Audemars Piguet’s February 2026 presentation at the AP Social Club marked a defining moment for a manufacture in conversation with its past whilst steering boldly toward the future. The Swiss Haute Horlogerie specialist unveiled an ambitious collection of novelties that traverse horological tradition, mechanical innovation, and design reinterpretation. Rather than positioning itself as a monolithic brand, Audemars Piguet demonstrated the breadth of its capabilities across four distinct watches that challenge preconceptions about what the brand represents.
The Royal Oak Chronograph 38 mm: Calibre 6401 Arrives
Five years of in-house development yielded Calibre 6401, the new selfwinding chronograph movement that anchors the reimagined Royal Oak Chronograph 38 mm collection. This represents a significant technical milestone for the 38 mm line, succeeding the Calibre 2385 that served since 1997. Unlike its predecessor, the new movement operates as an integrated column wheel chronograph with a vertical clutch system, a mechanism now patented by Audemars Piguet and simplified to reduce component count whilst eliminating unwanted play.
Three distinct references introduce Calibre 6401 to the world, each pursuing a different aesthetic narrative. The stainless steel variant carries the iconic “Bleu Nuit, Nuage 50” Grande Tapisserie dial paired with blue counters and silver grey-toned hour-markers in 18-carat pink gold. This reference embodies sports-chic sophistication rooted in the original Royal Oak’s aesthetic codes – 38.600 €. The first pink gold variant adopts a grey Grande Tapisserie dial with beige counters, where the contrast between warm gold and cool grey creates visual depth whilst maintaining legibility – 75.700 €. The third iteration combines 18-carat pink gold with a sand gold-toned dial, beige counters, and a diamond-set bezel featuring 40 brilliant-cut diamonds, offering a glamorous expression of technical refinement – 82.100 €.
All three share fundamental specifications: a 55-hour power reserve, a simple instant-jump date, and, crucially, a sapphire caseback that reveals Calibre 6401’s refined finishing for the first time in a 38 mm Royal Oak Chronograph. The dial layout shifts toward symmetry, with the minute counter now at 9 o’clock and the hour counter at 3 o’clock, whilst the date window positions itself between the 4 and 5 o’clock markers. The case retains its 11.1 mm thickness, maintaining the proportions collectors expect. Movement specifications show 348 parts, 44 jewels, and a 4 Hz frequency.
The Neo Frame Jumping Hour: Streamline Moderne Reimagined
Few modern watches channel the aesthetic language of 1930s design with such conviction as the Neo Frame Jumping Hour. Inspired by a platinum pre-model 1271 from 1929 housed in the Audemars Piguet Musée Atelier, this rectangular timepiece revives the Streamline Moderne movement, that late branch of Art Deco which drew inspiration from trains and ocean liners to create sleek, minimalist forms.
The case measures 32.6 by 34 mm in 18-carat pink gold, flanked by eight gadroons on each side extending into elegant lines that taper toward pointed lugs. This CNC-machined motif echoes across the caseback, crown, and oscillating weight, each component in matching pink gold. Exceptional precision was required to align the caseback’s lines with the lugs, ensuring visual harmony throughout.
The dial itself demanded bespoke technical solutions. Rather than employ a metal dial as the original 1271 did, this reinterpretation uses a black PVD-treated sapphire crystal with two gold-framed apertures displaying hour and minute numerals in white. To achieve water resistance at 20 metres whilst maintaining the sapphire’s visual prominence, particularly at 12 and 6 o’clock, Audemars Piguet developed a specific technique: the dial plate bonds to the sapphire crystal and screws into the case. The watch pairs with a black calfskin strap featuring a newly conceived textured motif that meets the sapphire between the lugs.
Powering this design innovation is Calibre 7122, Audemars Piguet‘s first selfwinding jumping hour movement. Developed entirely in-house and based on Calibre 7121, it combines instantaneous jumping hours with trailing minutes across a 52-hour power reserve. A patented shock-absorbing system prevents hour jumps during impact, whilst titanium for the hour disc and copper alloy for the minute disc enhance shock resistance. The movement comprises 293 parts, 43 jewels, and operates at 4 Hz. Behind the sapphire caseback, refined Haute Horlogerie finishes including Côtes de Genève and satin brushing reward inspection of the open-worked oscillating weight with its own fluting. The retail price sits at approximately 63.800 €.
The 150 Heritage Pocket Watch: Ultra-Complication Meets Universal Calendar
Where the Neo Frame Jumping Hour channels restraint and geometric precision, the 150 Heritage pocket watch embodies complexity without compromise. Limited to two one-of-a-kind platinum editions, this creation celebrates Audemars Piguet’s sesquicentennial through a watch containing 47 functions and 30 complications, though depending on classification methodology, the total might reach 60.
At the heart lies Calibre 1150, an entirely hand-wound movement counting 1,099 components and 81 jewels. Building on the core architecture of Calibre 1000 (introduced with RD#4 in 2023), this mechanism was fundamentally reimagined for pocket watch operation, with all activation mechanisms, crown-pushers and correctors, repositioned to suit the compact format. The result incorporates a Grande Sonnerie, minute repeater, semi-Gregorian perpetual calendar, split-seconds flyback chronograph, and flying tourbillon, alongside Audemars Piguet’s proprietary Supersonnerie technology and an oscillator with increased amplitude.
