Audemars Piguet Marks 150 Years With a Slew of New Watches

Grab your party hat — Audemars Piguet is 150 years young!

Founded in 1875 in Le Brassus, a small mountain town about an hour’s drive outside Geneva, Switzerland, the brand grew slowly and organically from a family business into…well, truthfully, it’s still a family business. But these days, rather than producing just a handful of complicated timepieces per year, Audemars Piguet makes over 50,000 high-end watches annually, each of which sells for between the low five figures and high six figures. A bit of elementary math will give you the appropriate picture: namely, that Audemars Piguet is a unicorn, one whose 2023 revenues exceeded $2.7 billion, according to Morgan Stanley.

From svelte dress watches to the trendsetting Royal Oak luxury sports watch, Audemars Piguet’s horological achievements are varied and impressive. Although, the brand’s bona fides aren’t relegated merely to the horological — its ties to music, film, fine art and sports are deep and long established. From Jay-Z to Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mark Ronson to Travis Scott, John Mayer to Serena Williams, AP is prominently worn by the world’s movers and shakers. As the company transitions from the era of its longstanding CEO François-Henry Bennahmias, who left at the end of 2023, to a new era under the leadership of Ilaria Resta, it does so with 150 tremendous years under its belt, ready to continue growing and innovating with exciting new movement technologies, models and collections.

“With this saga has been so many events — wars, financial crises, the advent of quartz — but then innovation, strikes of genius, growth and many more adventures. We can truly say that AP’s story has been a bumpy yet exciting ride,” says Resta. “As I look at the 150 years ahead as we celebrate this anniversary, I can only be proud and excited about the journey ahead. This is just the beginning of the best chapter yet to be written in AP’s history.”

We got a first look at the new models and references debuting in the first quarter of 2025 — with more to come later in the year, to be sure.

Perpetual Calendar Movement Calibre 7138

Perhaps the biggest news of the year (thus far) for AP is — as it was in January for Bulgari — not about a watch, but about a movement. (Don’t freak out — there are watches, too!) Just in time for the maison’s sesquicentennial, it’s unveiling the new automatic Calibre 7138, a perpetual calendar (“QP”) movement in which all functionality is controlled via the crown. That’s right, gone are the pesky case correctors that require a small, dedicated tool for manual adjustment. Now, one simply pulls out the crown to one of four different positions for winding and setting of the movement, all of which is accomplished via a sophisticated, patented system.

The calendar’s display itself has also been reworked, with the day at 9 o’clock, the date at 12 o’clock, the months at 3 o’clock and the week numbers located along the rehaut. The registers have further been configured such that “Monday” and “1” align with 12 o’clock, while a leap year indicator is present within the 3 o’clock register and a 24-hour indicator is present within the 9 o’clock register. A special red indicator reminds the user not to set the watch between 2100 and 0300 — though if one forgets, the movement will not be damaged (as is possible on other calendar watches). Of course, being a perpetual calendar, it automatically accounts for months (including Februaries) of differing lengths as well as whether or not it’s leap year. If kept fully wound, it won’t require manual adjustment until the year 2100.

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This new caliber is present within three debut references: A 41mm 18K white-gold Code 11.59 with satin-brushed and polished chamfers features an embossed dial in smoked blue PVD in a concentric circle motif that ripples outward from the dial center. Fitted to a blue rubber-coated strap with calfskin lining, it boasts 30m of water resistance — an increase of 10m from the previous iterations of the Code 11.59 QP. Two fresh Royal Oak models are also in the mix: The first is a 41mm stainless steel model with a blue Grande Tapisserie dial and white indices, while the second is a striking 41mm 18K sand gold model with a matching gold-tone Grande Tapisserie dial with black indices. Both are rated at 50m of water resistance, measure just 9.5mm thick and come paired to the Royal Oak collection’s famed integrated bracelet.

Incremental updates rather than brand-new models, these fresh references are among the handsomest of modern perpetual calendar watches. The Code 11.59, while it offers a more conventional round alternative to the Royal Oak models, is nonetheless still a distinctly modern design, with hollow lugs and unique multi-part case construction that sets it apart from the pack. The Royal Oak is, of course, entirely its own animal. Designed by Gérald Genta under immense time pressure from then-AP director Georges Golay in the early 1970s, it subsequently opened the door for other manufactures to design their own luxury sports watches, causing a small horological design revolution. With their streamlined displays and impressive case and movement construction, the two new QP references certainly strengthen the Royal Oak’s claim as one of the most important watch designs of the modern era.

Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar “150th Anniversary” Openworked

Continuing the QP theme, may we introduce the new Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar “150th Anniversary” Openworked, which will be the final reference to use the openworked Calibre 5135 perpetual calendar movement introduced in 2015. A special edition limited to 150 pieces, the watch takes the form of a 41mm Royal Oak constructed of titanium and high-tech bulk metallic glass (BMG), a solid, non-crystalline material. If the case and matching, integrated bracelet all feel a little sci-fi, the dial is a throwback to an earlier time — more specifically to the 1990s, when the maison produced the openworked perpetual calendar pocket watch ref. 25729 on the occasion of the Royal Oak’s 20th anniversary.

