The Audemars Piguet Beyond the Catalogue
The Code 11.59 by Audemars Piguet Grande Sonnerie Carillon Supersonnerie “150th Anniversary”, sits at the far end of Audemars Piguet’s complicated watchmaking. Created for the maison’s 150th anniversary, it combines 18-carat sand gold and black ceramic with a sapphire dial that leaves the hand-wound Calibre 2956 almost entirely exposed. The architecture is deliberately open: bridges, gears and the chiming mechanism remain part of the visual composition rather than being hidden beneath a conventional dial. At 41 mm and 13.5 mm thick, the case keeps the proportions restrained while the movement provides the real point of distinction. This is a Code 11.59 defined less by recognition than by what an experienced collector can read beneath its surface.
Calibre 2956 contains 498 components and combines Grande Sonnerie, Carillon, Petite Sonnerie and minute repeater functions in a single architecture. In Grande Sonnerie mode, the watch automatically strikes the hours and quarter-hours, while the Carillon configuration uses three hammers and three gongs to produce three distinct tones. Petite Sonnerie offers a quieter striking sequence, while silent mode disengages the chiming mechanism entirely. The minute repeater can be activated on demand. At the centre of the construction is Supersonnerie, Audemars Piguet’s acoustic architecture developed with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, in which the gongs are connected to a dedicated soundboard rather than directly to the movement’s main plate. The result is a complication where the technical architecture is as important to the collector as the exterior.
For the collector operating at this level, is significant precisely because its appeal is not immediately obvious. Sand gold, black ceramic, sapphire and a 498-component chiming movement bring together materials and complications that reward familiarity rather than recognition. The transparent dial turns the movement into the watch’s defining element, while the anniversary execution gives the architecture a specific place within Audemars Piguet’s history. It belongs to the part of watch collecting where rarity is measured not simply by visibility, but by technical depth, specialist knowledge and the ability to recognise what sits beyond the catalogue’s more familiar pieces.
Audemars Piguet — OFFICIAL WEBSITE
© Audemars Piguet