Audemars Piguet Calibre 2329 Instructions For Use Manual - page 6
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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 factory’s creative
spirit 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.
1 Intr
oduction
Eng
lish
Two names for a great adventure
n 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
wristwatches for gentlemen and ladies and designed
new sophisticated, ultra-thin movements. Perseverance
and initiative were the watchwords ; the Wall Street
crash in 1929 was a bitter blow, but the company
directors were soon designing so-called skeleton
I