<p>A peek into vintage collectibles and what makes them so desirable</p>

Vintagecheck

<p>From vintage time-telling money clips to Cartier’s compass watches and whimsical mechanical artworks from MB&F and L’Epee, we explore the fascinating world of horological collectibles </p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>Usually, when we talk about “watch collecting” nowadays, we’re referring to wristwatches, and to a lesser extent, pocket watches. But nearly since the mechanical watch was invented and sufficiently shrunk, humans have been putting it on nearly any and every form – rings, pens, money clips, lighters, coins, and countless others. Of course, this is in addition to the plethora of desk and table clocks you’ll find by brands ranging from Patek Philippe and Cartier to modern “kinetic art” from MB&amp;F.<br />
<br />
The world of “horological objects,” as we’ll refer to this vast universe of stuff, is impossible to neatly summarize in one article (or five, for that matter), but let's help you get started. Sure, you’ve only got room to wear one wristwatch – or two, if you should be so bold – but picking up an interest in horological objects of all types can offer countless other avenues through which to explore the world of horology. Much the way these horological objects illustrate a certain creativity in mechanical watchmaking, they also offer collectors ways to explore their more creative side.</p>

<h3>&nbsp;</h3>

<h3>Origins of Horological Objects</h3>

<p>Looking around my house right now, I see no less than three digital clocks: On the oven, microwave, and alarm clock. And that’s not to mention the timekeepers on my phone and this computer. But before the digital clock infiltrated every corner of modern life, there was actually a certain practicality to placing mechanical watches on other objects.<br />
<br />
The history of horological objects stretches back farther than the wristwatch itself. As clocks moved from church steeples to pockets, watchmakers also began adding them to other objects. In 1836, Abraham Louis Breguet crafted a fascinating <a href="https://www.artsy.net/artwork/abraham-louis-breguet-small-gold-ring-watch">small ring watch</a> with an alarm function – the alarm triggers a tiny needle that pricks the finger. This is far from the only watch crafted into traditional jewelry – by then, watches were being placed inside pendants, brooches, even cufflinks got the horological treatment.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>
<img alt="small ring watch" data-caption="An 1836 Abraham Louis Breguet small gold ring-watch with an alarm function – the alarm triggers a tiny needle that pricks the finger&amp;nbsp;Photo: &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.artsy.net/artwork/abraham-louis-breguet-small-gold-ring-watch&quot;&gt;Artsy.net&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="aa943efb-d182-4b2e-b74f-a0fd026cadf7" data-image-style="blog_inline_image" height="1046" src="https://wc-strapi.s3.ap-east-1.amazonaws.com/article_import/images/169/Edit%2520Images%2520for%2520Horological%2520Objects%2520%25289%2529.png" width="1568" />
<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>But as wristwatches came to dominate the timekeeping form of choice in the 20th century – thanks mainly to its popularity with soldiers fighting in wars – the demand for other horological objects seemed to wane. Admittedly, it’s much easier to tell time with a glance on the wrist than just about any other action, but is it more fun? Some of these objects might argue otherwise.<br />
<br />
Even with the wristwatch’s increasing prominence in society, some fashion houses and watch manufacturers continued to dedicate time to non-wrist watches. From the 1920s through the 1950s, dozens of interesting objects can be found from makers of all types. This was a time of booming creativity in the watch industry – manufacturers like Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin created all kinds of weirdly-shaped watches, and other objects offered another avenue of creativity to explore.<br />
<br />
Perhaps none did this better than Cartier. Flip through auction catalogs and archives and you’ll see all manner of Cartier objects integrated with a mechanical watch: table clocks, of course, but also pens, money clips, lighters, and letter openers. Pretty much any item that a 1930s lady or gentleman might reach for received the miniaturized watch treatment from Cartier.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>
<img alt="a Cartier compass and sundial that also included a watch" data-caption="The Duchess of Windsor,&lt;strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/strong&gt;Wallis Simpson's&amp;nbsp;Cartier compass, watch and sundial was auctioned off after her death in 1987&amp;nbsp;Photo: Sotheby's" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="b5d117f4-145a-4a1c-9af5-02a7482db238" data-image-style="blog_inline_image" height="1046" src="https://wc-strapi.s3.ap-east-1.amazonaws.com/article_import/images/976/Edit Images for Horological Objects (3).gif" width="1568" />
