Audemars Piguet Code 11.59 Ultra-Complication
The Audemars Piguet Code 11.59 Ultra-complication is billed as ‘the Manufacture’s very first ultra-complicated selfwinding wristwatch’. Comprising 1140 movement parts, encompassing seven years of research and development and incorporating 40 functions, there is much justification for using a few well-chosen superlatives when describing this latest exemplar of Haute Horlogerie.
Audemars Piguet depuis 1875
Whenever I read a press release from a watch brand, I always forensically examine each sentence and reflect on every claim made. My objective is to distinguish the facts from the hyperbole employed by an over-enthusiastic copywriter. My suspicions are always aroused when I see a profusion of superlatives. Interestingly, when it comes to Audemars Piguet, a brand worthy of many superlatives, the Swiss Manufacture has a tendency to be modest.
Vallée de Joux
Swiss watchmaking can trace its origins to 16th century Geneva and John Calvin. Under the Huguenot’s strict regime, the skills once employed for producing jewellery were applied to making watches. Ultimately, this expertise spread outwards from Geneva to other areas of Switzerland including the Vallée de Joux. This latter location, a valley nestling in the Jura Mountains, has a rich tradition of making movements.
The Vallée de Joux experiences the coldest winters with temperatures that could make a polar bear shiver. In the 19th century, the hostile winters led to farmers sheltering in their homes, working on watch movements. As the warmer weather arrived, these intricately formed mechanisms would be sold to specialist traders, going on to be encased by watch companies in various locations including Geneva.
The Vallée de Joux ultimately became known for making complicated movements and ultra-thin calibres. While the advent of industrialisation led to specialist firms making movements within the region, other companies, such as Audemars Piguet, chose to produce complete watches.
Founded in 1875, the company soon began making chiming watches. Indeed, between 1882 and 1892, half of the Maison’s watches were equipped with repeaters. Moreover, the brand also became increasingly known for crafting Grand Complications, widely considered the pinnacle of watchmaking expertise.
Code 11.59 Ultra-Complication Universelle RD#4 – Grand complication
The term Grand Complication is not consistently applied by all brands. AP typically uses the term to describe a watch fitted with a minute repeater, perpetual calendar and split-seconds chronograph. Featuring the Calibre 2885, the movement contains 648 parts, all expertly finished to the highest order. If we consider the Royal Oak Openworked Grande Complication, the brand states it takes ‘a master watchmaker more than 700 hours’ to bring it to life with an additional 120 hours spent openworking the movement.
Audemars Piguet Code 11.59 Ultra-Complication Universelle RD#4
At this juncture, most firms would have crossed their arms and basked in the glory of their achievements, however, it would seem that AP has no time for smugness. They’ve just unveiled their most complicated wristwatch, the Audemars Piguet Code 11.59 Ultra-Complication Universelle RD#4.
Audemars Piguet Calibre 1000
The specification of this timepiece is mindblowing. It has a total of 40 functions, including 23 complications and ’17 special technical devices’. The self-winding movement, the Calibre 1000, incorporates 1140 parts, including 90 jewels. Perhaps what is most remarkable is that despite its complexity, the watch is just 1mm wider than a regular Code 11.59 three-hander. Measuring 42mm in diameter, this ultra-complicated timepiece is just 15.55mm in height, somehow sidestepping the hockey puck appearance one would expect of a function-rich watch of this calibre.
While the Audemars Piguet Code 11.59 Ultra-Complication Universelle RD#4 is clearly brimming with complexity, it has been designed to be worn and not cocooned in a display cabinet. Indeed, to the untrained eye, the watch could easily be mistaken for a regular Code 11.59 Selfwinding Chronograph.
When discussing the Ultra-Complication Universelle RD#4, it would be very easy to write ‘War and Peace’, such is the complexity of its creation, however, I’ve restricted my focus to just some of the model’s key features.
Code 11.59 Ultra-Complication Universelle RD#4 – Grande Sonnerie Supersonnerie
A Grande Sonnerie Supersonnerie unites the ultimate form of chiming watch with AP’s Supersonnerie know-how. A Grande Sonnerie strikes the hours and quarters in passing (en passant) and repeats the hour, each quarter. The hour and quarter strikes can be repeated on demand. In this instance, the Code 11.59 Ultra-Complication is equipped with a minute repeater, chiming the hours, quarters and minutes on demand.
Unlike a conventional Grande Sonnerie where the gongs are attached to the mainplate, the AP Supersonnerie system involves affixing them to a soundboard which improves sound transmission and provides ‘a sharper tempo’. The gong design and case construction are also optimised to deliver the purest sound.
