Since time immemorial, Audemars Piguet has been recognized by all enthusiasts and collectors for what, since 1972, has been the maison’s model par excellence, the Royal Oak.
A symbol of excellence for the manufacture of Le Brassus, this watch has been joined by the unprecedented Code 11.59 collection that immediately intrigued fans of the maison and beyond. This year, AP is taking the collection to a whole new level thanks to the efforts of its RD division.
We are talking about the new, super-complicated Code 11.59 RD#4 Ultra-Complication Universelle, the most complicated watch ever produced by Audemars Piguet.
The birth of the Audemars Piguet Code 11.59 RD#4
When we talk about complications, we enter inside a territory dominated by the utmost creativity and technical skills. Fascinating from an engineering point of view, the complications within a watch offer various useful information for our daily lives (think of a perpetual calendar, for example).
Obviously, some may argue that we can very well obtain this information simply by looking at our smartphone with which we are connected all day long. But if we were to analyze this point all the way through, even a time-only watch could be, nowadays, considered superfluous. Well actually, not even art would exist. For this reason we should stop considering complications as a mean to a practical end but rather the expression of values, mastery and creativity.
Well, the complications of a watch represent that romantic part we don’t need so much but which always makes our hearts beat faster.
A workhorse in making crazy watches, Audemars Piguet since its inception has always researched and developed innovative solutions in what concerns the world of complications.
All the expertise of the maison concerning this type of watch has now resulted in what represents the most complicated watch ever created by the Le Brassus manufacture: the new Code 11.59 Ultra-Complication Universelle RD#4.
The project of this ultra-complicated watch began in 2016. It is a tribute to Audemars Piguet’s Universelle pocket watch, one of the most complicated timepieces ever made by the manufacture in 1899.
Created with the aim of wanting to develop a watch that, despite its multiple functions, could be suitable for everyday use, the new Code 11.59 Ultra-Complication Universelle RD#4 combines extreme complexity with simplicity of use.
The culmination of several decades of research, as claimed by Giulio Papi, Audemars Piguet Technical Director, the new Code 11.59 Ultra-Complication Universelle RD#4 was described by CEO, François-Henry Bennahmias, in the following words:
“Code 11.59 by Audemars Piguet Ultra-Complication Universelle RD#4 is our quest for the Holy Grail with an incredible amount of savoir-faire concentrated in a very small volume! We dreamed about it for 100 years, thought about it for 20 years, and took 7 years to bring it to life.”
Audemars Piguet Code 11.59 Ultra-Complication Universelle RD#4
Driven by a desire to break the traditional rules of technical achievement, the various Audemars Piguet teams that worked on the creation of this innovative timepiece sought to create a watch that you could easily adapt to any situation.
Fascinating mechanically, usually ultra-complicated watches of this kind suffer from what I consider the only downside: their size.
It is precisely this aspect that Audemars Piguet wanted to focus on so as to try to create something “uncluttered” but, at the same time, uncompromising from a technical point of view.
To do this, the watchmakers at le Le Brassus managed to pack 40 functions, including 23 complications and 17 special technical devices, inside a Code 11.59 case without deviating too much from the dimensions of the less complicated models in the collection.
Distinguished by the ergonomic curvature and design codes of the collection, the case of the new Code 11.59 Ultra-Complication Universelle RD#4 measures just 42 mm in diameter.
A great job was also done in terms of thickness since the engineers managed to enclose the more than 1,100 components of the movement, within a thickness of 15.5 mm.
This is the self-winding Caliber 1000, which can be observed thanks to the dedicated double caseback system that includes an extra-thin “secret” cover and a new harmonic case made entirely of sapphire crystal, on which the gongs for the watch’s sound functions are mounted.
Made in four different variants, the first two versions offered are those that guarantee the best readability of all the information offered by the dial due to the contrasting colors.
The first of the two variants features a white gold case and an opaline black electroplated gold dial.
The second variant, on the other hand, combines an opaline beige PVD gold dial with a case also made of 18K white gold. Moving on to the last two “less readable” but, let me say “cool” versions, we find two skeletonized models above which all the hand-finished Caliber 1000 components can be seen.
One version is made with an 18-karat white gold case and a two-tone dial with gold skeletonized bridges, contrasted with black accents.
The other version, however, features the same finishing touches at the dial level, which is encased, in this case, in an 18-karat rose gold case. Rounding out the design of AP’s new ultra-complicates are a black alligator strap and an additional black textured calfskin strap covered in rubber.
