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In the world of Swiss watchmaking, Audemars Piguet has always stood for intricate designs, pioneering concepts, and luxury. Located in the heart of Vallée de Joux, which is considered one of the birthplaces of modern Swiss watchmaking, the company was founded by two childhood friends-turned-watchmakers in 1875. Even though Jules Louis Audemars and Edward Auguste Piguet had known each other since they were kids, the two men reconnected on their love for horology in their mid-twenties. Both of them had grown up learning watchmaking from the Vallée de Joux’s famed watchmakers. However, the two friends took the brave decision to only make and produce hand-made watches. Keep in mind, this was at a time when industrialisation had made mass production of watches a straightforward task.
Eventually, the watchmaking business run by the two friends only gained official status in 1881, when the company was named Audemars Piguet & Cie. Now, almost 145+ years later, this watchmaking giant is still based out of Le Brassus in Vallée de Joux and is one of the only watch companies around that are privately owned by the fourth-generation family members of the two founders.
Mastering the traditional watchmaking craftsmanship passed down through generations in Vallée de Joux has been one of the central ideas of Audemars Piguet as a company. Owing to this belief, the company has never shifted its headquarters and manufacturing from the Vallée de Joux region. The original building that the two founders hired was built in 1868, and the first full-scale Manufacture building was constructed right next to it in 1907. These buildings have survived the test of time and are now part of the company headquarters.
Manufacturing, on the other hand, has spread across this beautiful valley region. Production sites have been built in Le Locle and Meyrin. In 2008, Audemars Piguet inaugurated their current primary facility called the Manufacture des Forges in Le Brassus. Not surprisingly, a vast majority of Audemars Piguet’s 2000-odd employees work in this facility to create and produce the extraordinary every day!
The production processes of the company are managed vigilantly in order to meet the quality and standard that has been created by years of excellence within the company! Again, the production of all the components for the watch is done by AP themselves. Over the years, the company has experimented with many production materials, including new advanced materials such as ceramics, tantalum, and forged carbon®.
The key to understanding the savoir-faire or know-how of manufacturing is by realising how important the human touch is to the production of the pieces. All the various complications that Audemars Piguet houses, such as Astronomy, Grande Complication, Chiming, and Tourbillon, are all made and assembled by hand.
Even the decorations and the designing of the dials and the case are done manually by skilled craftspeople. The meticulous assembly of the components of the movement is also done by hand. Polishing, hand-chamfering and circular graining are some mechanisms through which an Audemars Piguet watch is made to pass.
The design procedure for new models is also made to go through several refinements. Then, once the design is hand-drawn and sketched in detail, three-dimensional computer models are incorporated to better understand the working and different components of the watch. The third step of this process is to make a wax figure for the makers for them to start building the final prototype created from the required materials. Now, if the prototypes successfully pass the different quality checks that they go through, the timepiece design can be sent for production.
Audemars Piguet is no stranger to pioneering change in the world of modern watchmaking. They have had plenty of notable inventions in their arsenal, including creating the world’s first wristwatch movement with a minute repeater. The brand was also the first watchmaker to introduce luxury sports watches with their Royal Oak line.
Currently, there are around eight families of wristwatches that the company has: Code 11:59, Jules Audemars, Royal Oak, [RE]MASTER01, Royal Oak Offshore, Millenary, Royal Oak Concept, and Haute Joalilerie. In addition, Audemars Piguet also has their signature Classique pocket watches available for purchase.
Endorsed by countless celebrities and institutions like the legendary Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, the Audemars Piguet brand promises to develop new technology in order to innovate and set ground-breaking trends in the horological world.