<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>One of my favorite horological objects from Cartier belonged to the Duchess of Windsor (Wallis Simpson), the American socialite whose romance with King Edward VIII’s ended in his abdication. After the Duchess’s death in 1987, her jewelry collection was famously auctioned off, still the largest private collection ever accumulated and sold. Among the collection was a Cartier compass and sundial that also included a watch. While examples of this multi-purpose “tool” have appeared at auction elsewhere, the provenance of this one – as well as the engraving, presumably from the former King himself, “'No excuse for going in the wrong direction Easter 1939” – make this example particularly special.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>
<img alt="Duchess of Windsor" data-caption="A 1936 portrait of the Duchess of Windsor,&amp;nbsp;Wallis Simpson" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="0631ee68-6ad2-4d2b-a748-8473600bd0d8" data-image-style="blog_inline_image" height="1046" src="https://wc-strapi.s3.ap-east-1.amazonaws.com/article_import/images/169/Edit%2520Images%2520for%2520Horological%2520Objects%2520%25281%2529.png" width="1568" />
<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>Cartier’s lighter watches are also emblematic of a bygone era. While vintage lighters are already considered collectible by a certain set, examples of lighters with added mechanical watches from the 1920s and 30s add additional intrigue to these functional objects.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>
<img alt="Cartier lighter watch" data-caption="An 18k yellow gold lighter with built-in keyless watch from 1930 Photo: Antiquorum (left);&amp;nbsp;An 18K gold and enamel lighter watch also from 1930 Photo: Christie's (right)" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="c8f93861-4ceb-4918-ae81-c31de277c5a2" data-image-style="blog_inline_image" height="1046" src="https://wc-strapi.s3.ap-east-1.amazonaws.com/article_import/images/169/Edit%2520Images%2520for%2520Horological%2520Objects%2520%25285%2529.png" width="1568" />
<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>Unlike other horological objects, lighters are slightly larger, allowing houses like Cartier to show off their tendencies towards the ornate. While in many cases these lighters may not have been fully assembled by Cartier – as was common for the <em>maison</em> at the time – many of these lighters still feature beautiful engraving or enamel work finished by Cartier. Like many Cartier watches from the 1920s and 30s, these often feature movements signed by the European Watch &amp; Clock Company.<br />
<br />
Indeed, some of Cartier’s lighters may have been produced by Dunhill, and you’ll also find many vintage Dunhill lighters with mechanical watches built in the side.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>
<img alt="omega money clip" data-caption="Omega money clip watch Photo: Antiquorum" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="28454f11-3d50-49c8-95e7-f9a0813ceaa2" data-image-style="blog_inline_image" height="1046" src="https://wc-strapi.s3.ap-east-1.amazonaws.com/article_import/images/169/Edit%2520Images%2520for%2520Horological%2520Objects%2520%25283%2529.png" width="1568" />
<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>Finally, Cartier also produced various forms of money clips with tiny mechanical movements inside, as did Omega, Jaeger-LeCoultre, and others (many of Cartier’s vintage money clips use Jaeger movements).<br />
<br />
“What I love about money clips and table clocks is that they’re just a different form of time telling that can be super original,” says well-known vintage collector Edmond Saran. “Money clip watches are great conversation pieces, fun, and also cost less [than comparable wristwatches]. A real lover of watches will be drawn to that.”</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>
<img alt="Andy Warhol’s Movado collection included various Ermetos, a Ref. 44776, a coin watch and also a pocket watch" data-caption="Andy Warhol’s Movado collection included various Ermetos, a Ref. 44776, a coin watch and also a pocket watch ©&lt;em&gt;The Movado History&lt;/em&gt;&amp;nbsp;by Fritz von Osterhausen" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="2e5f7d79-cfe9-4a40-803c-ae9cc799e7c4" data-image-style="blog_inline_image" height="1046" src="https://wc-strapi.s3.ap-east-1.amazonaws.com/article_import/images/169/Edit%2520Images%2520for%2520Horological%2520Objects%2520%25282%2529.png" width="1568" /><img alt="letter opener and key" data-caption="Patek Philippe golden ellipse model letter opener watch Photo: Christie's (left);&amp;nbsp;LeCoultre gold watch key Photo:&amp;nbsp;Rago Arts (right)" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="956fe186-d11a-4244-8e0a-da8686fefef8" data-image-style="blog_inline_image" height="1046" src="https://wc-strapi.s3.ap-east-1.amazonaws.com/article_import/images/169/Edit%2520Images%2520for%2520Horological%2520Objects%2520%252812%2529.png" width="1568" />
<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>I could go on to talk about keys, locks, letter openers, belt buckles, purse watches, ermeto clocks, and more. The point is that, just the way the digital clock has found its way into everything from our oven to our car’s dashboard, artisans of a prior era also recognized the importance of telling time and put on display a certain creativity in placing mechanical watches in nearly any object they put their hands on.&nbsp;</p>

