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<\/a><\/p>\nThis design reveals the back of the (Calibre 1150) calibre and the world calendar mechanism, showing the inner surface of the hidden decoration in the back cover, which also acts as a sound enhancer<\/p>\n
The 150 Heritage is a two-part horological object: the pocket watch houses Calibre 1150 and its ultra-complicated timekeeping functions, while the cover of the secret caseback contains the independent Universal Calendar, a separate mechanical system devoted to solar, lunar, and lunisolar cycles. Together, they allow Audemars Piguet to unite traditional high complication with a broader astronomical and cultural reading of time in a single creation.<\/p>\n
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And just as noteworthy is the watch\u2019s devotion to m\u00e9tiers d\u2019art. Hand-engraved platinum, Grand Feu enamel, engraved numerals reflect a commitment to artistic crafts. In preserving these endangered crafts, Audemars Piguet\u00a0 perpetuates entire languages of human skill, patience and beauty. The pocket watch asserts that haute horlogerie is not just mechanically brilliant, but profoundly human at its core. And, yet, in creating this masterpiece, Audemars Piguet expresses profound respect for the wearer, by ensuring that the design is user-friendly and ergonomic. You do not need to carry a user manual or miniature keys and tools in your other pocket, to harness its incredible time-telling.<\/p>\n
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The manual-winding calibre (Calibre 1150) consists of 1099 components and provides a power reserve of approximately 60 hours<\/p>\n It started with a sketch\u2026<\/p>\n Giulio Papi, the brand\u2019s Director of Watch Conception, recalled how the pocket watch was initially conceived and created:<\/p>\n \u201cAt the end of 2023, I showed Ilaria Resta, Chief Executive Officer of Audemars Piguet, a simple sketch.\u201d<\/p>\n Resta laughs at that. \u201cIt was not simple!\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Papi\u2019s initial draft proposed something ambitious: a pocket watch with \u201ca kind of analogue mechanical computer to link different calendars\u201d \u2013 lunar, solar and lunisolar. A system capable of visually combining traditions developed on continents and sometimes years apart.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n This \u2018computer\u2019 (a.k.a the Universal Calendar) is housed within the caseback cover, with Calibre 1150 on the other side. Essentially, the 150 Heritage comprises two separate mechanisms, each working independently of the other.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The world calendar dial combines solar, lunar, and lunisolar cycles into a single display. The outer ring indicates the months and the sequence of seasons, while the inner ring provides information on dates, weeks, moon phases, and cultural events<\/p>\n The Universal Calendar<\/p>\n As a species that has made measuring time a cornerstone of our lives since the dawn of civilization, the sheer scale and diversity of the solutions we have arrived at in our attempts to do so is nothing short of astonishing. From the earliest simple sundials to complex calendrical systems founded on the natural rhythms and cycles of nature, our cultures are organised around looking to the stars and segmenting our seasons in months and days which are then split down to seconds, minutes and hours. Solar calendars, such as the Gregorian system, aligned civil time (which is man-made and an approximation) with the Earth\u2019s revolution around the Sun, whilst lunar ones tracked the waxing and waning of the Moon. Lunisolar calendars incorporated both.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n With the (Calibre 1150), Audemars Piguet based its fundamental structure on the (Calibre 1000) calibre, reimagining and adapting it specifically for a pocket watch<\/p>\n The 150 Heritage unites the diversity of some timekeeping traditions explored for millennia in a single timepiece. Through its Universal Calendar, it brings together the different systems through which humanity has sought to understand time, honouring these overlapping traditions and offering a poetic meeting point between artistry, culture and science. What Audemars Piguet achieves with the Universal Calendar by placing the different calendars side by side, is also to demonstrate that different traditions are often variations of the same astronomical observation.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The Universal Calendar spans two centuries \u2013 from 1900 to 2099 \u2013 with a single rotation corresponding to a complete Metonic cycle . (The Metonic cycle is a period of 19 years that aligns lunar and solar cycles, resulting in the moon\u2019s phases repeating on the same calendar dates. It consists of 235 lunar months, which corresponds to 19 solar years. This cycle is crucial for creating and maintaining a lunisolar calendar, as it helps reconcile the different lengths of the lunar and solar years.)