Tradition and future under the same roof, Musée Atelier Audemars Piguet

Text: Britta Rossander

Musée Atelier Audemars Piguet has finally opened for visitors. At the end of June the doors were unlocked after several delays because of the Corona. This museum, of glass, brass, bleached ash and glossy black lacquer, lies in Le Brassus. There two centuries of watchmaking history are shown with more than 300 watches, and best of all is that the museum is open to the public.

Ahead of the opening AP has acquired the world's most significant private collection of Audemars Piguet vintage watches. It has been built up over 27 years by Marcus Margulies, watch dealer from London with a fingertip feel for extreme luxury and quality, and consists of watches from the 1890s up to the 1990s. Included in it was the famous pocket watch no. 6142, called “Universelle” which was finished in 1899. This masterpiece, one of the most complicated watches of its time. In total it contains 1168 parts with complications such as perpetual calendar, minute repeater with carillon, grande & petite sonneries, secondary chronograph etc.

Jasmine Audemars, chairman of the board, said after the purchase:

– This acquisition is the most important in the history of the Audemars Piguet Heritage collection thanks to the incredible quality of the selection of watches that all represent historical landmarks that we have made.

François-Henry Bennahmias, CEO of Audemars Piguet, adds.

– We are happy that these vintage pieces have ”found their way home”, they represent very important milestones for us.

Marcus Margulies is a world famous watch dealer and collector of extremely high rank. Previously he had a shop on Bond Street, London, nowadays he is with a townhouse in Mayfair where customers with very big wallets get private viewings and the chance to buy the best of the best. He is also pleased with the placement of his former collection. He means that the right home for the collection is of course AP's own museum in Le Brassus.

Spiral-shaped architecture

The museum building is spectacular like so much else that carries Francois' signature. It has the shape of a spiral-shaped glass building that creeps up out of the ground, placed right next to the existing buildings. The placement is only a few metres from the previous museum but is a giant step in both size and content.

The historic house where Jules Louis Audemars and Edward Auguste Piguet started the business in 1875 was a museum for a long time and the walls were bulging with content. Today all the objects are placed at comfortable ”viewing distance” in spacious rooms.  

– We want the visitors to be able to experience our heritage, our ”savoir-faire”, our origins and above all we want to honour all the watchmakers and craftsmen, generation after generation, who are behind what Audemars Piguet is today, says a super proud François-Henry Bennahmias

In the centre of the spiral, watches with advanced complications and chronographs are shown, but the most important of them all is the Universelle with its more than 20 complications. The most complicated watch ever produced by Audemars Piguet.

Visitors can also try out decoration techniques in the centre in workshops are built up for complicated watches with more than 648 parts in the movement. Something that takes a watchmaker six to eight months to assemble. The other workshop contains Métiers d’Art where among other things pieces within Haute Joaillerie and watches with advanced engraving are made get their decoration.

That the museum got a new home has meant that the old building from 1868 could be renovated and regain its beautiful appearance. Today the registers, archive, Heritage Department, Audemars Piguet Foundation and workshops for restoration of antique watches are found there.  

Next year the opening of the new Hôtel des Horlogers is planned, right in the vicinity of the museum, so as an AP fan it is possible to sleep over if the visit turns out to be a long one.