|
 There is a
British legend according to which King Charles II trying to escape from his
pursuers, holed up in the hollow of a huge oak-tree. Since that time oak-trees have
become a symbol of royal court, a regal tree. That is why the name of the tree was
given to the most prominent ships of the British Royal Navy. The watches which became
a standard of Audemars Piguet were awarded the name «Royal Oak». The watch had
an octagonal-shaped case with eight hexagonal screw bolts resembling sea gun
port. The «Royal Oak» collection was elegant and manly at the same time, and
turned out to be one of the most famous watch collections in the world,
virtually a trademark of Audemars Piguet Watch Company.
The collection
included several absolutely different watches like «Royal Oak Jubilee» with an ultra-thin
self-winding mechanism, «Royal Oak Offshore» with a self-winding mechanism with
21-carat golden rotor, «Royal Oak Offshore» (striking) using case elements of
non-polished metal, which distinguished it from the classic «Royal Oak» watch, and
this item features collision-protecting synthetic laying and a magniglass
allowing to discern dials indicating the date and other information.
Well, let's
put aside the old legends when new ones appear. In fact, the "Royal Oak
Offshore» collection was created specifically for the Terminator II: Judgment Day
and Terminator III: Machines ‘Revolt, and after the pictures had a huge
box-office success the watch workshop released extra models bearing the engraved
signature of ‘iron Arnie' on the cap. By the way, Arnold Schwarzenegger has remained
a dedicated fan of Audemars Piguet for many years.
But let's
return to the beginning, when Jules-Louis Audemars and Edward-Auguste Piguet have
founded the Audemars Piguet Company and decided that the former would be a
manufacturing director and the latter - a manager. Today, this division of power
is still preserved by the families owing the company. Today, almost a century afterwards,
the situation is the same. To the present day, the company adheres to the philosophy
of its founders: only by using latest industrial methods high quality in
manufacturing of unique chronometers can be achieved.
From the time
of the foundation, the Audemars Piguet Company has been a pioneer in the sphere
of high-precision watch manufacturing. All its products are hand-made on the
factory in Le Brassus (about 15.000 items a year) in line with the traditional
designs typical of this trademark. The watches are made of high-quality materials.
And the specific feature of Audemars Piguet watches is their ultra-thin clock
mechanism speaking for the high technical level and the compactness of the
watches. In 1925, masters of the company were the first to make the thinnest pocket
watch (1.32 mm
thin), in 1946 - the thinnest wristwatch with the 1.64 mm thin mechanism, and
in 1967- the thinnest self-winding clock mechanism (2.45 mm) with 21-carat
golden rotor.
In 1992, the
Audemars Piguet Company created a new collection of chronographs, «Triple
Complication», with the hand-built self-winding mechanism, 52 diamonds and 18-carat
golden rotor placed in the 8.55
mm thin case. The watches of this collection remain one of
the most functional watches in the world as they have 20 various functions,
day, date, month and lunar phase indicators, hand-built clock mechanism of 600 elements,
a perpetual almanac automatically monitoring usual and leap years.
However high
achievements in accuracy, reliability and thinness of Audemars Piguet watches might
be, one should not forget about beautiful classical models for men and
intricate designs of stylish watches for ladies. Audemars Piguet ladies' watch
collections are intended for women looking for rare and discreetly
sophisticated timepieces. Tourbillons and chronographs, precious metals and
sparkling diamonds united in delighting these feminine devotees of the watch
making art. Leather straps of various designs would adorn the wrist of any
noble lady. And high quality of the watches allows a business lady to always be
in time.
|