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<h3>Modern Kinetic Art</h3>

<p>Today, modern watchmakers have taken this art form to a new level. This is perhaps no better illustrated than through the wacky creations of Max Busser &amp; Friends (MB&amp;F), often with the assistance of Swiss mechanical clockmakers L’Epee.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>
<img alt="mb&amp;f trex octopod" data-caption="MB&amp;amp;F x L’Epee T-Rex (left) and Octopod (right) Photo: MB&amp;amp;F" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="4b6c847d-ec2c-4a3b-bf3d-05c7a2c85b13" data-image-style="blog_inline_image" height="1046" src="https://wc-strapi.s3.ap-east-1.amazonaws.com/article_import/images/169/Edit%2520Images%2520for%2520Horological%2520Objects%2520%25287%2529.png" width="1568" />
<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>MB&amp;F itself says its time art is “artwork that happens to tell the time.” While those vintage lighters, money clips, and keys from Cartier at least had an ostensible functional purpose, it’s not the same case with modern horological objects. It’s kinetic art, pure and simple. Creations like the MB&amp;F x L’Epee T-Rex and Octopod take as muses physical beasts, taking their forms and adapting them to something capable of keeping time. The Octopod even takes inspiration from antique marine chronometers, providing this piece of unabashed modern art a grounding in horological history. Both illustrate MB&amp;F’s ability to play with our expectations of how time <em>should be told</em> and turn the act of telling time into something worthy of an art gallery. While Mr. Busser certainly deserves credit as the mad scientist behind this kinetic art, emphasis certainly must be placed on his “Friends” too, in this case, L’Epee. The Swiss clockmaker traces its roots to 1839, but its ability to collaborate and modernize its aesthetic has ensured a new generation of collectors are intrigued by timekeepers that aren’t bound by the wrist.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>
<img alt="MB&amp;F x L’Epée 1839's Destination Moon" data-caption="MB&amp;amp;F x L’Epée 1839's Destination Moon Photo: Perkin Yu/ Wristcheck" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="97cc5a53-e439-46cf-9afb-920a90d411ae" data-image-style="blog_inline_image" height="1046" src="https://wc-strapi.s3.ap-east-1.amazonaws.com/article_import/images/169/Edit%2520Images%2520for%2520Horological%2520Objects%2520%25288%2529.png" width="1568" />
<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>“For as long as I’ve been into watches, there is still a childlike joy in watching a mechanical object come alive,” watch collector and photographer James (better known as @<a href="https://www.instagram.com/waitlisted/">waitlisted</a> on Instagram) said. “I love the pieces I own from M.A.D. Gallery because they essentially distill this joy into its purest form – free of the need to serve a primary function, they become kinetic art for art’s sake, whirring and spinning and livening up a room in a way that a static image cannot.”<br />
<br />
While James owns a couple of pieces of kinetic art from MB&amp;F, others can enjoy the same by visiting the brand’s M.A.D. Gallery. Much the way vintage objects illustrate a certain creativity from artisans, these modern clocks allow watchmakers to explore their more artistic side, allowing them to express time in ways that might be too eccentric for a typical wristwatch.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<h3>Playing Around with Horological Objects</h3>

<p>Now that we’ve covered the broad contours of horological objects, a personal indulgence, if you’ll indulge me.<br />
<br />
A year or two ago, I spotted a few vintage golfer’s watches while doom-scrolling on Instagram – utilitarian watches from Seiko, beautifully ornate examples from Patek Philippe. These were basically pocket watches, but advertised for golfers to use while playing a round, recognizing that the impact of a golf swing might damage a wristwatch.<br />
<br />
Besides watches, golf is a huge hobby of mine, a game I’ve played since I was four or five years old. I set out on a path to find one.<br />
<br />
Eventually, I landed a simple Eternamic Golfer for less than a couple hundred bucks with a nice slate gray dial. Until I was able to acquire this watch, these two hobbies of mine – golf and watches – had existed separately. But I enjoy horological objects because they give collectors opportunities to blend their passions. Horological objects offer additional surface area for exploring watches and timekeeping.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>
<img alt="golf" data-caption="The author’s Eternamic Golfer Photo: Tony Traina" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="b9bc810d-4813-406d-b7d4-f52bed2d1e77" data-image-style="blog_inline_image" height="1046" src="https://wc-strapi.s3.ap-east-1.amazonaws.com/article_import/images/169/Edit%2520Images%2520for%2520Horological%2520Objects%2520%252811%2529.png" width="1568" />
<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>Besides that, as Saran mentioned, most horological objects seem to be undervalued for the watchmaking, design, and pure fun they represent. You probably won’t be interested in golfer's watches like I was, but if you search hard enough, there’s no doubt a horological object or three that speaks to you.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<h3>Off the Cuff</h3>

