Hands-on: News from Audemars Piguet

Text: Britta Rossander
Photo: Mia Litström

Eqotime's Britta Rossander and Mia Litström took a look at Audemars Piguet's new models for the first quarter of 2023 during a touch and feel session in Amsterdam. We tried several Royal Oak and Code 11.59 where one in particular caught our interest because of the history of the movement construction.

Audemars Piguet Code 11.59 Starwheel

Old complication in new packaging with the Audemars Piguet Code 11.59 Starwheel in black ceramic and white gold. Despite its size it sits perfectly on the wrist and is almost like a perpetuum mobile with its three domes.

The mechanism was invented during the 1600s and until the 1900s lay hidden in the cases. Audemars Piguet reinterpreted it in 1991 and started showing the mechanism of the complication clearly visible on the dial. Wandering hours is a horological complication that shows the hours with the help of a system of satellites that are drawn along a minute scale in the form of an arc. It fell into oblivion but in the late 1900s the system was rediscovered and the unusual mechanism was given the name Starwheel and was used by Audemars Piguet in many models until the beginning of the 2000s. The system with wandering hours is also the inspiration for Urwek's first model UR .101 which came in 1997.

The Starwheel's comeback in the Code 11.59 has the automatic movement Caliber 4310 in the case with 70 hours of power reserve and a water resistance of 30 metres. The time display is achieved thanks to a central rotor that goes one whole turn in three hours and on which three aluminium discs are fastened that rotate on their own axes. The discs rotate along their own axis, and when the whole central module rotates during the day, the current hour will be shown by the numeral that sits at the top. The corresponding minutes are indicated by the small black triangle next to the current hour, which points at the minute figure on the arc-shaped minute track that is found at the top of the watch. The centrally placed seconds hand in white gold has a curved tip to complement the domed profile of the three discs that are placed beneath it.

A little history

The wandering time system goes as mentioned back to the 1600s and the origin was a request from Pope Alexander VII who suffered from insomnia that was made worse by a clock ticking. Therefore he ordered a ”night clock” from the watchmaking brothers Campani in Rome who were famous for their way of daring to take on difficult assignments.  He wanted a clock that would be silent and easy to read in the dark. The Campani brothers delivered the first clock with wandering hours to the pope where the time was read off on a semicircle in an aperture that was lit from the inside. From the end of the 1600s this complication was introduced in pocket watches without backlighting. During the following century these watches became prestigious gifts.

In the 1800s the popularity of the complication began to decline but in 1989 a watchmaker from Audemars Piguet read about the system with wandering hours in an article in Journal Suisse d'Horlogerie. This was during the period when the industry realised that a craving for watches with mechanical movements was increasing. It is usually said that it was IWC's perpetual calendar from 1985 constructed by the genius Kurt Klaus was the watch that gave the Swiss their faith in the mechanical watch back after what we usually call the quartz crisis. 

Technical specifications: 

Model: Code 11.59 Starwheel
Reference number: 15212NB.OO.A002KB.01

Functions: Hours, minutes and centred seconds
Case: 41 x 10,7 mm in ceramic and white gold

Dial: Blue aventurine with black aluminium discs

Strap: rubber strap with textile surface

Movement: Caliber 4310

Power reserve: 70 hours

Royal Oak Offshore Selfwinding Chronograph in ceramic 

The model Royal Oak Offshore was introduced 30 years ago. In connection with the anniversary Audemars Piguet has launched the model with a case (42 mm) and bracelet in coal-black ceramic. Audemars Piguet's composition for the material is a well-kept secret but what we do know is that it is partly made of zirconium oxide powder combined with a specific binding agent. The homogeneous colour arises when the material reaches 1 000 degrees. 

A dial in black Petite Tapisserie and white markers and hands make it a sure design winner. The pushers and crown are also in black ceramic but on the bezel there are eight screws in white gold that fasten it to the case. A date at 3 o'clock, seconds at 6 o'clock and chronograph sub-dials at 9 and 12 o'clock make the dial very good-looking and nicely symmetrical. In the case sits the Calibre 4404 with a fly back function with a rotor in rose gold that is visible under the case back's sapphire crystal.

Model: Royal Oak Offshore Selfwinding Chronograph
Reference number: 26238CE.OO.1300CE.01 

Functions: flyback chronograph, hours, minutes, small seconds. 
Case: 42 x 15,3 mm in black ceramic with a case back in titanium with a sapphire crystal. 

Dial: Black with a petite tapisserie pattern

Water resistant: 100 metres

Strap: Bracelet in ceramic with a folding clasp in titanium

Movement: Caliber 4404

Price: 70,000 CHF + tax

Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph 43 mm in black ceramic and yellow gold 

A hefty piece that takes up space with the black Mega Tapisserie pattern on the dial and like the moved chronograph display at 3 and 9 o'clock, small seconds at 6 o'clock and a date window that is moved a little closer to the edge of the dial than on earlier models. The AP monogram is placed at 12 o'clock. The hour markers in yellow gold and black lacquer we think give the dial a luxurious appearance.

In the case of this eye-catching watch sits Audemars Piguet's latest automatic chronograph calibre 4404, which was first introduced in the model Code 11.59. 

Model: Royal Oak Offshore Selfwinding Chronograph
Reference number: 26420CE.OO.A127CR.01 

Functions: flyback chronograph, hours, minutes, small seconds. 
Case: 43 mm in black ceramic and yellow gold. 

Dial: Black with a mega tapisserie pattern

Water resistant: 100 metres

Strap: Leather strap in alligator with gold thread

Movement: Caliber 4404

Price: 60,000 euro + tax

Code 11.59 in a steel case of 41 mm 

Since the launch in 2019 we have seen the Code 11.59 collection above all in white or rose gold. This year it is thus time to let the steel take its place with a mixture of polished and satin-brushed surfaces. In total six models are included (three with a chronograph and three without) in the new collection in the colours blue, green and beige. 

The dials have been given patterns by the Swiss guilloché specialist Yann von Kaenel. They are coloured by PVD (Physical Vapour Deposition) for the blue and green tones and with a galvanic process for the beige shade which gives an illusion of them being a little ”smoky”

What is good-looking is that the hour markers in white gold are like long faceted sticks with Super LumiNova instead of the Arabic numerals that have been in the collection since the launch. The crown in steel is more rounded and for the two beige models it has guards in black ceramic. 

Model: Code 11.59 Selfwinding
Reference number: 15210ST.OO.A348KB.01 (blue), 15210ST.OO.A056KB.01 (green), 15210QT.OO.A064KB.01 (beige) 

Functions:  Hours, minutes, centred seconds and date. 
Case: 41 x 10,3 mm in steel. 

Dial: Blue, green or beige with a guilloche pattern

Water resistant: 30 metres

Strap: Rubber strap

Movement: Caliber 4301

Price: 22,700 CHF + tax

Finally two pictures of the Code 11.59 Selfwinding Chronograph in green.

Read more about the news at Audemars Piguet