Carefree Complexity: Audemars Piguet Focuses on Comfort & Ease-of-Use with Its Latest Crop of Complicated Watches

One obvious takeaway from Audemars Piguet’s presentation of its new core collection models yesterday was that ergonomics are high on the Le Brassus brand’s list of priorities. As my colleague Rhonda Riche noted in her article for those releases, refined cases housing more compact automatic movements mean the Royal Oak, Royal Oak Offshore, and Code 11.59 have rarely been so comfortable to wear and easy to use.

Today, Audemars Piguet has unveiled this year’s additions to its collection of complicated timepieces, and we can see that, once again, wearer comfort and ease of use are the dominant theme.

Despite these novelties packing a number – in some cases a plethora – of exciting horological complications, AP has prioritized UX by favoring flatter movements with automatic winding, slimmed down cases, and lightweight materials, plus clear and readable functions that are intuitively set and activated.

Here are our top three picks of AP’s complicated releases.

Nothing encapsulates this approach of “uncomplicating the complicated” as brilliantly as the new Code 11.59 by Audemars Piguet Universelle, which the brand has billed as its very first ultra-complicated automatic wristwatch.

In name and spirit, this watch pays tribute to AP’s Universelle pocket watch from 1899, whose 26 functions and 19 classic complications made it one of the most elaborate creations the brand has ever produced.
 

Well, hold on to your hat; because the new Universelle ultra-complicated wristwatch manages to fit 40 functions and 23 prestigious complications – including 17 “special technical devices” – in among its primary complications (a split-second flyback chronograph, grande sonnerie, and perpetual calendar with moon-phase display). Oh, and while not technically a complication, the Code 11.59 Universelle has a flying tourbillon because, you know, why not?
 

Amazingly though, with its elegant Code 11.59-style case, measuring just 42mm in diameter and 15.55mm in height, the new Universelle manages to retain the appearance and evoke the feel of a rather fetching two-pusher chronograph. Indeed, at first glance, you wouldn’t necessarily realize everything going on inside this comparatively compact package. But, as you will soon find out, there is, in fact, a huge amount happening here.

Although it may boggle the mind of many to learn this, nearly every primary complication of the Code 11.59 Universelle boasts at least one special feature that enhances its performance or the wearer’s experience.

Take the watch’s chiming functions, for example. The grande sonnerie, petite sonnerie, and minute repeater functions are fed by a dedicated barrel wound by kinetic wrist motion to optimize energy management and distribution.
 

Then there is a new “secret” gold caseback which improves the watch’s acoustic performance when on the wrist. Opening it reveals the movement thanks to a new Supersonnerie soundboard made from sapphire crystal, onto which the gongs are mounted.
 

The split-seconds chronograph boasts a swivel clutch to prevent stuttering hands. Meanwhile, unlike a traditional perpetual calendar, the QP mechanism incorporated into the Universelle’s movement is engineered in such a way as to require manual correction only once every 400 years (and the realistic moon phase display once every 122 years), provided, of course, the watch is kept running for that amount of time.
 

Of course, knowing how to condense a perpetual calendar into a single layer is nothing new at Audemars Piguet: The brand already showed it was possible with 2019’s Royal Oak Selfwinding Perpetual Calendar Ultra-Thin Model.
 

Presented with navy dial and counters framed by a 41mm titanium case with platinum octagonal bezel, the 2019 model measured just 6.3mm in height, made possible thanks to the 2.9mm-thin Calibre 5133 ticking on the inside.
 

Today, Audemars Piguet has added another Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar Ultra-Thin to its line-up. However, this time, it features an eye-catching blue fumé dial with black calendar sub-dials. And decorated with the sunburst motif typical of a fumé dial, the smoky blue dial captivatingly transitions from light in the center to black around the periphery.
 

For the 2023 200-piece limited edition, the case, bezel, and bracelet are all-titanium, and the surfaces are finished with the brand’s signature mix of polishing and brushing. Unsurprisingly but no less impressive, the combination of lightweight metal and ultra-thin dimensions makes the new Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar Ultra-Thin feel like it floats atop the wrist – it’s quite a feat.