<p>If you’re a collector, wristwatches are the start. But if you start to explore the world of horological objects, you might find some of the more whimsical creativity of artisans old and new. Vintage objects offer a peak at a bygone era of watchmaking and of life, when people carried around more than their phones. Meanwhile, modern kinetic art allows today’s watchmakers to express their artistic tendencies, pursuing art for its own sake. Both are worthy of collectors’ attention.&nbsp;</p>

An Introduction to Horological Objects

<p>Right from highly complicated pocket watches to exquisite wristwatches with chronos made for the aristocracy in the 1930s, we look at the fascinating history of chronographs at Audemars Piguet</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>There's something undeniably appealing about the mechanical chronograph. For some of us, a primitive part of our digitally dominated sensibilities loses all sense when confronted by a choice specimen. A watch is, by nature, a simple tool of observation, but it’s the chronograph over most other complications that converts the wearer from a casual observer to an active participant with the simple click of a pusher. Not so long ago, this technology was an essential tool around which the moving parts of an increasingly industrialized society were choreographed. Today, relegated to more or less a novelty, the mechanical&nbsp;chronograph has only strengthened its gravitational pull.</p>

<p>The timeline of watchmaking is dotted with houses that made significant contributions to the&nbsp;advancement of the chronograph. Complicated timepieces have been an integral part of the Audemars&nbsp;Piguet story from the very first days of the company, and it may come as no surprise that the very existence of a brand whose history is punctuated with complicated watches of unparalleled quality came&nbsp;about through a connection born of a shared passion of complicated watchmaking.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>
<img alt="RO " data-caption="Jules Louis Audemars and Edward August Piguet" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="84d2faf9-fd2f-4fd0-84b0-20995d8d9d5e" data-image-style="blog_inline_image" height="1046" src="https://wc-strapi.s3.ap-east-1.amazonaws.com/article_import/images/142/founders-3000x3000-02.jpg.transform.apfvp_.jpg" width="1568" />
<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>Long before Jules Louis Audemars and Edward August Piguet joined forces, a partnership started in 1875&nbsp;and consecrated in 1881 with the registration of the business, both families had taken up watchmaking as a way to supplement summer farming income and fill what was otherwise idle time during the bleak winter months in the Swiss Vallée de Joux.</p>

<p>In 1811, a member of a separate branch of the Audemars family, Louis-Benjamin Audemars, founded Louis Audemars &amp; Cie as a maker of watches. Upon his death in 1833, the company passed to his sons and remained in family hands until they closed their doors in 1885. One theory offers the possibility that&nbsp;some or all of the crop of 18 movements supplied by Jules Louis Audemars as initial inventory to the joint venture may have come from the workshop of Louis Audemars &amp; Cie., although this rumor could be just&nbsp;that and verification would be nearly impossible. Very little is known about these first watches thanks to a tornado that ripped through the valley and severely damaged the workshop in 1891 — but we do know&nbsp;that each movement made prior to 1890 was an individual creation with its own unique characteristics. No two were alike.</p>

<p>Because of the rich watchmaking background of both founding partners and the unique tapestry of&nbsp;independent specialist shops peppered throughout the Vallée de Joux, the right ingredients were there to enable the young <em>etablisseur</em> to bring to market top quality highly complicated timepieces, an advantage that enabled the company to carve out a name for itself as a purveyor of timepieces of the most exquisite&nbsp;quality in a relatively short period of time.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>
<img alt="Farmers AP" data-caption="The families of Jules Louis Audemars and Edward August Piguet began watchmaking to supplement their income from farming in the summer and to pass the time during the bleak winters in the Swiss Vallée de Joux" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="f3468d95-62a1-4878-8af5-2e22587606d6" data-image-style="blog_inline_image" height="1046" src="https://wc-strapi.s3.ap-east-1.amazonaws.com/article_import/images/142/farmers_4000x2614_01.jpg.transform.apcarouselh.jpg" width="1568" />
<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>All of this was done without the advantages of the economies of scale offered by mass production, which had been adopted by many competitors within the Swiss watch industry. As Jules Louis Audemars and Edward August Piguet prioritized quality and craft over quantity and scale, the operation remained modest in size for much of its existence. In 1889 the entire operation consisted of just 10 full time employees. Continued success in the early 20th century saw their ranks grow to 38 full time employees, but because of the economic tumult of world wars and global recessions this number would constrict to 15 employees by 1940.</p>

