Continuing with the development of the CODE 11.59 collection, Audemars Piguet has just released the Grande Sonnerie Carillon Supersonnerie ref. 26397BC.OO.D002CR.01, each endowed with a unique bespoke enamel dial crafted by Anita Porchet and her atelier. These refined wristwatches pay tribute to generations of craftspeople who have continuously leveraged pioneering technologies, while never losing sight of their ancestral craftsmanship. Chiming watches bring us back to the origins of time measurement devices: invented in the 14th century, striking clocks chimed time exclusively as they were devoid of dials. Audemars Piguet has specialized in chiming mechanisms since its establishment in 1875 and crafted complex Grande Sonnerie, Petite Sonnerie and Minute Repeater mechanisms ever since.

Today, only a handful of specialized watchmakers at Audemars Piguet are trained to assemble and adjust a Grande Sonnerie, which is considered as one of the most sophisticated complications in the history of Haute Horlogerie.

Things to Know About the Watch

To celebrate the complexity and rarity of Grande Sonnerie watches, Audemars Piguet has collaborated with renowned Swiss enameler artisan Anita Porchet on a trilogy of “Grand Feu” paillonnée enamel dials. Anita created a trilogy of enamel dials decorated with paillonns —antique gold spangles— over a century old, seamlessly blending ancestral savoir-faire and contemporary design.

Anita Porchet’s artistic work and know-how have been praised by some of the most respected Haute Horlogerie manufacturers in Switzerland, her refined enamel dials adding an artistic touch to the complicated timepieces they adorn. For the remaining two pieces, clients have the possibility of requesting a personalized enamel dial crafted by Anita Porchet’s atelier. Housed in a white gold case measuring 41 mm in diameter, the new CODE 11.59 Grande Sonnerie Carillon Supersonnerie is yet another new leaf in the saga for this newish collection by AP.

Each “Grand Feu” enamel dial is unique due to the organic nature of its materials, as well as the hand manufacturing technique and distinctive cooking time. A thin layer of glass sand mixed with water is applied by hand on the gold dial, before being heated at more than 800°C in a dedicated oven. The procedure is repeated multiple times to achieve remarkable transparency, depth and light. Each cooking session necessitates different temperatures and times; a perilous procedure requiring extensive knowledge of color alchemy. Then, each paillonn —spangle— was meticulously cut and curved in thin gold leaves with antique tools and techniques—a craft no longer perpetuated today. The enameler has carefully incorporated each spangle by hand onto the dial’s enameled plate before fusion in the oven. The dial is then covered with a thin layer of transparent enamel for a mirror polish finishing.

By revisiting this antique paillonnée enamel decoration in the contemporary context of the Audemars Piguet CODE 11.59, Anita Porchet echoes the interweaving of traditional savoir-faire and forward thinking at the heart of the Manufacture’s craftsmanship. For Anita Porchet, as for Audemars Piguet’s finishing experts, perfection is in the details and the tiniest nuances are often invisible to the eye.

“What fascinates me with this craft, is the 360-degree of possibilities and creations it offers, like a painter in front of a blank canvas. By collaborating with Audemars Piguet, I benefited from a larger freedom in the exploration and contemporary reinterpretation of the ancestral ‘paillonnée’ technique, which has provided me with an enriching vision.”

Anita Porchet, Swiss Enameler

The Movement

Powering the Audemars Piguet CODE 11.59 Grande Sonnerie Carillon Supersonnerie is the new manual wound movement, calibre 2956, which unites the traditional Grande Sonnerie complication with the patented Supersonnerie technology introduced by the manufacture in 2015 in the Royal Oak Concept Supersonnerie. This complex calibre of 489 components testifies to Audemars Piguet’s uncompromising spirit.

A Grande Sonnerie timepiece not only strikes the hour, quarters and minutes on request as a traditional minute repeater would do. Like a bell tower, it can also strike the hours and every quarter hour by default, without any involvement from the wearer. A Carillon means that the Grande Sonnerie Supersonnerie is endowed with 3 gongs and hammers instead of 2 on a standard chiming watch and therefore strikes the quarter hour with three successive notes —high, middle, low— instead of only two. In the Petite Sonnerie position, the watch chimes the hours only, while the automatic chiming is deactivated in the silent mode. As for the minute repeater mechanism, it can be activated by the wearer at any time.

The added Supersonnerie mechanism grants this complicated wristwatch the acoustic performance of pocket watches. This patented technology is the result of 8 years of research in collaboration with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne —EPFL. Inspired by the sonic power of older minute repeater watches as well as by the harmony of musical instruments, a dedicated community of watchmakers, technicians, academics and musicians reviewed the case construction to produce a new chiming technology. The Supersonnerie’s acoustic power, sound quality and harmonic tone are granted by patented gongs and case construction. The gongs are not attached to the mainplate, but to a new device acting as soundboard, which improves sound transmission. This innovative Supersonnerie technology also provides a sharper tempo. Hand-decorated to the slightest detail with refined finishing techniques, calibre 2956 further blends tradition and innovation while providing a power reserve of 48 hours.

“The Grande Sonnerie is the acme of chiming watches. Like an orchestra, the synchronization of components has to be perfect to guarantee the automatic chiming
of the hours and quarters. It took us 4 years to meet the challenge of combining this traditional mechanism with our Supersonnerie technology, which we endowed with the Carillon function —3 gongs.”

Lucas Raggi, Audemars Piguet Development Director

The new Audemars Piguet CODE 11.59 Grande Sonnerie Carillon Supersonnerie with Paillonnée Dials is available in a limited edition of five pieces with three watches that have already been designed by Anita Porchet, and two remaining pieces where clients have the possibility of requesting a totally personalized enamel dial crafted by Anita Porchet’s atelier.

Sticker Price CHF 710,000 Swiss Francs —approximately $775,000 USD. For more info on Audemars Piguet click here.