Introducing: The Mind-Blowing Audemars Piguet 150 Heritage Pocket Watch

We have seen quite a lot of news from Le Brassus this week, haven’t we? If you thought we were done, think again! In fact, we’re barely getting warmed up. Today, I get to introduce you to possibly the most impressive of all the new releases, the Audemars Piguet 150 Heritage pocket watch.

Now, before you hit Command-Q or Alt-F4, because pocket watches aren’t your jam, hear me out. This one comes with a mind-blowing 47 functions, at least 22 of which are traditional complications. This platinum beauty features a mechanical computer on its case back, with the ambition of bringing cultures together. Trust me, it is worth a few minutes of your time, even if you are sure you will never own one. Let’s have a closer look!

A culture-crossing, celestial source of inspiration

Timekeeping and astrology emerged in virtually all great civilizations. Whether for religious, scientific, or practical purposes, such as planning agricultural activities, humankind has always been fascinated by the skies above.

This results in a host of different calendars based on the Sun, the Moon, or both. They all share the aim of marking specific events through astronomical observations. The Gregorian solar calendar, for instance, uses Earth’s revolution around the Sun, with solstices and equinoxes marking seasons. By contrast, the Hebrew, Hindu, and Chinese Lunisolar calendars use the Moon for months and the Sun for yearly cycles. Lunar calendars, like the Islamic calendar, rely solely on the Moon.

The Audemars Piguet 150 Heritage pocket watch’s case back features a mechanical computer based on the Gregorian calendar. It features eight complications, unifying the solar, lunisolar, and lunar cycles on a single circular display. It offers 18 displays, including years, leap years, months, dates, weeks, moon phases, and seasonal markers, such as solstices and equinoxes. Lastly, it displays nine celebrations from different cultures, including Christmas, Diwali, Pesach, Ramadan, and the Chinese New Year. You can display all of this information for any year between 1900 and 2099 by turning a bidirectional wheel. The mechanism is otherwise passive and not connected to the pocket watch’s caliber.

The Audemars Piguet 150 Heritage Pocket Watch lineage

So, technically, all of that doesn’t even go into the Audemars Piguet 150 Heritage Pocket Watch itself yet. Admittedly, that’s a semantic discussion I will steer clear of, but the main housing of the watch hides even more Haute Horlogerie goodness.

We should see this new pocket watch in its proper historical perspective. The line traces back to 1899, when AP created the most complicated pocket watch at that time. The “L’Universelle” was produced for Union Glashütte. AP followed up in 1921 with another ultra-complicated pocket watch, aptly named “La Grosse Pièce” (The Big Piece) for S. Smith & Sons. Next, we jump to 2023, and the introduction of caliber 1000 in a wristwatch called RD#4. For the first time, an Audemars Piguet Ultra-Complication caliber found its way into a wrist-worn form factor.

Code 11:59 by Audemars Piguet Ultra-Complication Universelle RD#4

Today’s release builds on that caliber 1000 while putting it back into a pocket watch. Caliber 1150 takes the base of caliber 1000 and removes the automatic winding system. Next, AP reworked the pushers for optimal use in a pocket watch. The crown-pusher at 2 o’clock starts and stops the chronograph, selects the chiming mode (silence, petite sonnerie, or grande sonnerie), and activates the minute repeater via a new pull function. At 3 o’clock, the main crown-pusher manages winding, bidirectional date correction, time setting, and the split-seconds hand during chronograph operation. The pusher at 4 o’clock resets the flyback chronograph and adjusts the month forward or backward, returning to neutral after each activation for greater precision and ease of use. So, while the basic architecture remains, the new caliber 1150 took plenty of watchmaking prowess to bring to life.

Audemars Piguet 150 Heritage Pocket Watch complications

Now, I don’t usually copy information straight from a press release, but forgive me for making an exception for the Audemars Piguet 150 Heritage. AP divides the complications into two categories — complications and intuitive mechanized ergonomics. Now, the total number depends on definitions, so AP conservatively lists 22 of these as complications. Still, here is the full list of functions within each category.