<p>Through the good times and the bad, Audemars Piguet never wavered from the vision of the founders, a commitment to quality that was evident by the who’s-who of society that owned their watches and the retailers that sold them. In addition to well known customers like Tiffany and Cartier, Audemars Piguet&nbsp;supplied watches to Dent and Frodsham in London, Bulgari in Rome, Dürrstein in Glashütte and Dresden and Gübelin in Lucerne.</p>

<p>In 1894, Jules Louis Audemars learned that a split-second chronograph design that Audemars Piguet had patented had potentially been copied by fellow Le Brassus company C. H. Meylan and distributed in North America. After consulting his local agent for North America, Wittnauer, the watchmaker turned sleuth, traveled to New York in search of the offending watch that would prove his case. His suspicions were vindicated when he tracked the suspect watch down in a New York pawn shop. He returned to Switzerland with his prize, physical evidence that demonstrated to a Swiss court his patent was indeed infringed upon.</p>

<p>The chronograph played an active role in Audemars Piguet’s offerings from the very beginning. Brunner,&nbsp;Pfeiffer-Belli and Wehrli’s work published in the early 1990’s indicates that between the years 1875 and 1892, AP produced 130 chronographs, 174 split second chronographs, and a multitude of chronographs&nbsp;combined with other complications.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>
<img alt="Grande Complication produced in the “Glashütte” style by Audemars Piguet for Glashütte Union, Germany" data-caption="Pictured is a Grande Complication produced in the “Glashütte” style by Audemars Piguet for Glashütte Union, Germany ©Audemars Piguet" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="1a966962-fe31-4d5a-b33c-2250a21a895e" data-image-style="blog_inline_image" height="1046" src="https://wc-strapi.s3.ap-east-1.amazonaws.com/article_import/images/142/3_1.png" width="1568" /><img alt="Platinum Lepine chronograph with 60 minute counter, made in 1927 in the  Bauhaus style" data-caption="Here is a Bauhaus-inspired Platinum Lepine chronograph from 1927 with a 60-minute counter ©Audemars Piguet; Masterpieces of Classical Watchmaking, Brunner, Pfeiffer-Belli and Wehrli, 1993" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="3d965ad1-bf88-498f-b3c8-8da4d1f02fb2" data-image-style="blog_inline_image" height="1046" src="https://wc-strapi.s3.ap-east-1.amazonaws.com/article_import/images/142/e-Lab_1.png" width="1568" /><img alt="Gold Lepine chronograph with split-seconds, minute repeater and 30 minute  counter made for Cartier, 1925, Photo Copyright Audemars Piguet; Masterpieces of Classical  Watchmaking, Brunner, Pfeiffer-Belli and Wehrli, 1993" data-caption="A Gold Lepine chronograph with split-seconds, a minute repeater, and a 30-minute counter made for Cartier in 1925 ©Audemars Piguet; Masterpieces of Classical Watchmaking, Brunner, Pfeiffer-Belli and Wehrli, 1993" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="1f72af6d-a4e5-4c8a-a148-55457cabb724" data-image-style="blog_inline_image" height="1046" src="https://wc-strapi.s3.ap-east-1.amazonaws.com/article_import/images/142/2_4.png" width="1568" />
<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>1914 saw Audemars Piguet receive one of the most distinguished and downright interesting commissions of its existence by way of the Emperor of Austria, Franz-Josef I. The Emperor envisioned a watch that combined a pragmatic set of complications—a split-second chronograph with a 30 minute register, an alarm, a dual time zone display, a minute repeater, a barometer, and a compass. However, the imperial commission was by no means the company’s most complicated. Since the early 1880's, Audemars Piguet had poured itself into mastering what it saw as the pinnacle of complicated watchmaking - the Grande Complication. For a watch to be considered a Grande Complication it must necessarily include a minute repeater, a perpetual calendar function, and a split second chronograph in addition to the time.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>
<img alt="Pocket watch made for Emperor Franz-Josef I of Austria, Photo Copyright Audemars Piguet;  Masterpieces of Classical Watchmaking, Brunner, Pfeiffer-Belli and Wehrli, 1993" data-caption="Pocket watch made for Emperor Franz-Josef I of Austria ©Audemars Piguet; Masterpieces of Classical Watchmaking, Brunner, Pfeiffer-Belli and Wehrli, 1993" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="118dc84e-a2e2-4e2a-91c1-b1044a5d0d4a" data-image-style="blog_inline_image" height="1046" src="https://wc-strapi.s3.ap-east-1.amazonaws.com/article_import/images/142/5_1.png" width="1568" />
