スイス · 創業 1875
Audemars Piguet
Owned by its founders' families since 1875 and still based in the village where it began.
編集記事は英語です。
Family-owned manufacture in Le Brassus in the Vallée de Joux, founded in 1875. The Royal Oak of 1972 created the luxury steel sports watch and still dominates its output, alongside the Royal Oak Offshore, Royal Oak Concept and Code 11.59 lines. Prices start at about EUR 25,000.
歴史
Jules Louis Audemars and Edward Auguste Piguet, who had known each other since childhood in the Vallée de Joux, set up a workshop in Le Brassus in 1875. Audemars ran production and the technical side, Piguet sales and management. The business was registered as Audemars Piguet & Cie in 1881 and had sales depots in London and Paris by 1882. It specialised in complicated movements: in 1892 it produced a minute-repeating movement small enough for a wristwatch, sold to Louis Brandt & Frère, the future Omega, and in 1899 a pocket watch Grande Complication.
The company became a société anonyme in 1907, the year its first manufacture building went up in Le Brassus; it is still the headquarters. Audemars died in 1918 and Piguet in 1919, and their sons Paul Louis Audemars and Paul Edward Piguet took over. The 1929 crash nearly ended the business: from 1931 to 1935 it sold fewer than 50 watches a year and it posted losses until 1945. The period still produced a skeletonised pocket watch in 1934 and, in 1946, a wristwatch movement only 1.64 mm thick.
By 1970 AP employed 86 people and made about 5,500 watches a year. It commissioned Gérald Genta to design a luxury watch in steel, and the Royal Oak Ref. 5402ST was presented at the Basel fair in 1972: 39 mm, an octagonal bezel held by eight screws, an integrated bracelet and the automatic Calibre 2121, priced at CHF 3,300. A run of 1,000 was planned; 6,050 examples of the 5402 were eventually made. In 1993 the larger Royal Oak Offshore, designed by Emmanuel Gueit, followed.
AP bought the Geneva case maker Centror in 1991 and took a majority stake in Renaud & Papi, the complications specialist in Le Locle, in 1992; both now carry the Audemars Piguet name. The Royal Oak Concept arrived in 2002 as a test bed for materials and complications, and the round Code 11.59 in 2019. In 2020 the company opened the Musée Atelier Audemars Piguet in Le Brassus, a spiral glass pavilion by Bjarke Ingels. Audemars Piguet marked its 150th anniversary in 2025, still controlled by the two founding families.
創業者
- Jules Louis Audemars
- Co-founder · 1851–1918
- Le Brassus watchmaker who specialised in complicated movements and supplied other houses before 1875. In the partnership he ran production and the technical side.
- Edward Auguste Piguet
- Co-founder · 1853–1919
- Watchmaker specialised in regulating movements. At Audemars Piguet he took charge of sales and management while Audemars ran the workshop.
主要な出来事
1875
Workshop founded in Le Brassus
Jules Louis Audemars and Edward Auguste Piguet start working together in the Vallée de Joux.
1881
Audemars Piguet & Cie registered
The partnership is formally registered under the name it still uses.
1892
Minute repeater for the wrist
AP makes a minute-repeating movement small enough for a wristwatch and sells it to Louis Brandt & Frère, later Omega.
1907
First manufacture building
The company becomes a société anonyme and builds its first manufacture in Le Brassus, today's headquarters.
1946
1.64 mm wristwatch movement
An ultra-thin wristwatch movement only 1.64 mm thick goes into production.
1972
Royal Oak Ref. 5402ST
Gérald Genta's steel sports watch is shown at the Basel fair, priced at CHF 3,300.
1986
Ultra-thin automatic tourbillon
Calibre 2870 powers an automatic tourbillon wristwatch only 5.3 mm thick including the case.
1993
Royal Oak Offshore
Emmanuel Gueit's 42 mm chronograph, nicknamed 'the Beast', expands the Royal Oak family.
2019
Code 11.59
A new round collection with an octagonal middle case and double-curved crystal is launched.
2020
Musée Atelier opens
The museum and workshop pavilion designed by Bjarke Ingels opens beside the historic building in Le Brassus.
コレクターが知る3つのこと
6,050 original Royal Oaks
AP planned 1,000 pieces of the Royal Oak 5402. Between 1972 and 2002 it made 6,050 in four versions: 4,288 in steel, 876 in steel and gold, 736 in yellow gold and 150 in white gold.
Fewer than 50 watches a year
From 1931 to 1935 Audemars Piguet sold fewer than 50 watches a year and ran losses for 15 straight years to 1945. Executives from LeCoultre joined the board in the rebuilding that began in 1948.
A diving helmet and a warship
Genta took the Royal Oak's octagonal bezel and visible screws from a traditional diving helmet. The name comes from Royal Navy ships called HMS Royal Oak, named after the oak that hid Charles II.
代表モデル
- Royal Oak1972
Gérald Genta's steel sports watch with octagonal bezel, eight screws and integrated bracelet; the 39 mm 'Jumbo' format continues.
- Royal Oak Offshore1993
Emmanuel Gueit's 42 mm chronograph; more than 130 variations have followed.
- Royal Oak Concept2002
Experimental line used for tourbillons, chiming watches, new materials and licensed collaborations.
- Code 11.592019
Round case with an octagonal middle section and a double-curved sapphire crystal.
よくある質問
- Is Audemars Piguet still family-owned?
- Yes. Descendants of the Audemars and Piguet families have controlled the company since 1875, making it one of the few large Swiss watchmakers outside a luxury group. Day-to-day management is in the hands of appointed executives.
- Where are Audemars Piguet watches made?
- Mainly in Le Brassus in the Vallée de Joux, with cases and bracelets made in Meyrin near Geneva and complications developed at Audemars Piguet Le Locle, formerly Renaud & Papi.
- How do you pronounce Audemars Piguet?
- ohd-MAR pee-GAY. Both names are French, so the final s of Audemars and the final t of Piguet are silent.
- Who designed the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak?
- Gérald Genta. The Royal Oak Ref. 5402ST launched at the Basel fair in 1972 at CHF 3,300. Genta later designed the Patek Philippe Nautilus.