Audemars Piguet seems to collect milestone anniversaries like complications on a grand complication timepiece. This year, the Swiss manufacturer commemorates 150 years of watchmaking innovation, having been founded in 1875 by Jules Louis Audemars and Edward Auguste Piguet in Le Brassus, a quiet village tucked away in the Vallée de Joux. This sesquicentennial arrives just three years after the brand marked the 50th anniversary of the Royal Oak. Rather than creating a conflict, however, both celebrations highlight different facets of a company that has consistently pushed boundaries since its founding.
The timing may seem tight, but Audemars Piguet has managed to distinguish the 150-year celebration from the recent golden jubilee of the Royal Oak. While the 2022 festivities focused on the revolutionary luxury sports watch model, the current anniversary takes a broader view of the brand’s contributions to horology. Sébastien Vivas, AP’s heritage and museum director, acknowledges that many people know the Royal Oak better than they know the company, making this anniversary an opportunity to reframe the conversation.
Heritage takes center stage
Since Vivas joined in 2012, Audemars Piguet’s heritage team has grown from two people to fifteen. This expansion reflects the brand’s commitment to documenting and sharing its history, particularly through AP Chronicles, an online archival resource launched during the Royal Oak’s 50th anniversary. The platform has proven invaluable for research, enabling the team to trace the connections between the founding families and the initial watchmakers in the Vallée de Joux. This genealogical detective work informed the “House of Wonders” exhibition, which opened in Shanghai earlier this year.
Beyond the digital archive, the brand published The Watch: Stories and Savoir Faire through Flammarion, a nearly 600-page volume that explains the discrete skills required to produce fine timepieces. The book promotes not only Audemars Piguet but also acknowledges innovations from other manufacturers and pays tribute to the craftspeople who have advanced the entire industry. Vivas describes it as something for everyone, whether you’re a seasoned collector or are simply curious about how these intricate machines are made.
Technical achievements define the collection
According to Lucas Raggi, AP’s chief industrial officer, innovation doesn’t always align with anniversary schedules. Some developments were perfectly timed for the 150-year anniversary, while others were ready due to years of research finally bearing fruit. The 2025 collection showcases the brand’s ongoing ability to advance complications and materials with multiple technical accomplishments.
One notable achievement is the creation of a new ceramic shade called “Bleu Nuit, Nuage 50,” which replicates the exact blue tone of the original Royal Oak dial from 1972. Matching colors across different materials is challenging, but AP succeeded in transferring that iconic hue to ceramic. This new shade appears on several anniversary pieces, connecting contemporary releases to the model that helped define the brand’s modern identity.
The perpetual calendar features crown control
Earlier this year, Audemars Piguet unveiled an ultra-thin perpetual calendar powered by the new Caliber 7138. Perpetual calendars have long been a signature complication for the company, dating back to 1978 when it introduced the world’s thinnest perpetual calendar movement. The latest iteration builds on Caliber 7121, launched in 2022 to replace the legendary Caliber 2121. The original movement held the distinction of being the world’s thinnest self-winding caliber with a date display when it debuted in 1972.
What makes Caliber 7138 particularly noteworthy is how it simplifies the setting process. Previous perpetual calendars required separate correctors to adjust different functions, but the new movement consolidates all adjustments to the crown. You can set the date, day, month, year, and moon phase without needing additional tools or pushers. This refinement is featured in one Code 11.59 timepiece and two Royal Oak models, making one of horology’s most complex complications more user-friendly.
The RD#5 redefines chronograph ergonomics
This autumn, the fifth installment of Audemars Piguet’s Research and Development series arrived, marking a decade since the program launched with the RD#1 Supersonnerie in 2015. The Royal Oak “Jumbo” Extra-Thin Self-Winding Flying Tourbillon Chronograph RD#5 addresses a topic rarely discussed in haute horlogerie: ergonomics. Raggi’s team spent five years developing Caliber 8100, completely reworking the chronograph architecture to achieve softer pusher activation.
Over the decades, chronograph pushers became stiffer as brands improved water resistance and robustness of the mechanisms. Vintage watches from the 1960s required a lighter touch. However, achieving that feel with modern durability and water-tightness standards presents serious engineering challenges. AP’s solution was to redesign the entire chronograph mechanism rather than make incremental adjustments to existing designs. According to Raggi, this represents the first completely different chronograph architecture in 200 years, departing from the variations most brands have used throughout horological history.