Complications:
Tourbillon
Day indication
Date indication
Large date display
Month indication
Year indication, units and tens discs (semi‑Gregorian calendar)
Mechanical leap-year calculation (semi-Gregorian calendar, with indication)
Mechanical calculation of the centennial leap-year exception (100 / 400 years, with indication)
Moonphase mechanism
Moon display
Chronograph seconds indication
Chronograph minutes indication
Chronograph hours indication
Split seconds
Hour-strike repeater mechanism
Quarter-strike repeater mechanism
Grande sonnerie
Petite sonnerie
Minute repeater
Year indication, units and tens discs (universal calendar)
Mechanical leap-year calculation (universal calendar, with indication)
Centuries and millennia disc
Indication of the year (common or leap year)
Mobile leap-year annual calendar disc
Mobile lunar calendar disc
Mobile week disc
Mobile pointer for cultural celebrations
New moon pointers following the Hijri system

Intuitive mechanized ergonomics:
High-amplitude escapement
Hours and minutes display (legibility / reading ergonomics)
Bidirectional time setting
Shock protection
Quick date correction
Bidirectional date correction
Bidirectional quick month correction
Indirect quick year correction
Unidirectional quick day correction
Unidirectional quick moon correction
Start/stop chronograph mechanism (non-jumping hand)
Chronograph reset mechanism (controlled force)
Flyback mechanism
Activation / deactivation mechanism for the split seconds
Chiming “silent mode”
Chiming / display synchronization mechanism
Low-consumption vertical chiming clutch
Delay mechanism
Low-consumption lifting pieces
High-tone hammer with elastic anti-rebound stop
Low-tone hammer with elastic anti-rebound stop
Chiming lock in case of barrel depletion
Chiming isolation during time setting
Safety disengaging crown for chiming mechanisms
Unidirectional manual winding for the chiming mechanism
Quarter-silence function
Silent regulator
Resonance table
Bidirectional quick correction of the universal calendar
Crown control mechanism
Multifunction pusher at 2 o’clock
Multifunction pusher at 4 o’clock

Metiers d’art and exterior

Two Audemars Piguet 150 Heritage Pocket Watches will be built in platinum. AP will also produce a further eight in 18K white gold. Rest assured, both options will feel plenty hefty since the case measures 50mm wide by 23.4mm thick. The critical reader might feel that a 50mm case a roughly 34.3mm movement is pushing it. I would counter that AP needs all of this real estate to properly display the overload of information presented. Just have a look at that lovely mechanical computer on the case back; you wouldn’t want that to be compressed any further.

Inside the case also lies a dial rendered in translucent blue enamel with white gold Roman numerals. The backdrop is manually engraved, as is the entire case band. It features a vivid display of AP’s founders, the Vallée de Joux, and a 150th-anniversary logo. The watch comes on a handmade platinum chain.

The decorated inner case back with the bidirectional wheel for changing the year and the see-through soundboard under the sapphire display

One final detail I wish to highlight is the “Supersonnerie sapphire soundboard,” hardly visible (because transparent) through the case back. It acoustically enhances the chime while still offering an unobstructed view of the caliber below.

Closing thoughts on the Audemars Piguet 150 Heritage pocket watch

There you have it — a platinum or white gold pocket watch with a movement comprising 1,099 components, a mechanical computer, 22 complications (arguably even 60 under the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry standard), a hand-engraved case and dial, translucent enamel work, and the lofty ambition of bringing cultures together.

Hand-crafting the platinum chain

It is easy to be cynical when speaking of luxury products costing more than CHF 2,000,000. You are right to wonder whether the world needs this. Still, I am happy there is a tiny little corner of the planet where this can exist. It is a place where humankind explores the boundaries of what we can make with our hands, tools, and machines, and budgets are quickly abandoned in favor of uncompromising ambition. And while this objet d’art won’t bring us world peace, I also love seeing those celebrations united on a single calendar.

What do you think of the new Audemars Piguet 150 Heritage pocket watch? Let us know in the comments section below!