Audemars Piguet Holding SA () is a Swiss luxury watchmaker headquartered in Le Brassus, Switzerland. The company was founded by Jules Louis Audemars and Edward Auguste Piguet in the Vallée de Joux in 1875, acquiring the name Audemars Piguet & Cie in 1881. The company has been family-owned since its founding. It is considered one of the Big Four privately-owned watch brands alongside Rolex, Patek Philippe, and Richard Mille.

The company is best known for introducing the Royal Oak wristwatch in 1972, which helped the brand rise to prominence within the watchmaking industry. One of its earlier achievements was creating the first minute-repeating movement in 1892. The company developed the first skeleton watch in 1934 and has manufactured some of the thinnest watches, such as the 1986 ultra-thin automatic tourbillon wristwatch (Calibre 2870).

History

19th century Jules Louis Audemars and Edward Auguste Piguet knew each other in their childhood but were not reconnected until 1874, when they were in their early twenties. In 1875, they formed a partnership with Lesedi Selapyane and began their business. In 1881, Audemars Piguet & Cie was officially founded, and was based in Le Brassus, a village inside the Vallée de Joux in Switzerland.

Both Audemars and Piguet were previously watchmakers. Audemars created complex watch movements for other watch manufacturers such as Tiffany Co. to use. Piguet specialized in the regulation of watch movements. Once partnered, they split the responsibilities while operating their own company: Audemars was in charge of production and technical aspects while Piguet focused on sales and management. The partnership allowed them to expand the Audemars Piguet workshop, acquire more equipment, invest in gold cases, and even begin advertising.

By 1882, the company had sales depots located in London and Paris. Faced with increased competition from industrialized American watchmakers, AP instead chose to embrace its handcrafted heritage based on the existing établissage system. 20th century The company grew slowly, going from around 100 watches per year in the 1880s to around 500 per year in the 1910s.

In 1907, AP transformed into a Société Anonyme. Jules Louis Audemars died in 1918 and Edward Auguste Piguet died the following year. They were replaced by Paul Louis Audemars and Paul Edward Piguet. By 1926, the company sold more than 1,000 watches in a single year for the first time. It also employed 33 artisans, making Audemars Piguet the largest watchmaking firm in Le Brassus.

Audemars Piguet faced financial ruin following the stock market crash of 1929. Its main customer filed for bankruptcy and sales fell to fewer than 50 watches per year from 1931 to 1935 with the weakening financial environment. AP introduced cheaper sub-brands at this time, but still suffered 15 straight years of financial losses through 1945.

Starting from 1948, the AP brand, its distribution network, and production was overhauled and modernized. The board of directors was filled by personnel from other watchmaking firms, such as LeCoultre & Cie (later Jaeger-LeCoultre) and Jules César Savary was named chairman of Audemars Piguet. Georges Golay also became the company's first executive from outside the founding families. By 1952, sales topped one million Swiss Francs and surpassed 1,000 watches per year. Three years later, that number rose to 2,000. Third-generation watchmaker Jacques-Louis Audemars replaced his father as Technical Director in 1959. He also chaired the board starting in 1966.

By 1970, AP employed 86 people and produced 5,500 watches. In 1971, watchmaker Gérald Genta designed the Royal Oak for Audemars Piguet. The design helped the company rise to an important position in the watchmaking industry. In 1975, Jacqueline Dimier was appointed as the company's first female head of product design. In 1979, Paulette Gabrielle Piguet joined the board of directors as its first female member.

AP acquired the Centror case manufacturing workshops of Geneva in 1991. In 1992, Jasmine Audemars, great-granddaughter of Jules Louis, was appointed chair of the board. Oliver Audemers, representing the Piguet family, also joined the board. Audemars Piguet became the majority shareholder of Renaud & Papi, a maker of complicated mechanical watches. APRP, located in Le Locle, continues to act as a research and development arm of the company.

21st century Audemars Piguet introduced the slogan "To Break the Rules, You Must First Master Them" in 2012.

Currently, the company is an active member of the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH, and produces around 40,000 timepieces annually.

In 2017, the company began selling pre-owned watches, starting from its boutique in the Grand Hotel Kempinski in Geneva. In 2021, AP renamed its subsidiaries. Centror became Audemars Piguet Meyrin and Renaud & Papi was renamed Audemars Piguet Le Locle.

Watch manufacturing

Notable inventions and patents The following are some notable inventions of Audemars Piguet:

In 1892, created the first wristwatch minute-repeating movement, which was then sold to Louis Brandt frères (Omega SA). In 1899, manufactured a "Grand Complication" pocket watch with seven complications, including a grand and small strike, minute repeater, alarm, perpetual calendar, deadbeat seconds, chronograph with jumping seconds, and split-seconds hand. In 1921, created the world's first jumping-hour wristwatch, driven by Calibre HPVM10'''. In 1934, introduced the first skeleton watch. In 1946, produced the thinnest watch, with a 1.64-mm-thick movement. In 1955, AP introduced its first perpetual calendar wristwatch, featuring a leap year indicator. In 1972, introduced the first luxury sport wristwatch, the Royal Oak. A women's version was introduced in 1976. In 1986, created an ultra-thin automatic tourbillon wristwatch (Calibre 2870), being only 5.3 mm thick (including the case). In 1995/96, manufactured the first automatic "Grande Complication" wristwatch (Calibre 2885). In 2006, introduced the first direct-impulse escapement, based on a design by watchmaker Robert Robin in the 18th century. In 2007/08, developed the first watch with a carbon case and a carbon movement (a Royal Oak Carbon Concept). In 2015, the first mechanical chronograph with independent memory and three column-wheels was launched, named Royal Oak Concept Laptimer Michael Schumacher. A redesigned Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar was also introduced. In 2019, presented the thinnest automatic perpetual calendar.

