PROJECTS & STORIES | A 146-year history

by Roberta Busnelli

Marching to a different drum, Audemars Piguet has been pioneering in the Haute-Horlogerie since the early decades of the 20th century. What makes the Swiss Manufacture tick so good and for so long? Perfect timepieces, of course, now displayed in its enchanting Musée Atelier. A bunch of numbers and dates tell us AP’s legendary history.

Audemars Piguet
The Manufacture

Founded in 1875 by Jules Louis Audemars and Edward Auguste Piguet in Les Brassus, Vallée de Joux, Switzerland
146 years in business
Worldwide presence in 46 Countries
7 AP Houses
2 AP Houses opening soon
150 points of sale
+2,000 employees
40k pieces manufactured per year
Bestseller collection: Royal Oak

AP Experience
Musée Atelier Audemars Piguet
Design by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)

The Musée Atelier Audemars Piguet immerses visitors in the Manufacture’s cultural universe past, present and future. A space of live craft and encounters entwining contemporary architecture, pioneering scenography and traditional savoir-faire. The showcases spanning over two centuries of history display some 300 watches, including feats of complication, miniaturisation and pioneering designs, crafted by Audemars Piguet and other antique watchmakers from the Vallée de Joux. The exhibition honours the network of family artisanship that gave birth to the Manufacture and to some of the world’s most complicated watches.

2020 opening of the Musée Atelier Audemars Piguet
300 timepieces displayed
200 years of watchmaking history in the Vallée de Joux

Audemars Piguet Foundation

Mission: Contributing to the cause of worldwide forest conservation through environmental protection and youth awareness-raising endeavours programmes. Preserving forests, educating children to the environment, restoring biodiversity and valorising traditional knowledge are the Foundation’s priorities. Its approach aims to initiate, through the funded projects, a virtuous circle of sustainable development, by and with local communities.

1992 Audemars Piguet Foundation
1992-2021
147 supported projects
52 countries worldwide
30 funded programmes globally

AP x Art  

Mission: Audemars Piguet Contemporary’s Art Programme inspires exchanges with artists around the world and is engaged in commissioning international artists to create contemporary artworks. Under Studio Audemars Piguet, artists develop ambitious artworks across a variety of scales and media alongside the brand’s curatorial team, which enables them toexplore new territories in their practice. Under the Audemars Piguet Art Commission, the brand’s biennial competition, an artist—not yet recognised internationally—is selected to develop a large-scale artwork with an invited curator.

2012 Audemars Piguet Contemporary Foundation
Since 2013 partnership with Art Basel (Global Associate Partner)
2013-2021
57 international exhibitions of commissioned artworks
17 artists involved in the art projects

AP x Music

Mission: AP Music Programme fosters creative sinergies and explores different music territories through inspiring collaborations aimed to create bespoke and unique music experiences. A special focus on promoting selected rising music artists through unconventional challenges aimed to encourage their talent and creativity.

Since 2010 partnership with the Montreux Jazz Festival
2019 launch of Audemars Piguet's Music Programme
Audemars Piguet Global Partner of the Montreux Jazz Festival
2020-2021
Miniseries 180
5 musical episodes, each captured by a different film director, retrace the unconventional challenge set to selected rising music artists. Their mission: go beyond their comfort zone and create an original collaborative soundtrack blending different creative universes.