A Brief History of the Audemars Piguet Brand

Audemars Piguet is one of the most well-known luxury watch brands in the world today. Its beginnings can be traced all the way back to 1875. Presently, it’s known as an innovative, consistent, and quality watch brand.

The brand is credited with creating the first modern chronograph. As a result, it remains a top-tier brand more than a hundred years later.

In this article, we’re taking a look at the rich history of Audemars Piguet, from its humble beginnings, all the way up to the present day.

Read on to learn more.

Audemars Piguet: A Brief History

The Beginning

In 1875, Louis Audemars teamed up with Edward Auguste Piguet. The team joined forces with the goal of designing and creating watches with complex movements and incredible accuracy and precision.

Both of these men were creating and designing their own watches before teaming up, with Audemars creating blank movements that were then sent to manufacturers, and Piguet specializing in the final regulation of watches.

Because of this, when they joined together, the work was split in the same way, Audemars in charge of the technical aspect of watchmaking, and Piguet was in charge of the sales and management part.

In 1890, Audemars and Piguet released the first repeater wristwatch. Years later, in 1899, they released the “Grand Complication” pocket watch that featured a complex movement and 7 different complications, which was groundbreaking at the time.

The Rise Of Audemars Piguet

While the brand rose in popularity under the original founders, when they both passed in 1918 and 1919, the company really started to rise in fame. This is in part due to the fact that the company has always had family members involved in the process up until today.

Throughout the 20th century, the brand consistently released innovative and unique watches that caught the public’s eye. Some of these watches include the first thinnest pocket watch, the first skeletonized pocket watch, and the thinnest wristwatch.

That being said, the most famous of these innovations was the Royal Oak watch, released in 1972. It featured an octagonal steel bezel with white gold screws, which is still used in modern iterations of the watch. It was the first high-end steel sports watch and is now known as one of the most durable, functional, and well-designed timepieces in horological history.

Audemars Piguet Today

Up until today, watches made by the Audemars Piguet brand are still meticulously hand-crafted. All the edges on the watches are hand beveled and retouched so that they’re always perfect.

In the year 2000, the brand released a watch to celebrate its 125th anniversary. It had a perpetual calendar, equation of time, sunset, and sunrise, which was just another statement of the brand’s incredible innovations in the world of horology.

While the brand still sticks to its roots, it has also grown with the times. Its timepieces are fit to modern standards, have robust movements, and a variety of complications. In this day and age, you can even get Audemars Piguet online. This combination of sticking to tradition while growing with the times is just one of the reasons it’s still a top brand hundreds of years after it was founded.

Conclusion

Up until today, Audemars Piguet timepieces are sought-after by collectors who make no mistakes when collecting watches. It’s hard to go wrong with this brand.

That being said, buying a watch from a brand like Audemars Piguet, with a rich history of innovation, precision, accuracy, and consistency, is one of the best choices you’ll make on your journey into the world of watches.