Design meets function
The RD#5 combines a chronograph flyback function with a flying tourbillon, marking the first time these complications appear together in a Royal Oak “Jumbo.” The 39mm case is just 8.1mm thick, maintaining the svelte proportions that define the “Jumbo” designation. AP constructed the case from lightweight titanium and bulk metallic glass (BMG) – materials that provide strength without adding unnecessary weight.
Two subdials flank the flying tourbillon, which is visible at six o’clock. The watch features a rare instantaneous-jump minute counter and a running hours counter. A discreet crown selector replaces the traditional pull-out stem system. Engineers also developed flat sapphire crystals with interior curves that preserve the slim case profile while providing adequate clearance for the hands and efficient automatic winding. Only 150 pieces will be produced and priced at 260,000 Swiss francs each.
Pushing force down to smartphone levels
The ergonomic study behind the RD#5 established specific targets for pusher activation. The team aimed to reduce pusher travel to just 0.3 mm while lowering activation force to 300 grams – roughly equivalent to pressing a smartphone button. Achieving these parameters without compromising water resistance or tactile feedback required innovative energy management. The movement stores energy during chronograph operation and releases it during reset, which contributes to the lighter feel of the pusher.
Raggi indicates that the brand plans to propagate this technology throughout the collection, though the immediate focus remains on launching the RD#5. Whether or not ergonomics will become a new calling card for haute horlogerie, alongside traditional complications, remains to be seen. However, AP has clearly demonstrated that user experience deserves equal attention to technical achievement. The question is whether other manufacturers will follow this lead or if exemplary ergonomics will become another area in which Audemars Piguet stands apart.
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Looking forward from 150 years
The anniversary celebrations went beyond technical releases. AP hosted events that combined art, music, and culinary experiences to reflect the cultural aspects that have always accompanied fine watchmaking. At Hong Kong’s Phillips Gallery, CEO Ilaria Resta led a gathering that welcomed over 250 guests, including cultural figures who recognize the transcendent nature of watches. The brand also collaborated with producer Mark Ronson and singer-songwriter Raye for the London festivities in June.
These festivities honor a company that remains under the stewardship of its founding families, which is rare in contemporary watchmaking. The Vallée de Joux continues to inspire designs and innovations, just as the mountains, forests, and clear skies influenced the first craftspeople to work there in 1875. Jules Louis Audemars and Edward Auguste Piguet built something that has outlasted generations from that remote Swiss valley. They adapted to quartz crises, changing tastes, and technological revolutions while maintaining standards that define haute horlogerie.
The 2025 releases demonstrate that 150 years of watchmaking innovation doesn’t mean resting on past achievements. Instead of merely reissuing historical models with anniversary engravings, Audemars Piguet has made significant technical advances in perpetual calendars, chronograph ergonomics, and material science. The new ceramic shade connects contemporary pieces to the Royal Oak’s origins without directly copying the past. The crown-controlled perpetual calendar simplifies a complex mechanism without oversimplifying it. The RD#5 shows that a complication produced for two centuries can be reimagined.
What’s next?
Raggi’s comment about not knowing when development will finish hints at projects already underway. Some innovations currently in research may debut for the 175th anniversary, while others could arrive sooner if breakthroughs occur faster than expected. The heritage team will continue to document the brand’s history and potentially uncover forgotten stories and connections. With an expanded team of fifteen researchers, AP Chronicles will continue to grow with new information about the families, watchmakers, and technical achievements that built the manufacture.
The 600-page book, titled The Watch – Stories and Savoir Faire and published by Flammarion, serves as a celebration and an educational resource, offering insights that anyone interested in watchmaking will find valuable. By acknowledging innovations from other brands and explaining skills that transcend any single manufacturer, AP positions itself as a steward of horological knowledge rather than merely promoting its own achievements. This approach reflects the confidence that comes with 150 years of consistent excellence, not defensive protectionism.
Questions such as whether ergonomics will become as important as complications, whether crown-controlled perpetual calendars will become standard, and whether other brands will follow AP’s lead on chronograph architecture will be answered in the coming years. For now, Audemars Piguet has delivered anniversary releases that honor the past while pushing forward into new territory. The Royal Oak is arguably more famous than the company itself, but this sesquicentennial celebration reminds collectors and enthusiasts that AP’s contributions to watchmaking extend far beyond a single model introduced in 1972.
From Le Brassus to Shanghai and from London to Hong Kong, the celebrations have taken many forms, but they all point back to the two watchmakers who founded a workshop in 1875 with standards that still guide the brand today. Audemars Piguet is marking 150 years of watchmaking innovation by continuing the work that Jules Louis Audemars and Edward Auguste Piguet started in a Swiss mountain village a century and a half ago, not by looking backward.
