It is in the heart of the Vallée de Joux, a region that beats to the tune of complicated watch mechanisms, that everything started for Audemars Piguet in 1875.

The region’s natural resources—specifically the forests, water, ice and rocks from which iron ore could be extracted—provided the means for the watch industry to evolve and thrive.

To this very day, the raw nature of this rugged region with vibrant views of the clear night sky, has served as inspiration for watchmakers.

Watch mechanisms are indeed representations of the passage of time as dictated by astronomy and nature has always inspired the development of time measurement devices.

Archive photo of two watchmakers

Audemars Piguet’s watchmaking foundations were laid on this rare savoir-faire, which dates back to bygone days and has been handed down from generation to generation. Since 1875, these talented craftspeople have practiced their skills at the highest level, building on tradition while continuously pushing further the limits of their crafts to create timepieces imbued with the Manufacture’s savoir-faire and forward-thinking spirit.

The Musée Atelier Audemars Piguet in Le Brassus during winter.

The Musée Atelier Audemars Piguet immerses visitors in the Swiss manufacturer’s cultural universe past, present and future.

Sketches by Ralph & Russo

Talent Stimulates Talent opens the door onto the parallel artistic universes of luxury fashion house Ralph & Russo and Audemars Piguet, both uncompromisingly rooted in traditions and reinvention.

Chefs Roca Brothers

Introducing Talent Stimulates Talent, a journey into the worlds of chefs Roca Brothers and Audemars Piguet always striving for creativity and perfection.

Still in the hands of the founding families, Audemars Piguet is endowed with a unique spirit of independence. The founders’ visionary workmanship and uncompromising spirit have infused the brand to this day.

An engraved Audemars Piguet oscillating weight

Jules Louis Audemars (1851–1918) and Edward Auguste Piguet (1853–1919), two young and ambitious watchmakers, established their workshop in 1875 in their home village of Le Brassus. Believing in the power of the Vallée de Joux’s network of artisanship and following their firm convictions, they set on crafting unique complicated mechanisms by hand at a time when serial production was looming with the rise of industrialisation.

Jules Louis Audemars and Edward Auguste Piguet

While the two entrepreneurs first produced complicated movements that were sold to Geneva-based firms, they soon orchestrated the production of complete watches in the region by coordinating the activities of a variety of craftsmen, buying in blanks, cases, dials, bracelets and sending out pieces for gem-setting and decorating. The miniaturisation, design, assembly and setting of movements were then done at Audemars Piguet workbenches.

The company ledgers demonstrate that nearly 80% of the some 1600 watches produced by Audemars Piguet between 1882 and 1892 included at least one, if not several complications. Refined chiming, chronograph and astronomical watches, assembled and finished by hand, have remained the beating heart of Audemars Piguet ever since.

Calendar pocket watch by Jules Louis Audemars juxtaposed to a landscape of the Vallée de Joux at sunset.

A masterpiece presented by Jules Louis Audemars, co-founder of Audemars Piguet at the end of his apprenticeship, this watch reflects the grand horological traditions of the Vallée de Joux.

Audemars Piguet is more than a company. It remains independent and family owned, responsible for the transmission of knowledge and know-how to the future generations. Here in Le Brassus, where it all started in 1875.

Olivier Audemars

Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors