Four years in, it’s clear the Code 11. 59 by Audemars Piguet isn’t going anywhere. Sarah introduced us to yesterday’s new lineup of time-only and chronograph models, but this one’s a little more complicated. Okay, a lot more complicated.
This is the brand new Code 11. 59 Universelle RD#4. AP says its latest research and development watch is its first ultra-complicated automatic wristwatch: The Code eleven. 59 Universelle features the new AP Calibre 1000, which incorporates 40 functions, including 23 complications and 18 “technical devices. ” It’s a stunning combination of much of the R&D we’ve seen trickling out of AP since 2015 when it introduced the RD#1, and the most complicated watch to ever come from the brand.
Among the 23 complications are a Grand Sonnerie Supersonnerie, minute repeater, perpetual calendar, split-seconds flyback chronograph, and flying tourbillon. AP says the RD#4 took over seven years of development as well as incorporates the prior three R&D innovations - the Supersonnerie from RD#1, the ultra-thin perpetual calendar from RD#2, and the traveling tourbillon from last year’s RD#3. The actual Calibre 1000 has 1, 155 components - impressively, it fits this in a Code 10. 59 case that measures 42mm within diameter and also 15. 5mm in thickness. This might sound, dare I say - wearable? Okay, twenty three complications is actually cool and, but how one puts these various tricks to use might be your next logical question. For this too, AP has an answer: crown teeth and pushers have been completely rethought and reworked to make the ultra-complicated RD#4 perceptive, or at least as intuitive because 40 functions can be. There are three drivers on the left side of the midcase: the first operates once repeater (with an engraved musical note to remind you associated with its symphonic purpose), while the bottom two correct the day and date.
Meanwhile, 2 rotating “supercrowns” at a couple of and four o’clock operate the actual flyback split-seconds chronograph as you might expect, but the coaxial pushers allow for the selection of the chiming mode (that’s grande sonnerie, petite sonnerie, or silence), and for forward and backward correction from the month. Each supercrown returns to the neutral position after it’s rotated inside either direction. No correctors or tools are needed to operate any of the watch’s functions. Next, AP didn’t just take that Supersonnerie it developed back in 2015 along with slap this into a Program code 11. fifty nine case. No, it’s been revised in addition to updated so the mechanism can be used on full display. AP developed a new double caseback system which comprises a “secret” extra-thin cover and a new soundboard that’s just 0. 6mm thick plus crafted entirely of blue crystal, on which the gongs are mounted. Meanwhile, the particular “secret” cover features a series of apertures privately to let air through and even boost the sound. As for the everlasting calendar, AP built on the RD#2’s never ending calendar, that merged typically the perpetual work schedule functions onto a single plane. For the user, operation has been simplified with those drivers and “supercrowns” on the situation. A two-digit window at four o’clock even indicates the year, replacing the traditional leap year display.
The semi-Gregorian calendar thus advances day, date, together with year automatically, even taking into account the 100-year leap year corrections -- this means no manual adjustment is required before the year 2400. (Traditional continuous calendars require manual correction every 100 years because they skip the jump year when the century yr is divisible by 100 but not by 400, but this semi-Gregorian perpetual instantly skips often the leap 12 months every a century, meaning it only needs manual correction every 400 years - so yeah, you and your heirs can take a few centuries off). The traveling by air tourbillon uses the mechanism AP debuted in the RD#3 in 2022, while the flyback split-seconds wathe uses a dedicated swivel clutch system to ensure the timepiece doesn’t stutter when it starts.
Four variations of the Computer code 11. 59 Universelle will be introduced through AP throughout 2023. The first two references will feature white gold cases with either a black galvanic gold switch or opaline beige PVD gold call. The other a pair of references find useful either a pink gold or white gold circumstance and feature open-worked dials to put the La mecanique 1000 on full screen. Of course , the case has been reworked compared to the typical Code 14. 59, however at 42mm it’s only 1mm larger.
The RD#4 project was conceived and led simply by legendary watchmaker Guilio Pépé, and the pieces are produced at AP’s headquarters with Le Brassus and AP’s complications center in Le Locle in APRP (Audemars Piguet Renaud et Papi), which was founded by Papi and his partner Dominique Renaud - AP first acquired a pole in Reunaud et Grand-papa in 1992.