A universe on the wrist — Audemars Piguet’s first grand complication watch has 40 functions and more than a thousand movement parts
Posted by KS Chan on
The Audemars Piguet CODE 11.59 series Universelle watch is the brainchild of cross-border cooperation of talents in multiple fields and after 7 years of research and development, it pays tribute to the ingenious and complex functions. Although facing unprecedented difficulties in the creative process, Audemars Piguet has never compromised. With professional skills, it has turned an impossible task into a well-thought-out breakthrough. In the end, many difficulties were overcome, and a grand complication watch belonging to the 21st century was born.
The Audemars Piguet CODE 11.59 series Universelle ultra-complex watch is the pinnacle masterpiece, equipped with Audemars Piguet's self-made 1000 movement. The movement has 1,140 parts and has 40 functions, including 23 complications.
The new work combines the Supersonnerie super timekeeping technology equipped in the 2015 RD1 with the Grande Sonnerie, and at the same time integrates the single-layer ultra-thin perpetual calendar movement structure in the 2018 RD2 watch, and the high-amplitude oscillator that was installed in the 2022 RD3 watch , has also been re-conceived and carried in this watch.
The CODE 11.59 series Universelle watch is equipped with a highly innovative semi-Gregorian perpetual calendar, which precisely reorganizes the regular changes of the leap year, replacing the traditional leap year calculation mechanism that is adjusted every 100 years, and only requires manual correction every 400 years. Innovative instant jump astronomical moon phase, two concentric circles printed with six different moon phases, vividly combined into ten moon phase patterns, poetically showing the moon's profit and loss changes, only need to be manually adjusted once every 122 years.
The flyback chronograph and double chasing needle mechanism of the watch can be operated through the coaxial buttons on the three crowns on the right side of the case. The chronograph hands can be reset to zero and restarted without stopping the chronograph, and the split-seconds hand can be stopped independently at the push of a dedicated pusher. Measure intervals without affecting the movement of the chronograph second hand, and when the button is pressed again, quickly catch up with the running chronograph second hand and maintain synchronization.
The CODE 11.59 series Universelle watch incorporates countless complex functions and exquisite craftsmanship into the size of the case. Its ergonomic case is only 42 mm in diameter and 15.6 mm thick, with anti-glare sapphire Crystal glass mirror and case back.
The Audemars Piguet watch factory has created a hyperboloid sapphire crystal glass mirror full of contemporary atmosphere. The extremely tense arc-shaped outline is ingeniously coordinated with the deep layered beauty and light and shadow effects, showing a unique visual experience. The lower surface of the crystal is shaped like a dome, and the axis from 6 o'clock to 12 o'clock is curved. Black dial with black chronograph counters and white outer zone, white gold applied hour markers and hands.
The CODE 11.59 series Universelle (RD#4) watch has a total of four designs, 18K white gold or rose gold case, each with a different surface, including translucent electroplated black K gold surface and translucent beige PVD coating K gold surface, and two other hollow dials. Both are paired with a black alligator leather strap with an 18K white gold AP folding clasp and a black textured rubber calfskin strap.