Audemars Piguet Celebrates 150 Years With A Clutch Of Ultra-Chic Timepieces
The Royal Oak and Code 11.59 by Audemars Piguet collections welcome a flurry of new models to their repertoire, flaunting a slightly more petite (yet still punchy) silhouette
A centenary and a half is quite the anniversary, and especially so when every moment is keenly measured. This year, Audemars Piguet celebrates its 150th year; honouring a heritage that reaches back to 1875. The Swiss maison has marked the occasion by introducing special models within the Royal Oak and Code 11.59 by Audemars Piguet collections, each flaunting one extra special tweak – for the first time, these iconic models are available in a slightly more petite (yet still punchy) 38mm diameter.
The newest perpetual calendar additions to the Royal Oak repertoire are available in stainless steel or 18-karat gold, and are bestowed with the brand-new Caliber 7136 and the recently-introduced Calibre 7138, ensuring perfect precision. While the case size might be subtly smaller, fear not – the new models still boast the artful angles and utilitarian aesthetic of the original icon, delivering an ultra-chunky dose of haute horlogerie to any wrist stack.
For those not au fait with elaborate complications, the perpetual calendar is a celestial-inspired feat of remarkable engineering – offering a mechanical memory that can track 48-month cycles and adjust the number of days in each month, even in leap years. This complication means that the timepiece can last a lifetime and longer, only needing human intervention once every 100 years to realign it with solar time. While many perpetual calendars tend to hover around the 41mm case size, these new timepieces push the boundaries of what has come before, with a 38mm silhouette that will suit any wrist. Each a limited edition, every piece is adorned with a ‘150’ logo and the inscription ‘1 of 150 pieces,’ reminding its wearer just how exclusive these little pieces of history are in your hand.
Similarly special are the three new Code 11.59 by Audemars Piguet models, unveiled with three bold hardstone dials. Based on the 38mm Selfwinding Flying Tourbillon introduced by the maison earlier in the year, these models reference vintage Audemars Piguet timepieces from the 1960s which regularly riffed on hardstones. Crafted from ruby root from Tanzania, blue sodalite from Brazil, and rich green malachite from Zambia, the stones employed for today’s dials are as meaningful as they are magnificent, having been cherished across many cultures and throughout the ages for their purported talismanic properties.
Beyond their beauty, these faces also indicate the maison’s extraordinary savoir faire, as each daring dial is crafted from a wafer-thin layer of stone, meticulously polished to harness the unique colour and qualities of the natural material. If the new Royal Oak models embody contemporary classicism, then the new Code 11.59 by Audemars Piguet are outright renegade disruptors – simply pick how you want to party.
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