Code 11.59 Ultra-Complication Universelle RD#4 – Perpetual Calendar
This AP features a perpetual calendar, the ultimate form of calendar mechanism. It displays the day, date (I’ll return to this shortly), month and, in this instance, the year. Ordinarily, a perpetual calendar has the mechanical intellect to ascertain the length of each month and advance the date to ‘1’ as appropriate, irrespective of whether a month contains 28, 29, 30 or 31 days. Typically, the only time when the wearer is required to manually adjust the date is 2100, 2200 and 2300 which are not leap years in the Gregorian calendar. Once again, the Ultra-Complication Universelle RD#4 breaks new ground. Equipped with a semi-Gregorian perpetual calendar, the Calibre 1000 only requires manual correction every 400 years, hence it won’t require adjustment until 2400.
AP has equipped the watch with a large date display. This indication employs two date discs instead of the customary single disc, thereby providing the wearer with a widescreen, highly lucid indication.
In addition, the dial includes an ‘innovative instant-jump astronomical moon system that conveys a more realistic depiction of the moon’.
Code 11.59 Ultra-Complication Universelle RD#4 – split-seconds flyback chronograph
With a conventional chronograph, the stopwatch function is actuated and then stopped by pressing the pushpiece at 2 o’clock. Once the chronograph has stopped timing, pressing the pushpiece at 4 o’clock resets the central chronograph hand and counters (reset to zero). A flyback will operate in the same way if required. However, if the chronograph is running, the wearer can simply press the pusher at 4 o’clock and in one simple step, stop, reset and restart the chronograph, making it ideal for timing consecutive events.
A split-seconds chronograph, sometimes termed a ‘rattrapante’, allows the wearer to measure ‘splits’ courtesy of an additional central hand, known as the split-seconds hand. The split-seconds hand and central chronograph hand rotate as one until the pusher at 3 o’clock initiates the split seconds function. The gap between both hands is minuscule to avoid any issue of parallax.
Code 11.59 Ultra-Complication Universelle RD#4 – a flying tourbillon
A flying tourbillon differs from a ‘regular’ tourbillon by eschewing the upper bridge, thereby granting superior views of the cage, escapement and regulating organ in motion. Like the tourbillon, patented by Abraham-Louis Breguet in 1801, the flying tourbillon is designed to counter the adverse influence of gravity on the behaviour of the regulating organ, mitigating positional errors and augmenting precision.
The skills required to bring a tourbillon to life remain rare, drawing on the talents of the most accomplished watchmakers. For many watch collectors, aspiring to own a high complication is the stuff of dreams. However, the Audemars Piguet Code 11.59 Ultra-Complication Universelle RD#4 surpasses a mere tourbillon with its plethora of additional complications.
The Code 11.59 by Audemars Piguet Universelle
Audemars Piguet offer the Universelle RD#4 in four variants, three housed in white gold and one in pink gold. The Manufacture offers two references with openworked dials and two models with ‘conventional’ full dials. Personally speaking, I prefer the comparative simplicity of the solid black dial/white gold ensemble as it appears cleaner and easier to read. However, there is no escaping the fact that the openworked dial does provide a wonderful canvas for the company’s craftspeople to showcase their incomparable skills.
Ccomplications, miniaturisation and precision
Watching the AP video on the Code 11.59 Ultra-Complication Universelle RD#4, the esteemed Maison uses three words when discussing its magnum opus: ‘complications’, ‘miniaturisation’ and ‘precision’, all of which seem very apt. But, there is another word that can be also used to describe this watch, ‘wearable’.
Furthermore, as well as being modestly sized, the Universelle RD#4 is surprisingly user-friendly. Three buttons and three crowns do everything, obviating the need for a nuclear physicist’s IQ.
The timepiece is the result of seven years of work and wonderfully showcases the Manufacture’s exceptional expertise. Indeed, there is no doubt that the Code 11.59 by Audemars Piguet Universelle is deserving of many superlatives and serves to reinforce the reputation of the Vallée de Joux as a region synonymous with making complicated timepieces.
Further reading
https://www.audemarspiguet.com/
Technical specification
- Model: Audemars Piguet Code 11.59 Ultra-Complication Universelle RD#4
- Reference: 26398BC.OO.D002CR.01 (white gold & black dial)
- Reference: 26398BC.OO.D002CR.04 (white gold & beige dial)
- Reference: 26398BC.OO.D002CR.02 (white gold & openworked)
- Reference: 26398OR.OO.D002CR.01 (pink gold & openworked)
- Case: 18-carat gold, diameter 42 mm, height 15.55 mm, sapphire crystal to front and exhibition case back
- Functions: A total of 40 functions, including 23 complications and 17 special technical devices. Among the highlights: Grande and Petite Sonnerie, minute repeater, flying tourbillon, semi-Gregorian perpetual calendar (day, large date, month, year, astronomical moon, moon phases), flyback chronograph, split-seconds, hours and minutes (this is not an exhaustive list – full details on request).
- Movement: Calibre 1000, self-winding movement, frequency 21,600 vph (3Hz), 90 jewels, 1140 parts, minimum guaranteed power reserve 64 hours
- Bracelet: alligator strap with 18-carat white gold AP folding clasp. Additional textured rubber-coated calfskin strap.
- Prices: CHF 1,600,000 excluding taxes (RRP as of 20.2.2023)