Musée Atelier Audemars Piguet Haute Horlogerie & Architectural Art

Musée Atelier Audemars Piguet - Haute Horlogerie & Architectural Art

Fashion & Jewelry - 2 December 2021

Musée Atelier Audemars Piguet

Haute Horlogerie & Architectural Art

Musee Atelier Le Brassus

Iwan Baan

Located in the small town of Le Brasse in the heart of the Vallée de Joux, the Musée Atelier Audemars Piguet is a 25,800 square metre museum that reflects the high art of Audemars Piguet watchmaking in its architecture. It is a museum, workshop and archive for the heritage of the luxury watch brand.

Located in a historic valley where many famous watchmakers worked such as Louis-Benjamin Audemars, Ami Lecoultre and Louis-Elysée Piguet. In 2014, the company management decided to build a new museum. Audemars Piguet won the renowned Danish architecture firm BIG - Bjarne Engels Group, responsible for other spectacular projects such as the LEGO House - for this project. In his interview with Architectural Digest, founder Bjarne Engels explains about his design "You have a spiral, almost like a feather, floating above your head - it's inspired by the element in the watch that stores and transmits the energy of the watch."

The Musée Atelier Audemars Piguet is a glass spiral that blends harmoniously into the landscape, almost seeming to be part of one of the watches' cogs. Visitors walk through concentric circles. Designed by the German scenographer ATELIER BRÜCKNER, the visit is characterised by crescendos, strong and contemplative moments. The facets of watchmaking are told through sculptures, automata, kinetic installations, models of complex mechanical movements and didactic tables. Just like the perfect movement of a watch, the architecture of the pavilion is a machine that functions perfectly.

Musee Atelier Le Brassus

©Musée Atelier Audemars Piguet

The spiral

The Spiral is entirely supported by its curved glass walls. The curved glazing supports the steel roof, while a subtle brass grid surrounds the outer surface to regulate light and temperature. Planting on the roof neutralises temperature fluctuations while absorbing water.

Inside the pavilion, the curved glass walls run clockwise towards the centre of the spiral and then back again: visitors traverse the building in a movement that resembles the hairspring of a clock. The distinctive and avant-garde spiral expresses the Manufacture's commitment to the environment and innovation, in both its industrial and cultural projects.

The heart of the pavilion is an exhibition of around 300 watches that recounts 2 centuries of watchmaking history in the Vallée de Joux. The exhibition is curated by the German office Atelier Brueckner, which conceived the exhibition as a musical composition. Showcase after showcase, the masterpieces of watchmaking come to life as the notes of a musical score and then culminate in the centre of the spiral with the display of the "Grandes Complications", the most complex watches produced by the company and arranged in spherical showcases inspired by the solar system.

Musee Atelier Le Brassus

©Musée Atelier Audemars Piguet

The showcases recount more than two centuries of watchmaking history and display nearly 300 watches. At the heart of the spiral are the Manufacture's historical and contemporary complication watches. Watches with striking movement, calendar and chronograph revolve around "La L'Universelle". This pocket watch from 1899 is the most complicated watch Audemars Piguet has produced to date. As a tribute to the astronomical cycles that have shaped the history of watchmaking, the watches with complications are presented in spherical display cases modelled on the solar system. The exhibition ends with a large collection of Royal Oak, Royal Oak Offshore and Royal Oak Concept.

The Founders' House, connected to the glass spiral, houses the Manufacture's registers and archives, as well as the Heritage Department, the Audemars Piguet Foundation and the Restoration Atelier. The latter has symbolically found its place at the top of the building, in the place where Audemars Piguet was born 145 years ago. The watchmakers' workbenches have been completely recreated by local craftsmen, who have been able to reproduce the look and patina of the workbenches of the time.

Musee Atelier Le Brassus

©Musée Atelier Audemars Piguet

Audemars Piguet is the oldest Manufacture of Haute Horlogerie still in the hands of its founding families (Audemars and Piguet), giving them a special position in the global watch industry. A milestone was the Royal Oak designed by Gérald Genta and presented at Baselworld 1972 during the quartz crisis. The company initiated a dialogue between creatives from different fields and created an inspired community.

Learn more:

Visitors can book a "Tour Masterclass crack history's code" or a "Guided Tour".

www.audemarspiguet.com

Musee Atelier Audemars Piguet

Route de France 18

1348 Le Brassus

Switzerland

www.museeatelier-audemarspiguet.com