, only a few insiders knew what a tourbillon was. This speciality, designed to improve precision, also made it possible to showcase the heart of the watch, a crucial element in highlighting the value of mechanical horology compared with quartz technology. The idea was so brilliant that in just a few years, the tourbillon spread throughout the watch industry.

That same year, 1986, two talented young watchmakers from the Le Brassus workshops founded their company in the small town of Le Locle. Giulio Papi and Dominique Renaud set out to radically rethink the way in which mechanical movements with complications were created. Six years later, Renaud & Papi created Calibre 2865 for Audemars Piguet, marking the return of repeater wristwatches from Audemars Piguet (Model 25723).

In 1992, the Manufacture created its first selfwinding triple complication wristwatch with minute repeater, perpetual calendar and chronograph (Model 25725). In 1996, the addition of the split-seconds function led to the birth of Calibre 2885, which has since been fitted to Grande Complication wristwatches, thereby perpetuating an uninterrupted tradition dating back to the 19^th century, yet previously confined to pocket watches.

Another technical feat related to the Grande Sonnerie, probably watchmaking’s most sophisticated single complication. In the mid-1980s, at a time when this function had not been fitted to an AP watch for almost a century, a young watchmaker came along. His name was Philippe Dufour and he offered to make one (Model 25711) for the brand from Le Brassus. This function was then miniaturised in the Le Locle workshops, resulting in the first Audemars Piguet Grande Sonnerie wristwatches in 1994 (Model 25750).

The complications dynamic was relaunched. This was followed by six models named Tradition d'Excellence and numerous innovations that have perpetuated and renewed the art of mechanical complications, including the carillon chime in 1998 and the equation of time in 2000.

Since the birth of Audemars Piguet, many celebrities have worn watches from the Le Brassus workshops on their wrists or in their jacket pockets. These include Walter Chrysler (1875–1949), founder of the brand and of the eponymous building, President Dwight Eisenhower (1890–1969), singer Frank Sinatra (1915–1998), the Shah of Iran Mohammed Reza Pahlavi (1919–1979), as well as fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld (1933–2019).

From the 1980s onwards, certain friendships led to partnerships. In 1989, for example, young golf prodigy Nick Faldo became a brand ambassador. Other champions also associated their names with Audemars Piguet, such as chess champion Garry Kasparov and skier Alberto Tomba. Audemars Piguet became interested in sailing and gained fame through the victory of the crew of Swiss boat Alinghi, which won the America's Cup in 2003 and 2007.

But let's go back to 1999. Audemars Piguet was on a roll and preparing to celebrate its 125^th anniversary. Its 330 employees were producing just under 15,000 watches a year and sales were approaching the CHF 100 million mark. Yet the brand remained virtually unknown to the general public. It therefore invited a loyal customer named Arnold Schwarzenegger to visit the workshops in Le Brassus. A friendship was born, followed by a limited edition. The Royal Oak Offshore End of Days considerably broadened the brand's audience. The youthful director of the American subsidiary, François-Henry Bennahmias, immediately organised the Time to Give charity auction, for which he succeeded in attracting the participation of several film superstars, including Sharon Stone, Sophia Loren and George Clooney, as well as boxer Mohammed Ali.

The Royal Oak Offshore has been a driving force in this opening up to the world of entertainment and culture. This creative, extrovert model embodies success and youth. It has appealed to sports stars such as Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello, Lionel Messi and Serena Williams. In 2005, American rapper Jay-Z celebrated his tenth career anniversary with a Royal Oak Offshore special edition. The Offshore was thus introduced to the world of music and became the first luxury watch to be adopted by hip-hop stars. AP even became one of the most quoted brands in hip-hop songs. The brand has continued its exploration of pop culture, teaming up with Marvel Studios in 2020, rapper Travis Scott's Cactus Jack brand in 2023, as well as artist KAWS in 2024.

Moving from the status of établisseur to that of integrated Manufacture involved acquiring numerous skills and creating a corresponding number of workshops: blanks, cutting, laboratory, case production, dials, guilloché work, finishing, mechanics, profile-turning, cutting, pad printing, etc.

To house them, Audemars Piguet had to build several sites in the village of Le Brassus over the years, starting in 2000 with an extension to the historical building at 16 Route de France. In 2008, the Manufacture des Forges was inaugurated as the main production site. Now too small, the Manufacture des Forges will make way for the Manufacture du Brassus, a 300-metre-long building shaped like an oscillating weight and scheduled for completion in 2027. Part of this building, named the Arc, welcomed employees in 2024.

