Audemars Piguet

A visit at the new AP headquarter in Madrid

 

As you may know, Audemars Piguet closed its boutique in Madrid which was located calle Don Ramon de la Cruz (there was a LE dedicated to this boutique if you remember well). Of course, for Audemars Piguet, losing the ability to have direct contacts with clients of the Spanish market was not an option. The former headquater was located on top of the boutique so the brand had to find a new place for its office. Moreover, the boutique had a large service team, several watchmakers were working on it. So the idea came to combine several objectives for the future headquarter:

- to be the administrative center of the brand in Spain (Antonio Seward who is CEO of Audemars Piguet Iberia is also CEO of Audemars Piguet France)
- to gather the watchmakers at the same place to improve the efficiency of the after-sales service department
- and of course, to setup a show-room in order that friends and customers of the brand can discover the novelties in an appropriate atmosphere.

The new headquarter is located calle Marques de Villamejor, in the "Barrio de Salamanca", the elegant district of Madrid, not very far from the address of the former boutique. The building was designed by a famous Spanish architect, Antonio Palacios. Palacios also created the Palace of Communication in Cibeles Square who became a few years ago the new City Hall of Madrid.

This building was constructed in 1908 so it was not a big surprise for me to find in the common property and in the floor dedicated to Audemars Piguet a lot of modernist details. In a sense, the building made me think about some blocks which can be found in Barcelona.

The frontage of the building:

A small carriage could enter the building and go around the central part:


Let's enter Audemars Piguet headquarter now!



Each detail was designed to create a comfortable atmosphere for the visitors. Here is the waiting-room, a true living-room. CEO's office is located on the right:


You enter CEO's office by opening the glass door. The glass is decorated with a very elegant pattern:


You discover some displays. Obviously, this room can be used to organise a small event, to gather a small group of guests:




View of the waiting-room from the CEO's office:


The beautiful windows of the building, the other building on the other side of the street isn't bad either...


This is the main meeting room. It is decorated with a picture which was used for the 40 years anniversary of the Royal Oak exhibition. Don't you have the impression that a small part of the Brassus was moved to Madrid?




 
Some AP ambassadors are watching you!





This sketch by Octavio Garcia makes me think about a watch...

Of course, I took advantage of my visit to handle some watches. AP is one of my fav brands so I couldn't miss this opportunity.

I decided to have a look at 4 watches which give, in my point of view, a good overall picture of what is the current AP collection.

Let's start with this ROO Schumacher LE!

It is a watch I appreciate a lot: even the prominent pushers seduce me. The watch has a strong character and the references to Michael Schumacher, like the 7 stars on the dial remain sober:

The movement is a modular chronograph based on the in-house 3120 which powers the chronograph module. The consequence is that the see-through back doesn't show more than a 3 hands watch. Anyway, I like the rotor finishing and colour.

The Schumacher on the wrist:

We stay in the world of LE with the RO Leo Messi chronograph. We recognize it at first glance due to the absence of the mega-tapisserie pattern on the dial.

It is a very elegant chronograph, especially with this PG case. The tantalum bezel combines perfectly with PG.

The watch is based on the new RO chronograph which features an enlarged case (41mm). The movement is here the FP 1185.

The two LE together:

Powerful or elegant, the choice is yours!

The eternal question with the RO Leo Messi is to know if the mega-tapisserie is not mandatory for a Royal Oak watch. I'm not able to answer such question. The only thing I can say is that at least, the RO Leo Messi proposes a different aesthetical approach and that the "flat" dial works well in this elegant context. Moreover, the applied indexes bring the feeling of volume which was required.

RO Leo Messi on the wrist:

Do you remember Octavio's sketch? So here comes the real thing.

The ChronAP is a stunning watch. Each time I have the opportunity to see it, I don't miss it.

I love it because it embodies a lot of Giulio Papi's ideas: the high frequency, the stability of the behaviour of the watch, the stunning front side with the different layers...

The ChronAP is a hypnotizing watch.

I spoke about the front side but the back side is a perfect exemple of what a high-end movement has to be: a wonderful lay-out, superlative finishings which enhance the technical perfection... we are here in another world, the top of the hill at AP...

The ChronAP on the wrist:

I would like to finish the report with the symbol of the brand, the Jumbo, here with its latest version.

I was seduced by this new version when it was presented last year at the SIHH. For several reasons:

- the AP logo found its initial place
- the date window had a similar colour than the dial (I know that there are pros and cons about this detail)
- the folding clasp is very comfortable, at least, on my wrist.

But on the other hand, I was not very happy with the design of the winding rotor. I found the previous one so charming that the new  geometric design was a disappointment for me.

The superb dial of the RO:

RO on the wrist:

With this Jumbo, I put an end to the report.

I wished to give you the proof that for Audemars Piguet, Spain and more globally Western Europe remain important areas in its strategy of development despite the crisis. The beauty of this headquarter and the improved efficiency of the service team are excellent indicators of this ambition.

I would like to thank a lot the whole team of Audemars Piguet Spain for its warm welcome and the time they spent with me. It was a pleasure to visit these beautiful premises.

Fx


This message has been edited by foversta on 2013-06-09 14:28:18