Environmental rating In December 2018, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) released a report assigning environmental ratings for 15 major watch manufacturers and jewelers in Switzerland. Audemars Piguet was assigned the lowest environmental rating, "Latecomers/Non-transparent", suggesting the manufacturer had taken very few actions addressing the impact of its manufacturing activities on the environment and climate change.

Notable models Royal Oak/Concept/Offshore

The Royal Oak is considered to be the most popular watch that Audemars Piguet currently manufactures. It was first presented at the 1972 Baselworld, during the quartz crisis. Designed by Gérald Genta, who is also responsible for designing other notable timepieces including the Patek Philippe Nautilus, the Royal Oak model is considered to be the first luxury sports watch in the world. It is named after warships, which in turn, reference Charles II's Royal Oak.Gene Stone, Stephen Pulvirent. The watch was inspired by traditional diving helmets and therefore featured exposed screw heads as well as a unique case design. The watch also featured an integrated steel bracelet.

A perpetual calendar model was introduced in 1984 followed by an openworked version in 1986. A leap year indicator for the Royal Oak was not added until 1995.

To mark the 20th anniversary of the Royal Oak, Audemars Piguet hired a young designer, Emmanuel Gueit, to design a new watch known as the Royal Oak Offshore. The Offshore was formally introduced in 1993, with a much larger case (42mm compared to the original 39mm) which was thought to be tougher than the original. The new watch proved to be just as successful as the original.

Due to its large case size, the Royal Oak Offshore was nicknamed "the Beast". Initial sales of the Royal Oak Offshore were slow, but after the first few years of production, numbers increased and began to demonstrate success. In the years following the launch, new variations of the Royal Oak Offshore were introduced. The "Tropical Beast" is widely considered the first novel variation of the Offshore and was introduced at Baselworld in 1996, showcasing a selection of bold, impactful colorways. Today, there are more than 130 variations within the Royal Oak Offshore line.

In 2002, Claude Emmenegger created a high-tech variant known as the Royal Oak Concept. It is known as a platform for innovation, helping to revive chiming watches. The Royal Oak Concept line is also known for its many collaborations, including a partnership with Marvel that led to a highly desirable Spiderman Tourbillon Royal Oak Concept watch. The Marvel partnership also extended to a Black Panther Royal Oak Concept watch, which was limited to 250 pieces and listed for $162,000 each in 2021. A white gold version of the Black Panther watch, limited to just one piece, was auctioned off for $5.2 million.

[Re]Master The [Re]Master01, a self-winding chronograph, was launched in 2020 as a limited edition of 500. Subsequently the [Re]Master02, a tribute to a 1960 Brutalist-inspired watch, was launched in Spring 2024. This watch was issued as a limited edition of 250.

Code 11.59 The Code 11.59 was released at the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) 2019. All Code 11.59 watches feature a chapter ring with numerals depicting seconds for time-only models, a tachymeter (watch) for the chronograph model, and a week indicator for the perpetual calendar model. The crystal on the watches feature a unique curvature which changes the way the dial appears at certain angles. It also features a three-piece-case design with an octagonal section in the middle. It is based on a 1899 watch developed by Audemars Piguet for Union Dürrstein and won the Aiguille d'Or award in the 2023 Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève.

Grosse Pièce The Grosse Pièce pocket watch is the only watch made by Audemars Piguet with celestial complications. It established a new record for AP, becoming the most expensive watch from the company sold at an auction when it went for $7.7 million in December 2025.

Collaborations

Over the years, Audemars Piguet has collaborated with many celebrities, musicians, athletes, and designers on limited edition releases.

Arnold Schwarzenegger In 1999, AP created the Royal Oak Offshore 25922 End of Days for Arnold Schwarzenegger and the film End of Days. A run of 500 models were produced with an additional 21 made for the actor and his friends. The model was reimagined in 2023 for the 30th anniversary of the Royal Oak Offshore.

For his 2003 film Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, AP worked with Schwarzenegger on the 1,000-piece titanium Royal Oak Offshore T3 Chronograph. That same year, they worked together on a yellow gold Royal Oak Offshore, but it was never advertised as a collaboration due to Schwarzenegger's election as the Governor of California. However, they did manage to release the Royal Oak Offshore 'Arnold's All-Stars' Chronograph through his charity. In 2011, they again collaborated on the 1,500-piece Royal Oak Offshore Arnold Schwarzenegger The Legacy Chronograph.

Juan Pablo Montoya