Looking at images of said pocket watch, it’s easy to see where the new ref. 26585XT.OO.1220XT.01 gets its inspiration. Beneath a sapphire crystal, the Calibre 5135 is revealed in all its skeletonized glory. The blue rehaut and subdial surrounds, meanwhile, mirror those of the pocket watch, albeit in a slightly darkened hue. Luminous 18K white-gold “bathtub” hands and silver-grey indices are joined by a vintage-inspired typeface that makes for a highly legible picture despite the skeletonized movement functioning as the dial’s background.

The layout of the perpetual calendar itself is highly intuitive. On the periphery of the dial is a week-number indicator to which is paired a white pointer hand sprouting from the dial center; at 12 o’clock is a combination month/leap year indicator; at 3 o’clock is a date indicator; at 9 o’clock is a day-of-the-week indicator; and at 6 o’clock is a highly realistic double moon-phase indicator created using a NASA photograph applied via metallization to a sapphire disc. The “Audemars Piguet” signature typography is taken from historical documents, making for a limited edition well suited to such a prominent anniversary.

Code 11.59 Self-Winding Flying Tourbillon 38mm

While divisive upon its release in 2019, the Code 11.59 has since come fully into its own as a unique take on the typical round-cased wristwatch — one that provides a welcome departure from and counterpoint to the Royal Oak luxury sports watch and its derivatives. The new Code 11.59 Self-Winding Flying Tourbillon 38mm represents several firsts: It’s the premier automatic flying tourbillon watch offered by the maison in this diameter as well as the first instance of sand gold used within the Code 11.59 collection. (Sand gold is a proprietary 18K precious metal, an alloy of gold, copper and palladium, that exists somewhere between white and pink gold on the chromatic spectrum and made its debut in the Royal Oak collection in 2024.) Measuring just 3.4mm in height, the automatic Calibre 2968 (RD#3) movement features a flying tourbillon cage supported only from below — this, when combined with the 38mm sand gold case, diamond-studded bezel and lugs, and beautiful sand gold dial, makes for a stunning timekeeper perfect for both men and women.

Code 11.59 Selfwinding and Selfwinding Chronograph 41mm in Steel/Grey Dial

The Code 11.59 Selfwinding and Selfwinding Chronograph 41mm models — each of which is available in several metals and references — now comes in a cool combination of a stainless steel case and grey dial with a “Bleu Nuit, Nuage 50” rehaut. (This specific hue is a classic Audemars Piguet color used throughout the maison’s different collections.) If you need a refresher on the broader Code 11.59 aesthetic, think of it as a twist on the classic round wristwatch trope: The case is composed of several parts including an octagonal case middle sandwiched between a caseback and a thin, round bezel. The stylized, hollowed lugs are affixed to the case in a complex process in which the tops are welded to the bezel while the bottoms lay flush with the caseback. The dials, meanwhile, are beautifully rendered in a signature embossed pattern created especially for the collection with Swiss guilloché specialist Yann von Kaenel.

In the two new references, the slate grey color of the dial is offset with the blue rehauts featuring a 1/5th-seconds track (Selfwinding model) or base-1,000 tachymeter scale (Selfwinding Chronograph), the latter of which is joined by chronograph totalizer scales in a matching hue with white printing. Both references also feature applied, faceted hour markers and hands in 18K white gold filled with Super-LumiNova, plus a grey textured rubber strap with calfskin lining. Inside the time-and-date model beats the automatic Calibre 4302 with date function, while within the chronograph is the automatic Calibre 4404 with column wheel, flyback functionality and date function. For those interested in an Audemars Piguet that isn’t the Royal Oak, this Code 11.59 is a compelling modern option.

Royal Oak Offshore Selfwinding Chronograph 43mm/42mm

Also new for 2025 are two new takes on the Royal Oak Offshore, the upsized sister collection to the Royal Oak that celebrated its 30th birthday in 2023. The focus this year is on ceramics, and to that end there’s a new 43mm in black ceramic with a green ceramic bezel, chronograph pushers and crown. Paired to a green Méga Tapisserie dial with a triple-register chronograph display and a date window at 4:30, it’s powered by the automatic Calibre 4401 movement boasting a 70-hour power reserve and ships with two straps, a dark green textured calfskin leather strap and a black rubber strap.

If bracelets are more your thing, there’s a new take on the all-black ceramic 42mm Offshore. Whereas the ref. 26238CE.OO.1300CE.01 features a black Petite Tapisserie dial, the new ref. 26238CE.00.1300CE.02 updates the look with a Méga Tapisserie with matching blackened 18K white-gold hands and indices. Powered by the automatic Calibre 4404 with a 70-hour power reserve, its black ceramic case comes paired to a matching, integrated bracelet with a three-blade folding clasp in titanium. For those of you with larger wrists who long for the 1990s/early-2000s era of oversized tool watches, these new Offshores should be near the top of your wish list.