Manufacture d'horlogerie: Audemars Piguet

Manufacture d'horlogerie. Manufacture d'horlogerie is a term reserved for watch manufacturers that make all or most of the parts required for their movements in their own production facilities as opposed to assembling watches using parts purchased from other firms. For reasons of their in-house expertize companies classified as manufacture d'horlogerie are generally considered to be the elite of the watch making industry.

Oldest watch company still owned by the same family. Audemars Piguet traces its history back to 1875, when 23-year-old Jules-Louis Audemars met the 21-year old Edward-Auguste Piguet, at Vallée de Joux, and collaborated their skills in making watches. Audemars started producing component parts for movements and Piguet got the job of a repasseur, whose job it is to make the final regulation of the timepiece. Audemars and Piguet later founded the firm known as Audemars, Piguet et Cie. Since 1882, members of the Audemars and Piguet families have always been on the board of directors and have thus directly or indirectly run the company. Thus Audemars Piquet has the distinction of being the oldest watch company still owned by the same family.

Today, Audemars Piguet is considered one of the finest watch manufacturers in the world, together with Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin.

Audemars Pigeut Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph

The Luxury Sports Watch. It is hard to pin down the single greatest contribution of a watch company that has been around for more than one hundred years to horology. In the case of Audemars Piguet, in my opinion, it is the invention of the luxury sports watch. 

In 1972, Audemars Piguet created the Royal Oak series of watches. In collaboration with Gerald Genta, created a new type of sports watch: the Luxury Sports Watch. The Royal Oak was a sports watch with a unique octagonal bezel, integrated bracelets and ultra thin cases giving it a dressy rather than tool like look. The success of the design was clear. Four years later, in 1976 Patek Philippe launched its Nautilus line-up of watches.

As a further development of the Royal Oak, Audemars Piguet launched the Royal Oak Offshore in 1993. The Offshore followed the same design concepts, but instead of ultra thin cases, the Offshore had  larger (44 mm) thicker  more massive looking cases. By the end of the decade, the "big watch" trend hit full swing, one that continues today.