150 years is a long time to be in business, and Audemars Piguet — maker of the famed Royal Oak and innovative Code 11.59 — is taking full advantage of the situation to celebrate like there’s no tomorrow. Starting off the year with a huge blowout in La Brassus, it released a spectacular series of new perpetual calendar watches, followed up more recently by the groundbreaking RD#5 chronograph.
For someone in search of a three-figure gift rather than a six-figure watch, however, there’s a new AP-themed product that’s poised to delight: The Watch – Stories and Savoir Faire is a whopping 600-page book published by French publisher Flammarion that digs into the history, construction, componentry and importance of not only Audemars Piguet timepieces, but of watches more broadly. Amply illustrated with archival and new photography — plus plenty of actual illustrations — it’s both deeply researched and exhaustive as well as playful. Watch lovers, in short, are sure to dig it, as is anyone even remotely curious about horology and how watches are made.
Divided into five sections (The Dial, The Case, The Bracelet and Strap, The Movement and Complications), the book weaves in plenty of interviews with experts and AP employees as it tackles myriad subject matters via the efforts of a dozen writers and 40 other contributors. Each section consists of several chapters, and each chapter might be tens of pages long — in short, this is no casual walk through the horological landscape, but rather a detailed tour examining every possible facet of watch construction. Seen through the lens of AP’s own wristwatches, pocket watches and clocks, its information is more broadly applicable to timepieces from other makes, however, meaning that any watch guy or gal would be well served by the considerable amount of information on offer.
Among myriad interesting deep dives and discussions, one of the book’s more compelling aspects is its exploration of the more pedestrian aspects of watchmaking: Who, for example, is cutting and shaping movement jewels, and how are they doing it? What about the fitting of chronograph hands, or the shaping of hairsprings? The production of a high-end watch requires the work of dozens — sometimes hundreds — of experts in diverse fields too numerous to contemplate. Using its 150th anniversary as a chance to gaze back at the history of Swiss watchmaking, AP has broadened its gaze to take in the people who make this world tick, offering a comprehensive examination of an industry that millions around the globe have come to love.
Beautifully art-directed, The Watch – Stories and Savoir Faire is, like many tomes tackling horological subjects, thoughtfully and artistically designed — as good-looking as it is exhaustive, it’s thus an ideal coffee table book. Whether you’re an AP devotee, a brand-agnostic watch lover or someone in search of the perfect holiday gift, it should be high on your list this winter. Published by Flammarion, it’s available now in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, and will be available on Oct. 21 in the U.S. for $95.
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