<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n With the (Calibre 1150), Audemars Piguet based its fundamental structure on the (Calibre 1000) calibre, reimagining and adapting it specifically for a pocket watch.<\/p>\n It presents 18 indications: year, leap years, months, dates, weeks, moon phase and seasonal markers, such as solstices and equinoxes and nine cultural celebrations. Some celebrations are based on the Sun \u2013 Christmas (Sol Invictus) and Saint John\u2019s Day (Inti Raymi); some on the Moon \u2013 the beginning of Ramadan; and others are lunisolar, including Diwali, Rosh Hashanah, Pesach, Vesak, Easter and the Chinese New Year. It is adjustable via a simple turn of the bidirectional wheel that instantly makes all the corresponding indications change. Its display is organised in concentric rings. Around it sit two fixed outer rings: the outermost marks the solstices and equinoxes, while the next combines the months, dates and weeks. Dates are shown in five-day intervals, with red hash marks indicating the start of each month, allowing different month lengths to be read without interrupting the ring. Inside this construction, a rotating ring shows the numbered weeks of the year. It advances incrementally when the calendar is adjusted, including leap years, so the week count stays aligned. A second rotating ring tracks the lunar cycle, with alternating new moon and full moon symbols, positioning the moon phases against the fixed date scale for the selected year.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The \u2018Audemars Piguet 150 Heritage\u2019 watch with a world calendar, which unites solar, lunar and lunisolar time into one integrated display<\/p>\n The beating heart of 150 Heritage<\/p>\n Calibre 1150 is a hand-wound variation that builds on the architecture of Calibre 1000 (RD#4) but reimagines technical solutions for the pocket watch format. Finished by hand, with inward angles, openworked bridges and high-polished surfaces, the movement contains 1,099 components. Calibre 1150 showcases the technical mastery of Audemars Piguet across 40 functions, including 22 complications that are displayed on the main dial. The 22 complications total one fewer than Calibre 1000, because it replaces automatic winding with manual winding. It retains an impressive suite of mechanisms and reads like a Who\u2019s Who of watchmaking achievements: Grande and Petite sonnerie, Supersonnerie, minute repeater, flying tourbillon, semi-Gregorian perpetual calendar (day, large date, month, year, astronomical moon, moon phases), flyback chronograph, split-seconds, hours and minutes.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Its calendar is described as semi-Gregorian: unlike standard perpetual calendars, which follow the Julian rule of a leap year every four years, Calibre 1150 correctly treats century years as common years. However, it does not apply the full Gregorian correction that restores a leap year every 400 years, meaning it will require adjustment in 2400.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n This is achieved through a 36-month programme wheel rather than the usual 48. February is fixed at 28 days, while a separate leap-year cam extends it to 29 days every four years. Once per century, an additional lever blocks that correction so century years not divisible by 400 remain common years. The architecture is compact, with the year display driven directly from the secular gear train, while paired-tooth pinions allow month and date to be adjusted both forwards and backwards.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The world calendar can display dates for events such as Christmas, Ramadan, St. John\u2019s Day, Diwali, Easter, and Chinese New Year, for any year from 1900 to 2099<\/p>\n To reduce height, the perpetual calendar follows the logic of the RD#2 by combining functions that are traditionally spread across several layers. The date and month wheels each serve as both gears and cams, allowing them to be driven while also governing calendar corrections.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The moonphase display is similarly inventive. Instead of a conventional two-moon disc, Calibre 1150 uses two concentric discs carrying partially illuminated and shadowed forms. Together, they create 10 more realistic lunar phases.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The grande et petite sonnerie and minute repeater benefit from Audemars Piguet\u2019s Supersonnerie technology. Here, the gongs are mounted on a sapphire crystal soundboard between the movement and caseback, amplifying resonance while leaving the calibre visible. The striking mechanism was also refined to eliminate the dead time often heard between hours and minutes when no quarters are struck.