One of high horology’s oldest names builds a modern architectural marvel to tell the story of 200 years of watchmaking in Switzerland’s Vallee de Joux.
Two years ago, The Peak visited the original Audemars Piguet museum during a trip to its facilities in Les Brassus, Switzerland, where we were impressed by the historical timepieces reflecting the brand’s now 145-year legacy.
Located in the historic building where Jules Audemars and Edward Piguet first started their workshop in 1875, the showcased pieces included pocket watches dating back to the 1870s, a 1995 “Star Wheel” cushionshaped minute repeater with a wandering-hours display, and the brand’s first self-winding tourbillon wristwatch in a slim rectangular case.
Given the rich historicity of these pieces, it was obvious that a display space more expansive than various small rooms in the historical house was needed. The solution: the brand-new Musee Atelier Audemars Piguet, a stunning, spiral-shaped glass pavilion that officially opens this month. It sits right next to other existing facilities within the Swiss Vallee de Joux in the Jura Mountains.
Covering a space of 2,500 sq m, the pavilion is made from curved structural glass covered with a brass lattice screen that helps regulate light and temperature. Harmoniously integrated into the natural gradient of the land, the circular building designed by BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group) allows visitors to embark on a continuous, linear spatial experience that goes from the 19th to the 21st centuries. And, reminiscent of the back-and-forth circular motion of a hairspring, visitors move in a curved path towards the centre of the spiral before going in the opposite direction.
According to the brand’s notes, German museum designer Atelier Bruckner imagined the composition of the exhibition as a musical score, with crescendos, high points and contemplative moments. Interludes, including sculptures, automata, kinetic installations and mock-ups of intricate mechanical movements, give life and rhythm to various aspects of horological technique and design.
The Musee Atelier – museum workshop in French – also houses the Grand Complications and Metiers d’Art workshops, giving visitors the chance to see the brand’s top watchmakers and artisans in action as well as try their hand at some of these traditional techniques.
Sebastian Vivas, Audemars Piguet’s heritage and museum director, says: “We have aimed to express the most important facets of our brand – its history, free spirit, craftsmanship, passion for mechanics and design and, of course, its people – in the most exciting and interesting ways. We hope everyone, from the most experienced watch collectors to amateurs of architecture and tourists discovering our beautiful region, finds something that will move them. We also hope that they will go ‘wow’ a few times and experience something surprising and memorable.”
01 EXCEPTIONAL WATCHES
Vivas and his team selected more than 300 watches to tell the story of more than 200 years of watchmaking in the Swiss Jura. According to Vivas, the watches include “highly complicated watches, masterpieces of design, highjewellery brooches and necklaces, as well as several world firsts”.
02 SHOWCASE OF SAVOIR-FAIRE
To establish the space as “a living museum” , the Grand Complications and Metiers d’Art workshops are situated at its heart. Asked why the two were chosen, Vivas puts it beautifully: “The two workshops are dedicated to the inside and the outside of the watches. The most complex movements are created in the Grand Complications workshop, where a watchmaker can dedicate up to eight months for a single watch. The most complex cases are created in the Metier d’Art workshop, where it takes up to one year to produce one high jewellery watch. They are situated here because their craftspeople produce the timepieces of today and tomorrow.”
03 BEYOND WATCHMAKING
04 CONTINUING HISTORY
At the beginning, we mentioned that the historical building used to house the original museum. With such a hallowed history, it remains an integral part of the Audemars Piguet story. It is connected to the new museum workshop and has been renovated to more closely reflect its past. For example, new wall claddings include historical woodwork from the valley. “Some were saved from old farms,” says Vivas.
The restored building now houses the register room, the archives, the heritage department and the Restoration Atelier. We got to see the restoration workshop when we visited in 2018 and it is spectacular. It has records on the brand’s oldest timepieces and the watchmakers here can use these specifications to create out-of-production components – such as minute-repeater gongs – by hand. Says Vivas: “They perpetuate the traditional know-how to make sure future generations will always be able to repair the mechanical marvels made in the Vallee de Joux.”
01 VISUAL FEAST
A new, more accessible size and an array of fresh colours — what more could a picky collector ask for?
Resizing a watch is not as easy as it sounds. Most times, the movement has to be completely reimagined to fit, as is the case for Jaquet Droz’s established Grande Seconde Quantieme family. Previously available only in 39mm or 43mm, the watchmaker has just released an in-between 41mm with the same in-house automatic 2660Q2.P movement. Plus, it’s gone the extra mile by giving us seven different references to choose from.
Four are in red gold with enamel dials in ivory, dark blue, anthracite or burgundy – the result of a meticulous selection of enamel powders.
There are also three steel versions with dials in matte black, sandblasted titanium grey or sandblasted silver. The gold models have matching alligator straps and the steel ones, calfskin straps.
Besides the new colours, the cases have been trimmed to 12.10mm for a sleeker profile and greater comfort. Through its back, you’ll be able to see the 4Hz movement, which features a silicon balance spring, and 68 hours of power reserve.
02 DARK DESIRE
03 GOOD VIBRATIONS
04 ANYTIME, ANYWHERE
TEXT CHARMIAN LEONG
