Messages: 42843 Location: Northern California
Registered: May 2005
PHOTO REPORT PT II: Visit to AP Heritage & Restoration Departments
Mon, 07 July 2014 13:49
Welcome to Part II of my recent visit to Audemars Piguet. Part I is linked here
As you can see from the map below, we made our way in PT I from Art Basel to APRP (Audemars Piguet Renaud & Papi) in Le Locle, and now in PTII to Audemars Piguet in Le Brassus
Which is located in the breathtaking Vallée de Joux, a short distance from the border of France, with the Jura Mountain range in between.
A watchmaking valley for hundreds of years, Audemars Piguet was first founded here in 1875.
Which makes for an excellent starting point, as we visited the AP Heritage Museum and were treated to some remarkable pieces from the vintage collection.
Before we have a look, we should first see where they will be housed a few years from now. Because AP is transforming what used to be a relatively cloistered museum into what is sure to be a world-class showcase for watch museums.
In the midst of chalet country, this interwoven spiral of past and future will be the AP "Maison des Fondateurs", where hundreds of vintage APs will be displayed, along with professional archives and workshops.
images from BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group (museum project designers)
The conversation of identity has been purposefully expanding since the 40th Anniversary of the Royal Oak (2012), and they continue to be guided by their own mantra.
On that note, we begin with a selection of pieces from the AP vintage collection, hosted by Heritage and Museum Director Sebastian Vivas
And Historian & Global Brand Ambassador, Michael Friedman
Since the founding of the company in 1875, every timepiece has been recorded in the archives.
However, watches were not produced en masse at that time, as each project was individually custom.
So the initial records were of caliber types only.
Later, movements were not only registered by type but also by a number identifying each one produced
Which eventually moved into the serialization process
As of 1951, everything is triple-stamped with caliber numbers, movements individually stamped, as well as reference numbers for each produced timepiece.
The client information and pricing were also recorded.
A tray of priceless history
Did you know that AP was one of the few companies to have branded Tiffany & Co. dials?
This one is from 1894
Many wristwatches in the 20s began life as pendant pieces
A pair of miniscule Minute Repeaters
5 minute repeater (striking the hours and the number of 5-min increments since the last hour), made with a miniscule 7 ligne movement
It is a recreation of one AP made in 1921.
A skeleton pocket watch from 1984
A very rare triple calendar chronograph with moonphase from 1941
And a Perpetual Calendar with leap year indication from 1957
Quite a special piece, and a rare one at that.
Reference 5516, AP made 3 pieces in 1955 with the moonphase at twelve o'clock, and 6 pieces in 1957 with the moonphase at six o'clock.
The first perpetual calendar produced in a series, and the first series with a leap year indication.
Ever seen a timepiece in the handle of a cane? How about a Grande Sonnerie?
Vintage pocket watches
Take a breath and look outside. In Part I of this trip, I mentioned a surprise piece, and here it is.
In the early 1980s, AP collaborated with a watchmaker who later became quite a name in the watchmaking industry.
The bridge angles and signature finishing are telling.
AP was working here with their Vallée de Joux neighbor, Philippe Dufour.
Here, their Grande Sonnerie
Five pieces in total were produced--one a skeleton--and this one is No. 2
Breathtaking work, isn't it?
And another beautiful perpetual calendar, this time in a Royal Oak
A piece commemorating the 20th Anniversary of the Royal Oak, with a Royal Oak inside.
1992 would also mark the founding of the Royal Oak Foundation--now the Audemars Piguet Foundation,
dedicated to environmental preservation throughout the world, and charities in raising awareness and engagement for youth.
And here, the very first Royal Oak Concept, introduced in 2002. The case is made of Alacrite 602, used in aerospace and medical applications.
With tourbillon and mainspring torque indicator, this was quite a radical release
A line which continues to this day, with the 2014 release of the Concept with bezel in white ceramic
We then made our way to the AP Restoration Department, and saw a few of the projects underway
Royal Oak Perpetual with rose Mother of Pearl dial
The AP Restoration Department is headed by Francisco Pasandin, who has worked at AP for nearly 35 years.
His enthusiasm for their work is infectious, and beautifully conveys the majestic work they are doing.
In the interest of preserving watchmaking from the Vallée de Joux, AP will restore not only Audemars Piguet timepieces,
but any watch made in the valley for which there is no longer a watchmaking home.
The Restoration Department continually produces and maintains a collection of spare parts in the event they are needed for future projects.
These also contain notes from watchmakers who worked on them as much as a century or more ago.
All of the parts are handmade, and by the same production methods that would have been used at the time.
This approach both preserves the traditional watchmaking trade, and ensures that the resulting parts and timepiece look only as new as it would have when originally produced.
An example of the process, here are the design drawings for the gongs of a minute repeater
The metal is carefully heated, and the gongs formed by hand
Then the tuning begins, listening carefully to each gong to get just the right pitch.
The more the gong is filed, the longer the note sustains.
Francisco then showed us a remarkable Grande Complication pocket watch from 1899, with an astounding 1168 components!
AP has been working continuously on Grandes Complications every year since 1882, even during the leanest years of the Great Depression.
Every restoration includes a book with before/after images, and a detailed list of the work performed.
Just before lunch, we had a precursor of the afternoon, in the tourbillon workshop.
Where we saw this...
Which ultimately becomes this, a near-complete Jules Audemars Openworked Tourbillon Chronograph
And from the 2014 collection, the Royal Oak Offshore Tourbillon Chronograph
Here we begin to see the connections between the Heritage Department, the spectacular new museum to be constructed, the rich history of the brand, and its influence on AP's independence as an industry leader.
This is a crucial point to digest, because they are deliberately making history, not simply mining it. When "Historian" and "Global Brand Ambassador" are paired on a business card, AP's stewardship of an interwoven history and future is clear. You won't see one without the presence of the other.
In other words, To Break the Rules, You Must First Master Them.
And with that, we take lunch, and savor the scenery...
Stay tuned later this week for PT III, a visit to the AP manufacture.
Thank you very much to Sebastian Vivas, Michael Friedman, Francisco Pasandin, and to all of the people at AP for this most special visit!
Howard - Moderator...Audemars Piguet & Jaeger-LeCoultre
- boa2