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n At 6 o\u2019clock is a flying tourbillon with a free-sprung balance beating at 3 Hz, fitted with the tourbillon lever escapement first seen in the RD#3. Reworked geometry improves shock recovery, isochronism, and tolerance for high amplitudes without sacrificing reliability. The lateral-clutch, flyback, split-seconds chronograph is carried over from Calibre 1000, though here the rotor and automatic winding system have been removed.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n A very accurate display of the phases of the moon, thanks to two concentric discs. One disc holds a portion of the illuminated surface, while the other holds the shape of the complementary shadow<\/p>\n Designed for intuitive use<\/p>\n Yet despite all of the achievements contained within its stunning platinum case, Calibre 1150 exemplifies strict respect for user-friendliness.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cUltra-complication\u201d in watchmaking can sometimes imply more functions and more displays, but the 150 Heritage doesn\u2019t seek to put its wearer through a cosmic wringer in order to reveal its time-telling prowess. Quite the opposite \u2013 a core of the design approach was to ensure ease of use. Calibre 1150 is designed for intuitive operation. Just three crown pushers (repositioned and consolidated to preserve ergonomic clarity) and two discreet correctors (concealed within the caseback, accessible through a dedicated push-piece) control all functions: the pusher at 2 o\u2019clock operates the chronograph, sonnerie selection, and minute repeater; the bow-fitted crown-pusher at 3 o\u2019clock handles winding, time-setting, bidirectional date correction, and split-seconds control; and the pusher at 4 o\u2019clock resets the flyback chronograph and adjusts the month. Two hidden correctors inside the caseback set the weekday and moonphase. As with the RD#4, the achievement lies not only in mechanical density, but in making that density remarkably user-friendly.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The dial is made of 18-karat white gold, and it embodies the finest artistic craftsmanship, adorned with a transparent blue Grand Fou thermal enamel coating and hand-engraved patterns<\/p>\n Putting comfort and intuitive ergonomics at the heart of the experience is a pillar in the brand\u2019s approach to mechanical development:<\/p>\n \u201cWe deliver usable functions \u2013 complexity that is useful, user-friendly, easy to read and easy to use with ergonomic mechanisation,\u201d says Papi. \u201cWe want to avoid a race to make the highest number of complications. Our idea is to create complexity but make it easy to use. The key sentence is: \u201cThe last stage of complexity is simplicity.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The Manufacture has spent years refining what it calls \u201cmechanised ergonomics,\u201d and it is expressed through the user experience. Crown-pushers have been: \u201coptimised through 3D modelling to enhance tactile comfort and ease of use, while also ensuring each element is perfectly centred when the pocket watch is closed\u201d, in other words: designed to be worn and used rather than simply admired.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis is maybe the most important point, what we call mechanised ergonomics: an invisible mechanical system that makes the watch user-friendly, so you can use it without a manual,\u201d adds Papi. This is how AP will approach its future developments \u2013 making them accessible and simple to use to enhance the experience for the wearer.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Every detail of the platinum case, which is 23.4 mm thick, was engraved by hand by exceptionally skilled craftsmen<\/p>\n M\u00e9tiers d\u2019art sketch<\/p>\n A sense of temporal and cultural magnitude is expressed by the watch\u2019s decoration. The platinum case is entirely hand-engraved, its surface transformed into a commemorative canvas depicting Audemars Piguet\u2019s founders, complete with anniversary emblems and celestial motifs. The main dial, crafted in 18-carat white gold, is finished with translucent blue Grand Feu enamel, fired repeatedly to achieve depth and luminosity, while engraved Roman numerals and star-trail motifs echo the astronomical theme. Even the chain, handmade in platinum, is a reminder that this creation belongs to a tradition of pocket watches as complete, self-contained works \u2013 celebrating traditions that characterise haute horlogerie.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Audemars Piguet has made just two unique platinum 150 Heritage pocket watches (one of which is destined for the Mus\u00e9e Atelier Audemars Piguet). Eight in 18-carat white gold will also be created.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The handcrafted platinum chain reminds us that this work belongs to the heritage of pocket watches as a complete and independent masterpiece, celebrating the traditional craftsmanship that characterizes Audemars Piguet\u2019s fine watchmaking arts<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n