The Audemars Piguet [Re]master01

Audemars Piguet has released a new chronograph that takes its inspiration from early 20th century chronographs produced by the manufacture. It will most likely not be everyone’s cup of team, but it definitely packs a punch.

Audemars Piguet did not produce many chronographs during the history of their brand, especially not ones that look like the watch we will are showing you today. Audemars Piguet has reported that 307 chronographs were produced by the manufacture. The [Re]master01’s design comes from the chronographs Audemars Piguet produced in the 1940’s. When one thinks of chronographs during this time period, one thinks of smaller dial sizes, simplistic dial layouts and definitely a beautiful looking watch.

The inspiration

The [Re]master01

This chronograph measures 40mm in diameter which seems to be the sweet spot for many collectors today. The case is two toned; the case-back and lugs are in steel and bezel, crown and chronograph pushers are in pink gold. The pink gold gives the watch a different type of shine which meshes well with the golden-yellow dial. The hours and minutes stick hands stand out nicely, but the blued steel chronograph hands make one reminisce of traditional watchmaking. There is an hours chronograph counter at 3 o’clock and a 30 minute chronograph counter at 9 o’clock. The minutes counter even has a ‘45’ minute mark in red that was used to time the halves of a football match - how very Swiss! It even has the old Audemars Piguet signature which shows Audemars Piguet’s dedication to making the watch as close to the original as possible.

The watch runs on the in-house caliber 4409 which is in fact a modified 4401 which was used in the controversial Code 11.59. This watch shows the strength that Audemars Piguet has to innovate and create very interesting watches. Even though they are taking their inspiration from something they produced in the past, they packaged it in something that fits with modern watch collecting. Furthermore, using a modified movement from Code 11.59 which was not as well received shows that their move to produce 11.59 was way beyond just making a single watch. It was setting the brand up for many more moves in the future.

Enjoy!