The History of the Watchmaking Houses: Audemars Piguet
IF THE WATCH MAKING BETWEEN ITS ORIGINS IN THE HEART OF MEN AND THE MOUNTAINS, IT IS IN LE BRASSUS, IN THE VALLÉE DE JOUX, THAT THE MAISON AUDEMARS PIGUET IS BORN.
In this natural fold of the Jura mountain range,
at 1000 meters above sea level,
the character of men develops in contact with a rigorous climate
and with a nature that is tamed only if it is
respected. Here,
destiny is forged and deserved.
Two local boys,
Jules Louis Audemars,
born in 1851 into a family of watchmakers from Le Brassus,
and Edward Auguste Piguet, from a family of watchmakers from the Vallée de Joux, will carry the name of their country beyond the borders.watch
The first opened his own workshop on the family farm in 1875.The History of the Watchmaking Houses: Audemars Piguet
The second worked at home before realizing their collaboration in 1881.
In this isolated valley,
the path of men is observed with patience.
The change in a society in full change is measured.
The organization of transport and work,
upset by the industrial revolution,
sees the emergence of figures such as engineers,
entrepreneurs and long-time travelers.fake Audemars Piguet
Jules Louis Audemars and Edward Auguste Piguet immediately understood the potential of this new type of person.
With this in mind, they clearly define the Maison’s vocation.
It will have to create and manufacture,
entirely,
watches with complications that push beyond the limits of intelligence and the art of watchmaking.
Complications to improve precision,
practical, technical, astronomical complications,
the challenge to be taken is not personal,
but universal and daily in the manufacture that gave rise,
in 1882, to a pocket watch with a large complication with a central minute counter.best replica watches
Ten years later, the first wristwatch with a minute repeater follows.
The commitment of Jules Louis Audemars and Edward Auguste Piguet reflects deep convictions.
Here, in the Vallée, trust and mutual respect are the basis of human relationships.
The two men establish exclusive relationships with their clients.
They make it a real philosophy, just like their desire to favor inventiveness.
Thanks to its strategic choices, the company achieves dazzling success.
In 1907 it welcomed 70 skilled workers who use cutting-edge methods and tools.
In 1915 Audemars Piguet presents the smallest movement ever made of 5 minutes repetition
(15.80 mm in diameter).
In 1924 he launched the very first jumping hour wristwatch.
The manufacture becomes the reference point in the field of calibers with striking and jumping hours,
thanks to the fruitful collaboration between luthiers and watchmakers.
Audemars Piguet also specializes in the production of miniaturized and extra-flat calibers.
In 1925, therefore, the company presented a 1.32 mm caliber for pocket watches. The Maison made important innovations in skeletonized movements, with the creation, from 1934, of the first skeletonized pocket watch. But the ultra-flat remains his favorite field. In 1946 the flatter wristwatch (1.64 mm) comes out, in 1967 the first flatter self-winding caliber with central rotor (2.45 mm), in 1978 creation of the first extra-flat self-winding wristwatch with a perpetual calendar and a central rotor (4.05 mm), in 1986 the first extra-thin wristwatch with a self-winding tourbillon (5.5 mm thick with the case).
All world premieres that show the passion of the gesture
and the intelligence of the hand handed down by the founders. However, the Maison’s independence of spirit will never be expressed with greater vigor than in 1972, when Audemars Piguet disrupts the codes of Haute Horlogerie forever by presenting the Royal Oak. With its octagonal steel bezel and white gold screws, and with the use of steel as a precious metal, it revolutionizes the approach to luxury watches. A real culture shock, it embodies the strength and serenity of the Maison and its extraordinary freedom of creation.
Today Audemars Piguet carries out its mission in the challenges
that are close to its heart: to preserve the endangered professions by promoting their practice and transmission, perpetuating a tradition based on independence and the utmost need, and inserting itself into the future while respecting the challenges of globalization. Each complication watch is proof of this. It is the result of long months of work carried out with dedication and of intrinsic know-how at Audemars Piguet in which time is lived and imagined like nowhere else. The History of the Watchmaking Houses: Audemars Piguet
