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Audemars Piguet
Perhaps one of the best loved of Sports watches, Piguet is also enjoyed by those who can appreciate precision and fine lines.
Audemars Piguet began in 1875 when Jules Audemars, then
23, and Edward-August Piguet, 21, met in the Valle de Jous looking for jobs in the local
watchmaking industry. Audemars was the watchmaker in charge of production, and Piguet took
charge of sales and marketing. Successful from the beginning, the Audemars Piguet
trademark was registered in 1882, and the firm was officially founded later in 1889.
Today, Audemars Piguet is the oldest Manufacture still owned and operated by its founding
families.
In 1972, the company made the daring choice to launch the world's first high-end sports
watches in steel: the Royal Oak.
Audemars Piguet's history is marked with many landmark records and world firsts-- the
first wristwatch with tourbillon and mechanical winding, the smallest self-winding watch
with perpetual calendar, the Dual Time, the Ladies Minute Repeater Chiming watch, to name
a few.
In addition, only Audemars Piguet makes and sells all twelve of these complex
timepieces--Chronographs, tourbillon regulators, chiming repeaters, time-zone displays,
the Star Wheel mechanism, the equation of time and the sun's race through the heavens, a
large-date calendar, power-reserve and moon-phase indicators, annual and perpetual
calendars, and the intricate Grande Complication designs.
Today, along with Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin, Audemars Piguet is considered to
be one of the "big three" as one of the finest watches in the world. Adding to
its exclusivity is Audemars Piguet's limited production of about 17,000 watches per year.
| Year | Event |
| 1889 | Grande Complication watch with minute repeater, split seconds chronograph and perpetual calendar is unveiled. |
| 1892 | First wristwatch with minute repeater is presented. |
| 1972 | Royal Oak is introduced. |
| 1978 | First ultra-thin automatic wristwatch with perpetual calendar is introduced. |
| 1986 | First ultra-thin automatic wristwatch with tourbillion is introduced. |
| 1990 | Dual Time watch is launched. It is the first single movement watch to display two time zones. |
| 1996 | Grande Complication automatic wristwatch is introduced |