Manufacture
Orangedial's detailed report on an Audemars Piguet 'Complicated Evening' provides a fascinating glimpse into the brand's heritage and technical prowess. His narrative, enriched with personal anecdotes and high-quality photography, brings to life the experience of engaging with vintage and contemporary AP complications. This post offers valuable context for understanding Audemars Piguet's commitment to haute horlogerie and its efforts to connect with collectors.
It is always a pleasant surprise to receive private invitation from AP. You know you will be in for something exciting, refined and fun! This time, it was a night full of technical content befitting the haute horlogerie status of AP, a night of relentless showcase of pinnacle mechanical timekeeping technologies from the 138 years old Swiss watch powerhouse.
The dinner venue was at a cozy Italian rstaurant called La Villa which is located just next to the AP Service Center. As ironic as it can be, the Italians were not the main casts of the day, but had to give way to the Swiss invasion...
~~ Menu of the Day ~~
Amuse-bouche:
Assorted vintage AP complications from the early 1900s' till the new millennium
AP started making complicated timepieces in the late 19th century. It was quite amazing to see some vintage perpetual calendars and miniaturized minute repeaters on display. I can only imagine how much patience the watchmakers must have to construct each and every one of those precision timepieces by hand in the era when light bulbs had not yet popularized.
Entrée:
A sumptuous multi-course Swiss cuisines complete with champagnes, wines and spirits
How can you better appreciate the finest Swiss Made timekeeping marvels after a long hard day of work? Of course not before feasting on some delicious Swiss cuisines and heightening the senses with some 'spirits'! AP sure knew what to do… Bon-appetit!
Main Course:
A gala buffet of AP Grand Complications, Minute Repeaters, Toubillons, Split-second Chronographs, Jumping Hours, etc.
Unlike most of the brand events which are largely marketing rah-rah, AP did it differently this time by bringing in their Head of Product Management Mr. Claudio Cavaliere to explain the history and technical details of the complicated watches at several intervals of the dinner. Claudio mingled around answering questions from curious guests, while Oliviero and other AP SG team members like Bindy, Jeremy, Teresa and Ilyia were busy entertaining customers and friends.
Oliviero was the host cum emcee of the night
Claudio and guests
Claudio explained the Grande Complication
Naturally, the highlight of the day was the showcase of many rare complications. It was really special and fascinating to be able to get up close and personal with so many dream pieces, some of them are priced in excess of half a million dollars! What a head-spinning buffet of beautiful openworks, crisp ding-ding tunes of the minute repeaters, graceful oscillation of the toubillons, glittering jewels endowing the ladies' timepieces, and the sheer weight of precious metals encasing those complicated movements. All these, together with the interactions with Claudio, brought the appreciation of the brand's technical prowess to a new level.
Sharing here are photos of some high-end pieces which I managed to capture under a dimly lit condition. There were more monster watches (in terms of complication and price, of course) such as the Millenary Carbon One, RG ROO Tourbillon Chronograph and Chronometer with AP Escapement being circulated around but I didn't manage to grab a shot of them. Let's make do...
Jules Audemars Openwork Minute Repeater with Jumping Hour
Admittedly, my most favorite watch of the night!
Royal Oak Equation Of Time in rose gold
Royal Oak Extra Thin Tourbillon in stainless steel
Royal Oak Openwork Perpetual Calendar in full platinum
Even the LeBron James ROO made an appearance!
A tray-full of high-end APs… There were a few more trays circulating around
A lady's Millenary with gorgeous dial and beautiful diamond bezel and lugs
An elegant rose gold lady's Jules Audemars
The ever-popular lady's ROO with diamond-clad bezel
Dessert:
Attractive quiz prizes and door gifts, all exclusively AP
Another interesting subevent was a quiz. Oliviero dished out a few trivial questions about AP that made everyone busy flipping any literature available on the table, or simply googling away on smartphones. All in the quest to win that solid Royal Oak wall clock! I'm most pleased to share with you some pictures of my winning prize! :clap:
All in all, it was an enjoyable evening.
My wife was still rather clueless about all the high complications after the dinner. But she left impressed nonetheless, with what she saw as "works of art".
As for me, I left the dinner totally satisfied with the technical engagement of the brand, great meal with a wonderful host and some new friends (especially Jeff and his daughter), and of course the fantastic quiz prize and excellent door gifts.
RO 14790 Tantalum/SS
One of Oliviero's humorous remarks before he brought on Claudio kept on lingering in my mind:
"You may have a lot of questions which I believe only Claudio can answer you, but there's one question I can answer you right now… There is NO DISCOUNT!".
As humorous as it can be, there certainly is no discount on AP's commitment in bringing on good products and winning customers' trust after 138 long years.
Looking forward to more excitement in the near future!
RO 15202 Extra Thin 40th Anniversary Jumbo
Thanks for reading!
Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Reference 14790
The reference 14790 represents the 36mm automatic variant within the Royal Oak Selfwinding series. This stainless steel model features the blue dial configuration and was produced from 1993 to 2006, spanning a 13-year production period.
The 36mm stainless steel case houses the automatic caliber 2225 movement, providing 40 hours of power reserve. The watch features a fixed octagonal bezel and sapphire crystal, with water resistance to 50 meters. The blue dial is paired with a steel bracelet, maintaining material consistency throughout the piece.
This reference appeals to collectors seeking the Royal Oak design in a mid-size case diameter with automatic movement. The 36mm proportions position it between smaller and larger variants within the Royal Oak range, while the blue dial offers an alternative to other color configurations available during its production years.
That Jules Audemars Openwork Minute Repeater with Jumping Hour is probably my favorite AP, too. How lucky you were to handle it live. Thanks for sharing the special evening. respo
and it happened to be one of the most expensive pieces on display. On close inspection, the workmanship is incredible! Thanks for reading, respo!
Looks like the box has been updated ;-) Leave it to AP, no stone ever goes un-turned. What was the question that won you the prize?
The most difficult one was: "In which year that AP only produced 2 watches for the entire year?" Oliviero said the answer might not even be available on the internet, hence an answer within +/- 5 years will be considered as correct. And I was lucky! By the way, there were 5 winners that night, and my wife and I were amongst the winners! :D
Thanks for reading, Ovi!
This thread is active on the Audemars Piguet forum with 28 replies. Share your knowledge with fellow collectors.
Join the Discussion →