<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>But times were changing, and the next decade saw the rise in popularity of a new style of watch — the&nbsp;wristwatch. Never one to be caught off guard by the changing winds, Audemars Piguet produced many beautiful wristwatches along side pocket watches during the 1920s. In 1930, they had successfully created their first generation wrist chronograph which was actuated via a single pusher integrated into the crown. Six total of this style movement were produced, one of which was delivered as a wristwatch. By 1933 the&nbsp;chronograph had evolved again, featuring a single chronograph pusher at 2 o’clock that was followed soon after by a dual pusher configuration that allowed the operator to start and stop the chronograph function without resetting the counter. In 1939 Audemars Piguet again enhanced functionality with the addition of an hour counter.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>
<img alt="13CHRO in steel, made in 1934 and sold in 1936 to Baron Sysonby, image copyright  Audemars Piguet" data-caption="Steel 13CHRO manufactured in 1934 and sold to Baron Sysonby in 1936 ©Audemars Piguet" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="890b2fc3-6bb9-4a1c-94e5-1d96ad42a560" data-image-style="blog_inline_image" height="1046" src="https://wc-strapi.s3.ap-east-1.amazonaws.com/article_import/images/142/PHOTO%25205.jpg" width="1568" /><img alt="Four vintage chronographs of various designs including the model 5522 (second from the left),  the only known vintage AP chronograph in a 40mm case, image copyright Bexsonn" data-caption="Four vintage chronographs of various designs including the model 5522 (second from the left), the only known vintage AP chronograph in a 40mm case ©Bexsonn" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="6ee61c7f-93ac-4bd9-86d1-95b958d7b560" data-image-style="blog_inline_image" height="1046" src="https://wc-strapi.s3.ap-east-1.amazonaws.com/article_import/images/142/PHOTO%25206.png" width="1568" />
<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>These earliest models were characterized by traditional white enamel dials painted with black Breguet style numerals and small diameter cases in both precious metals and steel. By the end of the 1930s, the enamel dials had mostly disappeared in favor of metal with contemporary Art Deco and Bauhaus design&nbsp;cues.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>
<img alt="Pre-model 1533 circa 1943, image copyright Audemars Piguet" data-caption="The Audemars Piguet Ref. 1533 chronograph from 1943&amp;nbsp;©Audemars Piguet" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="701cd073-6799-4748-860e-95277d448a49" data-image-style="blog_inline_image" height="1046" src="https://wc-strapi.s3.ap-east-1.amazonaws.com/article_import/images/142/6.png" width="1568" />
<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>To power their new wrist chronographs, Audemars Piguet turned to Valjoux’s 13”’ chronograph&nbsp;movement. The earliest movements can be identified at a glance by their gold gilt finish, a process which soon gave way to German silver plating.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>
<img alt="AP Manufacture " data-caption="Audemars Piguet's manufacture in Le Brassus" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="fe3c3820-8fe1-4263-bac7-e769f602271f" data-image-style="blog_inline_image" height="1046" src="https://wc-strapi.s3.ap-east-1.amazonaws.com/article_import/images/142/AP%2520manufacture%2520.jpeg" width="1568" />
<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>What comes as truly remarkable when discussing Audemars Piguet’s vintage chronographs is twofold.&nbsp;First, the company produced only 307 wrist chronographs in total. Second, each of these chronographs &nbsp;was made over a span of 16 years, beginning in 1930 and ending in 1946, a most tumultuous time in Europe and a time during which Audemars Piguet was fighting for its very existence. If this sounds like&nbsp;an extremely small number, it is. Let's also bear in mind that over the 95 years that separated the founding&nbsp;of the partnership from the year 1970, a total of 550 complicated wristwatches were produced. That’s an average of 5.7 complicated watches a year.</p>

<p>Numbers like these help us understand how truly special every complicated vintage Audemars Piguet wristwatch is. Remarkably, less than two decades after the first mechanical wrist chronograph left the bench, the landscape would change yet again. By the late 1940s, chronographs were no longer being&nbsp;made in the modest Le Brassus workshop, and another decade saw the manufacture of complications fade&nbsp;all together as the company switched gears to what they saw as the future — thinner movements, self &nbsp;winding mechanisms, and date complications. It wasn’t until the beginning of the modern era of watchmaking that the perpetual calendar was reintroduced.</p>

