Simply Abu Dhabi XIII

9 5 S I M P LY A B U DH A B I Ever since its founding in 1875, Audemars Piguet has marked the art of the striking minute repeater, long regarded as a significant part of the company’s heritage. It made the first minute-repeater wristwatch in 1892, and Audemars Piguet became one of the first manufacturers to revive the art of the minute repeater in the late 1980s after it had been overlooked for decades. What is therefore a long-standing tradition is now continued in the new Millenary Minute Repeater in pink gold: an exceptional, hand-wound wristwatch with an oval case and three-dimensional architecture that complements a sophisticated movement featuring Audemars Piguet’s own escapement, double balance spring, striking mechanism and gongs. Furthermore, the repeater mechanism’s winding system has been purpose-built for this watch, with the sliding trigger at 9 o’clock as usual, but the striking barrel at 2 o’clock. The result is a feast for the eyes, as well as the ears Its distinctively shaped case and enamel subdials beg closer inspection of the remarkable mechanism ticking within, regulated by Audemars Piguet’s proprietary ‘AP Escapement’. Inspired by the work of the French 18th century clockmaker Robert Robin, the assembly combines the high efficiency of a direct-impulse escapement with the reliability of a traditional, Swiss lever escapement, while eliminating the need to lubricate the pallet stones. What’s more, the escapement’s regulating organ is composed not just of one balance spring, but of two placed top to tail. This flat, opposite-facing double spring system ensures automatic compensation for potential poising flaws and eliminates the need for the ‘overcoil’ terminal curves. All in all, the double balance spring arrangement, combined with the single impulse mode of action on the balance wheel, ensure reduced perturbation to the regulating organ and therefore more efficiency and precision. Dynamic three-dimensional architecture Such an exceptional mechanismdeserves, of course, to be shown off. The oval-shapedMillenary case of brushed pink gold and polished pink gold bezel frame an openworked dial, revealing a wealth of hand-bevelled edges and interior angles, as well as the overall anthracite-coloured, galvanic treatment. Note, too, the beautifully ‘blued’ gong of the minute repeater, which is visible from the top as it curves elegantly around the circumference of the case – truly a calling card of Audemars Piguet’s complication maestros.

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