Audemars Piguet Jules Audemars Chronograph
The technical designer of the watch, Giulio Papi, said: “Except for the possible exception of the power reserve indicator, the Jules Audemars chronograph does not have any complexity.” Although the assertion is accurate, it is also an understatement. Audemars Piguet’s Jules Audemars chronograph and Audemars Piguet escapement are indeed a simple and easy-to-understand watch. But its complex, evocative design and amazing timing function combined make it the most impressive timepiece created last year. Although the Chronometer is the company’s third watch with a brand new escapement launched in 2006, it is closer to the promise of the original design than the previous version.
Audemars Piguet’s escapement is a small component that releases energy according to the beat of the balance wheel. Its layout is different from the traditional anchor design used in almost all mechanical watches. The new configuration is more energy-efficient and does not require lubricants. These two advantages provide the company’s engineers with many options. “The first idea is to use the excess energy to drive a larger, higher inertia balance wheel,” Papi explained. “This is what we did in Cabinet No. 5 [2006] with some success. The second idea is to increase the frequency of the watch, which was impossible in the past because the lubricant would fly off the parts. go.”
The Jules Audemars astronomical clock has a speed of 43,200 beats per hour (6 Hz), which is much higher than any production watch. The effect is dramatic. After the initial assembly, the first batch of chronometer watches lost only two seconds a day, which is many times better than the COSC-certified chronometer watches. Customers can pay an additional fee to request further adjustments to the watch: a special manual adjustment process may take up to two months to achieve a higher level of accuracy.
Although the open movement architecture seems to have a lot in common with Cabinet No. 5 and its successor, the “Golden Millennium”, the inspiration is quite different. Octavio Garcia and Papi led the design team for three projects of Audemars Piguet, with the aim of making the work recall the aesthetics of vintage marine chronographs. Design cues, such as the traditional shapes and numbers on the enamel dial, are combined with new colors and treatments. In general, the quality of the finishes demonstrated by the internal bevels, the guilloches on the main board, and the mirror black polished areas are designed to highlight the company’s watchmaking capabilities; it does so most effectively. high quality copy watch