The Swiss haute horlogerie manufacture Audemars Piguet is celebrating its momentous 150th anniversary this year. That’s a century and a half of creating some of the finest timepieces in the world, and doing it in great style. The brand is perhaps most well-known for its iconic Royal Oak, but the collection that defines its contemporary, forward-looking perspective is the Code 11.59. First introduced in 2019, the brand describes this line as “classic by nature, unconventional by design”.
Rather than reinvent the wheel, as it were, the Code 11.59 by Audemars Piguet is all about the very postmodern sense of a familiar classic that treads novel ground. Its architecture and silhouette are sporty, yet it is not a sport watch. Its cumulative details are elegant, yet it is not a dress watch.
What sets it apart are some of the consistent design details throughout the collection. It’s crafted with an ultra-thin bezel that grants an open, inviting vista of the dial. The classical Code 11.59 dials are embossed with a concentric pattern that resembles ripples from a perfectly balanced drop of water. The sapphire crystal that guards the watch is double curved, both concave and convex, to reduce glare and grant an unimpeded view.
Its case is a complex piece of work, with a contrasting hexagonal middle, and a plethora of subtle brushed and polished finishes on its surfaces. Its openworked arched lugs, which have the look of flying buttresses, are joined to the bezel at the tops; and left to nest on the bottoms, delicately and in perfect alignment, without any welding or soldering.
With all these strengths, the Code 11.59 collection is in a great place for Audemars Piguet to build on for the present and the future. So far this year, the haute horlogerie manufacture has rolled out a number of exciting new references.
A complication that’s the height of haute horlogerie
This pièce unique model, crafted for AP’s anniversary, is one way that Audemars Piguet is flexing its horological prowesses. In the realm of fine, complicated and truly mind-bogglingly complex watchmaking, a grande sonnerie watch ranks as perhaps one of the rarest. Very few exist in the world, quite simply because so few watchmakers can master one.
Where minute repeater watches chime the time on demand, a grande sonnerie watch does it automatically on the hour and every quarter hour. It’s a complicated feature you might find in a fancy clock—all the more impressive that it’s been miniaturised into a 41mm wristwatch. Audemars Piguet’s rendition comes, courtesy of its hand-wound calibre 2956 movement, equipped with a three-gong carillon, with three sounding options.
In its grande sonnerie mode, the hours and quarters are rung every 15 minutes. In the petite sonnerie mode, the quarters are rung every 15 minutes, and the hour only when a new hour has passed. And in its silenced mode, time passes conventionally—that is, without chiming.
Audemars Piguet has crafted this particular reference in a combination of super modern case materials. In sand gold, the warm 18-karat alloy that is the manufacture’s proprietary alloy introduced in 2024, and the octagonal case middle in polished black ceramic. And it features a completely transparent sapphire dial that reveals the intricate inner workings of this timepiece.
A perpetual calendar for a new generation
The perpetual calendar (or quantième perpétuel, or QP) is one of AP’s most cherished horological complications. The movements of celestial bodies and timekeeping is a traditional, long-held connection for watchmakers. What makes perpetual calendars so impressive is that these watches account for the irregularities of a calendar, keeping up with the changing orders of days of a week, days in a month, and leap years. When properly set and kept wound, a perpetual calendar will hold its accuracy for its century.
This year, Audemars Piguet is introducing what it dubs a “new generation” of perpetual calendar watches. It’s driven by the new self-winding movement calibre 7138, which features three patented mechanisms. And because the most technical aspects of a perpetual calendar have, in a sense, been sorted out, AP focussed instead on enhancing and innovating on the ergonomic experience of wearing it.
To wit, this new movement has distilled all adjustments made to the QP to a single crown. No need for additional tools or a jog to a boutique. It wears its complexity with elegant ease. Even better, AP has improved on its movement so that what’s known as the ‘danger zone’—a period of time when adjusting the watch will damage it and throw off its record of the time, day and date—has been solved. During those hours, the movement will simply disengage so that no accidental changes can be made. A high complication for the modern day.
A flying tourbillon in 38mm sand gold with diamonds
The Code 11.59 collection is introducing this year its smallest model yet that’s equipped with a flying tourbillon. At just 38mm, this svelte new movement, calibre 2968, was the fruit of AP’s RD#3 Royal Oak Flying Tourbillon.
Though ostensibly a regulating mechanism to improve accuracy, the flying tourbillon in this model is so elegant as to almost be a visual accent on the dial. The watch case, hour markers and hands are crafted in lustrous sand gold, with a gold-toned embossed dial and inner bezel to match. Adding to its beauty: 277 brilliant-cut diamonds set on the case middle, lugs, crown and folding clasp.
A new slate grey colourway for the Code 11.59
This year, AP has introduced a new grey colourway to its Code 11.59 collection. The line’s signature ripple dial—created in collaborated with Swiss guilloché artisan Yann von Kaenel—now comes in a slate colour, accented with touches of the brand’s famous “Bleu Nuit, Nuage 50” shade of blue.
It’s a sophisticated choice of colours, giving the collection a pair of understated options in the form a time and date, and chronograph model—both in stainless steel. In order to preserve the fine contours and details of the embossed concentric pattern, AP uses a galvanic process to tint and colour the dials. The contrasting blues are applied with PVD, or physical vapour deposition; and on the chronograph, the counters are encircled by a rhodium galvanic thread for a subtle but clear contrast.
Discover the Code 11.59 by Audemars Piguet collection here.