In Geneva, the Centror case manufacturing workshops, founded in 1982, were acquired in 1991, expanded several times and relocated to a new building in 2014. Renamed Audemars Piguet Meyrin in 2021, they are preparing to move into a brand-new manufacturing site in 2026. Renaud & Papi in the small watchmaking town of Le Locle was acquired by Audemars Piguet in 1992. It moved to a new building in 2003, before relocating again in 2021 to the Manufacture des Saignoles. At that time, the company was renamed Audemars Piguet Le Locle. In addition, other workshops and buildings have been created around the world to ensure that watches are serviced as close as possible to customers, notably in Singapore, Besançon and Florida.

Two emblematic buildings designed to welcome visitors to Le Brassus have been set up to complement the production sites. Since 2020, the spiral-shaped Musée Atelier Audemars Piguet has served as a showcase for the history of the brand and the region, as well as a source of inspiration. Nearby, a new version of the Hôtel des Horlogers plays with the natural topography and views of a timeless landscape. Both buildings were designed by Danish architect BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group.

Getting to know the customers who wear the watches on their wrists, forging friendships, listening to their expectations. At Audemars Piguet, this precious proximity remained a dream for more than a century. Customers were multi-brand retailers, jewellers and even other watch brands.

To establish closer contacts with its customers, Audemars Piguet opened its first boutique in Geneva in 1993, but the expansion of the brand's boutiques really began in the 2000s, with Milan (2005), Singapore (2006), Kuala Lumpur and Tokyo (2007), Taipei (2008), New York (2010) and so on. These points of sale were often run in partnership with retailers, but sometimes directly by Audemars Piguet. One of the new skills the company had to learn was that of sales. For the record, the employee register shows that the brand's first "salesman" was hired in 1976 and was called Jean-Claude Biver. To ensure that each salesperson became an ambassador, a training programme was launched, overseen by a training centre called the "AP Academy", which opened in 2007. To guarantee that each point of sale offers optimum quality and a true brand experience, the number of outlets was reduced from around 700 in 2000 to 300 in 2010 and 82 worldwide by early 2025, including 52 Audemars Piguet boutiques.

In 2018, Audemars Piguet launched the innovative AP House concept to forge special relationships with its customers in a warm, friendly setting. Above and beyond a role as points of sale, these are meeting spaces based in major cities, each different from the next, featuring a large bar, a family table, a lounge area; decorated with contemporary art and sometimes enhanced by a small museum, a piano, a table tennis table or table football... The first AP House opened in Milan in 2018, followed by Hong Kong in 2019, then Madrid, Bangkok, London, Tokyo, New York, etc. By the beginning of 2025, the brand had 22 AP Houses, the largest of which is the five-storey AP House in Milan, opened in 2024.

The brand's creative energy and the contribution of new talent from the world of watchmaking and other fields such as cars, fashion, materials engineering, jewellery, contemporary art, music, architecture and scenography have given rise to a large number of watches associated with countless fields: complications, materials, decoration, case architecture, miniaturisation, Haute Joaillerie, sport, pop culture, fine stones, acoustic performance, and so on. We will limit ourselves here to a few recent creations.

Launched in 2019, the Code 11.59 By Audemars Piguet collection combines a circle with an octagon. Simple at first glance, the watch is packed with details reaching a rare degree of technical and aesthetic sophistication. These include its rounded octagonal case middle, its architectural lugs soldered to the ultra-thin bezel, as well as its double-curved crystal.

On another front, the materials laboratory used SPS (Spark Plasma Sintering) technology to juxtapose colours in a perfectly homogeneous material: ceramic or gold (Chroma project). Audemars Piguet then introduced a new gold colour, called sand gold, featuring rich, polychromatic reflections. At the same time, the brand created the watch industry's first precious BMG (bulk metallic glass).

When it comes to finishing, in collaboration with jewellery designer Carolina Bucci, AP introduced a new decoration in 2016: diamond hammering called “Frosted Gold”. Up to a million of tiny facetted holes adorn the exterior of a Royal Oak watch, making it sparkle like diamond dust.

Midway between jewellery, watchmaking and fashion, the Royal Oak Mini has a diameter of just 23 mm. It revives a miniature icon from 1997. Finally, in vintage mode, the first two [RE]Master releases highlight two creations that marked the brand's history in 1943 and 1960, inaugurating a new heritage collection.