JEWELLERY 71
BUILDING ON AUDEMARS PIGUET’ S JEWELLERY LEGACY
Jewellery is closely linked to watchmaking and has long contributed to the evolution of expertise at Audemars Piguet, encouraging craftspeople to push technical boundaries and elevate artisanal expression. Since the 19th century, the Manufacture has leveraged high jewellery and metalworking métiers d’ art to break new grounds in miniaturisation, gemsetting and aesthetic refinement. The company worked hand in hand with renowned jewellers, including Tiffany, Cartier, Oscar Heyman and Bvlgari, to craft diminutive pendant, brooch and ring watches as well as avant-garde timepieces embellished with enamel, engraving and gemstones. The increasing popularity of the wristwatch in the 20th century opened up new avenues, enabling the brand’ s artisans to experiment with shapes, materials and ornamentation in unprecedented ways. One notable example is the“ Tutti Frutti” timepiece which was sold in 1929 and equipped with the Calibre 5 / 7SB, the smallest movement ever produced by Audemars Piguet. The external parts, which incorporated diamonds, emeralds, rubies as well as blue and yellow sapphires, were created by the Parisian jeweller Egouvillon Lafon & Cie Paris( Audemars Piguet Heritage Collection, Inv. 1378).
In the 1980s, the growing trend for watches with welded bracelets spurred Audemars Piguet to establish its own jewellery workshop. This enabled the company to progressively craft distinctive gem-set timepieces in-house, reaching its zenith in the early 2000s with the manufacturing of bespoke Haute Joaillerie
www. audemarspiguet. com creations and watches. The one-ofa-kind 18-carat pink gold Baroque cuff watch paved with brilliantcut diamonds and oval yellow and pink sapphires( Audemars Piguet Heritage, Inv. 1348), released in 2000 for the Manufacture’ s 125th anniversary, is typical of this era. In the following years, high jewellery watches were frequently matched with jewellery sets interweaving inventive designs with exceptional gemsetting, culminating in the Millenary Précieuse line. These creations paved the way for the brand’ s Haute Joaillerie watch collection, launched in 2013. Blending striking gemsetting with design cues inspired by the Vallée de Joux, pieces such as the Diamond Trilogy( 2015 – 2017) and the Sapphire Orbe( 2019) disrupted traditional ideas of gem-set watches.
Building on this legacy, the Manufacture continues to explore and hone jewellery techniques with the Royal Oak Joaillerie collection which embodies the brand’ s free spirit, creative mindset and commitment to uncompromising craftsmanship.
ISSUE 79 2026 THE ART OF LUXURY