Audemars Piguet
Why Audemars Piguet’s Code 11:59 Universelle is so Good
Audemars Piguet
Why Audemars Piguet’s Code 11:59 Universelle is so Good
A client — OK, let’s face it, a very, very rich client — goes to pick up his traditional grande complication, a watch he’s been told is the be-all-end-all of horological badassitude, technical innovation and artisan craftsmanship (to be clear, we are talking about any watch before the introduction of the RD4). Let’s say it’s got a similar spec sheet, meaning: a) a grande et petite sonnerie that plays time in passing like a wristworn cuckoo clock; b) a split-seconds chronograph that has got two chronograph hands to show lap times; c) a perpetual calendar that automatically compensates for the shifting 28/30/31-day pattern of the months. It even knows when to add an extra day on leap years and is so frickin’ smart it also knows to omit the leap year every century; d) a tourbillon that places all of the watch’s regulating organs in a cage that rotates once on its own axis every minute to compensate for errors caused by gravity.
Let me now illustrate to you the series of disasters related to his grande complication ownership. First, he explains that his watch plays time in passing and on demand; he illustrates this by pressing the repeater button, but then realizes that he should have set the watch to 11:59 for maximum sonic dopeness. So, he pulls out the crown when the strike train has been activated. Bad idea. The watch is now broken and needs to go back to the workshop for a lengthy, painful and costly repair. He gets it back and arrives in New York after spending the weekend in Sydney. He realizes that the time is now too early and turns the hands of his watch backwards, causing all the perpetual calendar indications to jam. The watch is now broken and needs to go back for a lengthy, painful and costly repair. He gets it back a few months later. This time, he tries to set the calendar information during the midnight blackout zone when the watch is changing over all date indicators. The watch is now broken and needs to go back for a lengthy, painful and costly repair. He gets it back six months later and decides to operate the split-seconds chronograph to record his Koenigsegg’s lap times at the Nürburgring, but he activates the split and chronograph buttons in the wrong sequence. The watch is now broken and needs to go back for a lengthy, painful and costly repair. He finally gets it back a year later and has decided not to set the time or use any of its functions anymore, but instead just wear it as an elaborate ornament. He leaves it on when he goes to play golf with his boy Mark Wahlberg whom he knows is a watch nerd. Just as he’s teeing off, he hears Wahlberg say, “Bro, are you really going to keep that on while you’re playing?” The watch is now broken and needs to go back for a lengthy, painful and costly repair. He finally gives up on wearing it altogether, and for the rest of its life, it remains in his safe an object that represents so much frustration to him that he can’t even look at it anymore.
On the subject of power, I asked Papi, “What if it’s midnight at the end of the year, when all calendar information is changing and the grande sonnerie is striking, and I activate the split-seconds brake then?” His reply was, “Good question. The watch has sufficient power to ensure full operation of all functions even in that scenario. The secret is the high-amplitude flying tourbillon we brought over from the RD#3. A normal balance has an amplitude of 330 degrees. Here our balance has an amplitude of over 360 degrees. We accomplished this by designing a new escapement. The result is perfect stability even in this extreme scenario. The watch simply works”
“We decided on a grande sonnerie because this would allow us to use a pusher to activate the minute repeater instead of a slide,” added Papi. “This meant we could waterproof the button and the whole watch. Because of our Supersonnerie technology with our soundboard, even through the watch is water resistant to 20 meters, sound is not affected in any way. This is really a grande complication you can swim in and even play golf with, because we’ve optimized the stability and robustness of every detail.”
Olivia Crouan, AP’s Chief Brand Officer, says, “This is really the future for all complicated watches at Audemars Piguet. We want to continue to create the most extraordinary complications, but also have them be the most user-friendly, reliable and comfortable watches in the world.”
With the creation of the Code 11:59 Universelle, it appears that the Le Brassus manufacture is already well on the way to achieving this very admirable goal.