<p>Today, the chronograph is again an integral part of the Audemars Piguet lineup, and the 2020 release of the [Re]master01 chronograph, along with the recent opening of their on site museum, proves to even the harshest critic that the Audemars Piguet of today isn’t some half-baked dinosaur wrapped up in a&nbsp;hexagonal love affair, but a watchmaking megalith focused on cultivating its rich past in a way that&nbsp;connects to the modern collector.</p>
<img alt="The [Re]master01 chronograph released in 2020 and inspired by the pre-model 1533" data-caption="The Ref. 1533 served as inspiration for the [Re]master01 chronograph released in 2020&amp;nbsp;Photo: Perkin Yu/ Wristcheck" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="5c0c274b-de98-45ae-801b-d768ccc84133" data-image-style="blog_inline_image" height="1046" src="https://wc-strapi.s3.ap-east-1.amazonaws.com/article_import/images/142/593A3253_1.jpg" width="1568" />
<p>&nbsp;</p>


Audemars Piguet Chronographs Through the Years

Audemars Piguet’s Musée Atelier: A New-Age Museum for an Age-Old Brand

In Conversation With Auction Hero, Aurel Bacs

<p>From an incredible quarter-repeating pocket watch from 1875 to the world’s first perpetual calendar wristwatch with leap-year display, we give you a glimpse into Audemars Piguet’s exceptional history in watchmaking from the mid 20th century and beyond
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<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>Ask a dozen collectors what it is that attracts them to vintage watches and you’re sure to get a dozen different answers. My own answer to this question has changed as time has gone by. Today I find myself at the opposite end of the spectrum of my earlier maximalist predispositions, drawn to a more nuanced aesthetic. There’s something about a design that doesn’t shout for attention, but coyly invites us closer, confident in what it offers. Call it horological hard-to-get. Combine this look and feel with a technically superb, beautiful movement and all the right ingredients are in place.</p>

<p>There’s no shortage of great watchmaking houses that tick the proverbial boxes when it comes to quality vintage offerings, but one in particular has, until very recently, largely evaded the spotlight, maintaining a small but passionate following of devoted collectors.</p>

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<p>It’s been 50 years since Gerald Genta deified the octagon. Like many&nbsp;human endeavours&nbsp;that are initially met with resistance and&nbsp;eventually recognized as great, the Royal Oak drew its fair share of criticism at the time of the launch. Reportedly, one of the executive's&nbsp;at AP's competing firm, even&nbsp;announced&nbsp;his intention to buy Audemars Piguet once the company inevitably went bankrupt after this&nbsp;massive ‘blunder’.</p>

<p>Of course, history has laid bare the foolishness of this statement. Prized iterations of the Royal Oak are presently fetching princely sums at auction. The buzz is, of course, earnest and well merited (who am I to argue the results of a free market?), but we’re not here for the Royal Oak - at least not today. Instead we’re going to examine the formative decades that preceded Genta’s final octagonal hurrah - years characterized by low production numbers, unique chronographs and perpetual calendars and beautiful time-only watches of an elevated disposition.</p>

<p>Genta’s tenure at Audemars Piguet gives us a unique window into the evolution of his creative process and answers the question on&nbsp;what a capable artist and designer could accomplish if given the full creative control over one of Switzerland's foundational watchmaking maison. His idiosyncrasies shaped the look and feel of the brand from 1953 until the launch of the Royal Oak in 1972. The form of every Audemars Piguet timepiece that left the bench over these two decades was his express conception.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>
<img alt="AP" data-caption="The author’s Ref.5007 BC powered by a VZASC movement from 1959&amp;nbsp;© Josh Rankin" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="f155b474-7843-4dfd-a939-fe8f0626922f" data-image-style="blog_inline_image" height="1046" src="https://wc-strapi.s3.ap-east-1.amazonaws.com/article_import/images/98/the%2520authors%2520genta%2520ref%25205007.jpg" width="1568" />
<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>Long before Genta’s aesthetic modernized the look and feel of the brand, a modern take on “outsourcing” initially popularized in the Vallée de Joux enabled Audemars Piguet’s early dominance in complicated watches. The many small, family owned watchmakers that peppered the valley discovered that by narrowing their focus and producing only a single or a small number of parts they could achieve a previously unattainable level of precision. A finished Audemars Piguet “VZ”, a movement based on the Valjoux movement blank and held in high esteem by both the brand and collectors alike, contained parts produced by several independent specialists contracted by Audemars Piguet.</p>

