Audemars Piguet

PuristSPro visits Audemars Piguet Renaud & Papi

 

ap.watchprosite.com

APRP is located in LeLocle, Switzerland

And the head man, Giulio Papi

I have been fortunate to meet Giulio on several occasions.  As with the previous meetings, Giulio makes mention of the fact that all new designs and studies are created by hand, and he has the sketches to prove it

Development and construction documents are then created using CAD software.  Here we see the drawing for the movement inside the Royal Oak Extra Thin Tourbillon

To hear Giulio speak about the many steps and studies that go into analyzing a design is incredible

In some instances, large scale models are created to assure the integration of parts and viability of a design

How about a few Royal Oak Concept GMTs...

Such a beautiful movement

It is very easy to see how passionate Giulio Papi is about his work.  He is a very hands on individual.  When Giulio walks through the various workshops at the facility, it is if he is on the very same level as all of his watchmakers (who incidentally, are primarily young in age).  He engages the workers and is like a peer, not a boss.

Back to the Royal Oak Extra Thin Tourbillon we saw in design stage, here we see a watchmaker about to fit the back plate to the movement

Precision work

I watched this woman meticulously examine the brush strokes and bevel on a piece she was polishing

Here she makes a pass over a flat area

And next a beveled area, all by hand under her watchful eye

To complete this part...

And then repeat the process again

There are countless state of the art machines at APRP

And raw materials to work from

Beautiful

And of course, you see special watches on the workers too.  Keen eyes will immediately recognize Giulio Papi's Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar in steel and platinum, a watch he wears daily

Forged carbon / ceramic 44mm Royal Oak Offshore

Even a Jumbo on the wrist of a dear Friend

And can you ever beat a white dial Royal Oak Chronograph?

I would like to thank Audemars Piguet, Giulio Papi, and all of the talented workers at APRP for making our visit possible.  We are very fortunate to receive such a detailed look inside one of the finest watchmaking manufactures in the world.

This message has been edited by MichaelC on 2014-07-07 16:52:33