The dial consists of blue translucid enamel with 18-carat white gold roman numerals set against a hand-engraved backdrop. Tone-on-tone subdials feature silver-grey threads and white indications, whilst 18-carat pink gold hand-engraved hands and an 18-carat white gold split-seconds hand complete the design. The case itself demands attention: hand-engraved platinum measuring 50 mm and 23.4 mm thick. A Supersonnerie sapphire soundboard caseback reveals the movement’s intricacies whilst functioning as both aesthetic and acoustic component.
Yet the true innovation arrives through the Universal Calendar, a mechanical calculator independent of Calibre 1150, visible from the caseback and offering a panoramic view of celestial cycles across cultures. Adjustable via a bidirectional wheel synchronised from 1900 to 2099, this mechanism compiles solar, lunar, and lunisolar cycles, including nine cultural celebrations drawn from global traditions: Christmas, Saint John’s Day, Ramadan, Diwali, Rosh Hashanah, Pesach, Vesak, Easter, and Chinese New Year. The Universal Calendar dial features 18-carat white gold with hand-engraved star trails filled with blue translucid enamel. A hand-made platinum chain (approximately 40 cm) completes the package, each element celebrating the traditional métiers d’art that characterise Haute Horlogerie.
The Perpetual Calendar Openworked: Calibre 7139 and Design Harmony
Two 41 mm models debut Calibre 7139, Audemars Piguet’s new in-house selfwinding perpetual calendar openworked movement. This represents a modern interpretation of perpetual calendar complications refined through ergonomic design and traditional craftsmanship. The movement incorporates the patented crown correction system launched last year with Calibre 7138, allowing users to adjust calendar functions without tools or risk of damage through four crown positions. The perpetual calendar automatically accounts for varying month lengths and leap years, requiring manual correction only in the year 2100.
Calibre 7139 comprises 423 parts and 41 jewels operating at 4 Hz with a 55-hour power reserve. Its openworked architecture becomes apparent through sapphire dials and casebacks, where main plates, bridges, date wheels, leap year wheels, and barrels have been shaped through electrical discharge machining with all non-essential material removed. Bridges receive hand-finished V-angles accounting for over 30 hours of painstaking work per movement. The components display refined decorations: satin brushing, circular graining, snailing, and chamfering create striking contrasts and light interplay. Notably, non-magnetic balance springs are fitted to the balance wheel by hand using age-old techniques requiring substantial expertise, a task typically reserved for movements produced in limited quantities.
The Code 11.59 by Audemars Piguet variant combines 18-carat white gold with black ceramic, the octagonal ceramic case middle positioned between a round white gold bezel and caseback. All ceramic and gold components receive the Manufacture’s signature satin brushing and polished chamfers. The sapphire dial reveals the openworked movement’s dark and light grey components beneath a black inner bezel, complemented by transparent subdials at 3, 9, and 12 o’clock featuring smoked external zones. At 6 o’clock, moon phases evolve against a black aventurine backdrop. Rhodium-toned pink gold hour-markers and 18-carat white gold hands, coated with luminescent material, complete the design. The watch mounts on black alligator strap with square scales and finishes with an 18-carat white gold triple-blade folding clasp.
The Royal Oak variant unites titanium with Bulk Metallic Glass (BMG), a proprietary alloy composed of over 50 per cent palladium, offering exceptional resistance to wear and corrosion alongside a distinctive reflective sheen. The bezel, caseback, and bracelet studs employ BMG finished with mirror polish, whilst the case, crown, and bracelet links utilise titanium with satin finish. This alternation of polishing and brushing creates rich interplay of light whilst emphasising the Royal Oak’s complex architecture. Calibre 7139 takes centre stage on both sides through sapphire dial and caseback, framed by a black inner bezel with pink gold-toned thread details echoed in the hour-markers and hands.
A Manufacture Speaks to Its Communities
February’s AP Social Club announcement positioned Audemars Piguet not as a brand frozen within the Royal Oak’s shadow, but as a diversified manufacture capable of addressing distinct generational expectations. From the restraint and formal geometry of the Neo Frame Jumping Hour to the encyclopedic ambition of the 150 Heritage pocket watch, from the technical refinement of the Chronograph 38 mm to the openworked elegance of Calibre 7139, these novelties demonstrate how tradition and innovation coexist within Le Brassus.
Chief Executive Officer Ilaria Resta observed during the presentation that the brand must serve four very different generations and the data supports this strategy. Eleven per cent of Audemars Piguet’s customer database now consists of Generation Z collectors. These watches speak to this diversity: watches that reference 1929 design language, ultra-complicated pocket watches honouring a lineage stretching to 1899, and perpetual calendars incorporating cultures and traditions from around the globe. Rather than diluting the brand’s identity, this breadth of expression reinforces its commitment to staying independent, to playing the long game, and to building timepieces that endure across generations. The beat, indeed, goes on.