<p>Audemars Piguet’s exceptional quality attracted a number of distinguished patrons. In 1914, the ever-pragmatic Austro-Hungarian Emperor Francis Joseph commissioned a special pocket watch&nbsp;that included a barometer and compass.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>
<img alt="AP" data-caption="In 1914, Austro-Hungarian Emperor Francis Joseph commissioned a special Audemars Piguet pocket watch equipped with a barometer and compass" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="62b0fed7-c983-4f2b-be42-2bfea882c089" data-image-style="blog_inline_image" height="1046" src="https://wc-strapi.s3.ap-east-1.amazonaws.com/article_import/images/98/Franz-Joseph-1908.jpg" width="1568" /><img alt="AP" data-caption="Emperor Francis Joseph's pocket watch" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="e8ab8355-9f75-4c5f-b660-11c6f375f5ff" data-image-style="blog_inline_image" height="1046" src="https://wc-strapi.s3.ap-east-1.amazonaws.com/article_import/images/98/imperial%2520watch.png" width="1568" />
<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>In the early 20th century AP was producing anywhere from a couple of hundred to a couple of thousand watches per annum, a practice that would continue unchanged until the second half of the century. The crash of 1929 dealt a severe blow to Audemars Piguet in the form of the insolvency of Metric Watch Co, a New York retail partner who at that point accounted for over half of their total sales. This constriction of capital had a severe effect on production - Brunner’s ‘Audemars Piguet: Le Maître de l’Horlogerie’ shows only two separate serial numbers leaving the bench in 1932. By the end of the 1940s production had somewhat recovered to a range in the high hundreds to low thousands per year.</p>

<p>As the wristwatch overtook the pocket watch in popularity in the early 20th century, Audemars Piguet began a transition away from the predominant production of complicated watches to mostly time-only watches. By the time the 1930s, 40s and 50s came around, a complicated Audemars Piguet was a rarefied thing. During this time period a total of 307 complicated watches were produced, out of which 20 were double complications. By contrast the Patek Philippe 2499, (considered by the author to be one of the most beautiful Patek chronographs ever made), was produced in a total of 349 examples.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>
<img alt="AP" data-caption="An extremely rare example of the Ref. 5516 unveiled in 1955. This incredible watch used the full 48-month leap-year display first seen in Jules Louis Audemars’ school watch created in 1875" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="cef6324d-ccc4-47f6-b568-156f8a15661e" data-image-style="blog_inline_image" height="1046" src="https://wc-strapi.s3.ap-east-1.amazonaws.com/article_import/images/98/5516-the-rake.jpeg" width="1568" /><img alt="AP" data-caption="Jules Audemars’ school watch presented a perpetual calendar complication along with a quarter repeating mechanism and an independent deadbeat second function" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="f1247fee-b819-46a3-8a45-d214acd90a2c" data-image-style="blog_inline_image" height="1046" src="https://wc-strapi.s3.ap-east-1.amazonaws.com/article_import/images/98/Untitled-2_1.png" width="1568" />
<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>In 1951, two years before Genta began working with the company, Audemars Piguet had transitioned to a serialized production model. Remarkably, up until this point, manufacturing was not performed in standard, serialized runs identified by reference number. Rather, each watch produced was a completely unique creation whose characteristics were often determined by the individual retailers or the clients themselves.</p>

<p>These pre-serialized pieces are characterized by a classic aesthetic and are found in a variety of case metals, shapes and sizes, although 35mm and up are quite rare and, in the right configuration, very desirable.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>
<img alt="AP" data-caption="A&amp;nbsp;35mm 1947 Audemars Piguet VZSS in 18k yellow gold © Josh Rankin" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="190df1e6-0cbb-4554-ae27-6b3c1b1b3c47" data-image-style="blog_inline_image" height="1046" src="https://wc-strapi.s3.ap-east-1.amazonaws.com/article_import/images/98/1947.jpg" width="1568" />
<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>Given all the above, a more complete picture of the brand emerges and presents the modern collector with an opportunity to admire beautiful things of interesting historical provenance without the hype that tends to accompany such things. Bringing their own distinct flavor, the mid century offerings of Audemars Piguet still exist as attainable alternatives to clout-laden heavyweights like Patek Philippe and Rolex - providing you’re patient and diligent enough.</p>

<p>When Hodinkee’s founder, the cashmere-clad Ben Clymer, appropriately described vintage Audemars Piguet as “the greatest secret in watch collecting”, and “something to be celebrated”, I couldn’t help but agree.</p>


Time Travel: An Introduction to Audemars Piguet’s Vintage Watches

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