Audemars Piguet 3120 Instruction manual - page 6
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wristwatches as well as designing new sophisticated,
ultra-thin movements. Perseverance and initiative
were the watchwords : while the wall street crash
in 1929 was a bitter blow, the company directors
were soon designing so-called
skeleton watches before embarking
on chronograph production. but
this new momentum was abruptly
interrupted by the second world war.
re-organisation was necessary in the
aftermath of the conflict. the factory
focused on creating top-of-the-range
items in keeping with its tradition of
innovation. a strategy that would
prove its worth, especially since it
was backed by outstanding creative
daring.
audemars Piguet continued to build on its now
international reputation with creative designs.
1972 saw the launch of the royal oak, the first,
immediately successful high-quality sports watch
in steel, followed in 1986 by the first ultra-thin
tourbillon wristwatch with automatic winding. the
creative spirit of the Manufacture has not faltered
since, offering aesthetically original timekeepers
with outstanding movements. thus it brought
watches with complications back into fashion at
the end of the 1980s, launching its extraordinary
tradition d’excellence collection in 1999. all the
signs of a bold spirit rooted firmly in tradition and
auguring well for the future.
Two names for a greaT adVenTure
in 1875, two young men passionate about haute
horlogerie — jules louis audemars and edward
august Piguet — decided to pool their skills to
design and produce watches with complications in
the vallée de joux, the cradle of haute horlogerie.
determination, imagination and discipline led them
to instant success. a branch in geneva was their next
move in about 1885 and new commercial links were
forged at the 1889 Paris world exposition, where
they exhibited complication pocket watches. the
audemars Piguet factory continued to expand as
the years went by. its creations represented major
milestones in the history of haute horlogerie, like
the first minute repeater wristwatch in 1892 and
the smallest five-minute repeater movement ever
made in 1915.
from 1918 onwards, the founders passed the reins of
the business onto their sons, who in turn perfected
their expertise in manufacturing men's and ladies'