Le complicazioni e il funzionamento del nuovo Code 11.59 RD#4
We now come to what is the main theme of this ultra-complicated new 2023 Audemars Piguet signature: complications.
As anticipated earlier, this new Code 11.59 encapsulates within the caliber only 8.75 mm thick, 40 functions, including 23 complications and 17 special technical devices managed through (only) three crowns and three pushers positioned on the case.
Key complications include the innovative chime, a mechanism that combines the sophisticated Grande Sonnerie with patented Supersonnerie technology, introduced by Audemars Piguet in 2015.
Thanks to the Grande Sonnerie mode, which can be selected by turning the pusher located at 2 o’clock on the case, this new Code 11.59 is able to chime the hours and quarter hours at each step without any intervention by the wearer.
In the Petite Sonnerie mode, however, the clock chimes only the hours, while the automatic chime is turned off.
Also equipped with a minute repeater mechanism, this is activated by the pusher located at 10 o’clock on the left side of the case. To optimize energy management and distribution, the striking functions are powered by an autonomous barrel that is wound by the movement of the wrist, alternating with the main barrel.
Thanks to the additional Supersonnerie mechanism, this new Code 11.59 presents a clear sound with high quality.
Turning instead to the semi-Gregorian perpetual calendar, the realization was made possible on the basis of the patented innovations of Caliber 5133 and unveiled in 2018 with the launch of the prototype Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar Automatic Extra-Flat RD#2.
Looking at the dial, we can see the big date at 12 o’clock and the year display at 4 o’clock. At 9 o’clock, on the other hand, we can see the window indicating the day and, on the opposite side, at 3 o’clock, the window indicating the month.
Thanks to the semi-Gregorian perpetual calendar mechanism, which automatically advances the day, date and year taking into account the number of days in the month, including leap years, no manual adjustment is necessary before the year 2400.
As for the moon phases, we find on the dial, between 7 and 8 o’clock, an innovative instant astronomical moon jumping system.
Calendar functions can be set by the buttons located on the case. The day and moon phases can be changed via the two pushers located on the left side of the case. The reversible date system, on the other hand, allows the date to be moved forward and backward by turning the crown at 3 o’clock in either direction. Finally, the month can be adjusted forward or backward through the crown at 4 o’clock.
Additional feature of the new Code 11.59 Ultra-Complication Universelle RD#4 is the split-seconds flyback chronograph that can be activated via the coaxial pushers on the three crowns located on the right side of the case.
The pusher at 2 o’clock starts and stops the chronograph, the pusher at 3 o’clock operates the split-seconds mechanism, and finally, the pusher at 4 o’clock activates the flyback and reset mechanisms. On the dial, the chronograph hour and minute counters are located at 3 and 9 o’clock, respectively.
Equipped with a flying tourbillon positioned at 6 o’clock on the dial, this makes one revolution every minute to correct the effect of gravity on the watch’s accuracy. Finally, through the flying tourbillon cage, it is also possible to observe the large amplitude oscillator that the Manufacture first unveiled in 2022.
Our opinion
With the recent news regarding the Code 11.59 line and, above all, with this ultra-complicated novelty, Audemars Piguet wants to send what I consider to be a clear message, namely, to highlight even more models from what is a collection that is not yet fully understood but that has nothing to envy from the maison’s other models.
Certainly for us traditionalists and lovers of iconic models, thinking of Audemars Piguet immediately brings to mind the Royak Oak. From my perspective, as much as I did not fully appreciate the Code 11.59 line at first, as time went on I began to see it in another way and appreciate it in its different facets.
Being tied to tradition is something that I consider fundamental but, at the same time, innovation is a part of the evolutionary process that I consider fundamental and that Audemars Piguet, with the new Code 11.59 Ultra-Complication Universelle RD#4 has shown us that it is capable (and big time) of doing.
Making a watch with this very high degree of complications packed into a case that is perfectly wearable every day is certainly not a given.
Thanks to the innovations and developments that have made the new ultra-complicated Code 11.59 possible, I am sure that the maison will be able to reserve for the future some interesting innovations that we will talk about, as is already happening with this new watch, which from the very beginning has intrigued the entire watchmaking world.
Price
The list price of the new Audemars Piguet Code 11.59 Ultra-Complication Universelle RD#4 is CHF 1,450,000, for dial versions. For skeletonized versions, the list price is CHF 1,600,000.
To learn more about AP visit their official website.
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