MECHANICAL MASTERY

Sébastian Vivas, Heritage and Museum Director of Audemars Piguet highlights the brand’s legacy entwined amidst the walls of Musée Atelier Audemars Piguet.

Tell me a little bit about yourself.
Well, a little like Audemars Piguet (AP), which connects local to international, I was born in Switzerland, in the small city of Neuchâtel, from a Swiss mother and an Argentinian father born in Morocco, whose family is spread across many countries. More seriously, I have discovered watchmaking during my academic studies of history, during a part time job as a documentalist in the Musée International d’Horlogerie of La Chaux-de-Fonds, which owns the world’s largest library dedicated to the history of time. Then, I spent 10 exciting years at Jaeger-LeCoultre as Heritage Director, studying and communicating the history of the oldest Manufacture of the Vallée de Joux. In 2012, I moved five kilometers away to Le Brassus where I joined Audemars Piguet to replace Mr. Martin K. Wehrli, who was retiring after 42 years in the company, as the Heritage and Museum Director.

Audemars Piguet is proud to announce the public opening of Musée Atelier Audemars Piguet on 25th June 2020. Tell us why this highly anticipated Musée immerses visitors in the Swiss manufacturer’s cultural universe past, present and future.
Audemars Piguet’s oldest building, where Jules Louis Audemars and Edward Auguste Piguet set their workshop in 1875, is connected to a futuristic spiral-shaped glass pavilion, which faces the pristine landscape of the Vallée de Joux. The Musée Atelier has also been conceived as a living museum with live ateliers at the centre of the spiral to bring visitors in closer contact with our craftspeople. In our Musée Atelier, some watches are over 250 years old. They still tell the time. Today, the mechanical watches are among the last (if not the only) highly complex objects produced to work for several centuries. These objects not only tell the time, they build a bridge between the past and the future; they transmit the passion of the craftspeople who created them. As emotional objects, they reflect the identity of their owners who will pass them on to the next generations. One of the major watches exhibited in the Musée Atelier is the unique chronograph wristwatch, pre-model 1533, from 1943. Its beautifully balanced aesthetics inspired the recently launched [Re]master01, another symbol of a bridge between past and future!

How does the Musée Atelier Audemars Piguet embody the Manufacture’s free spirit and devotion to the perpetuation of Haute Horlogerie?
The past is our foundation. We have to study it, respect it and transmit it to the future generations. On the other hand, like our predecessors, the construction of the future is our constant focal point. All our projects, our lives, our energy are about building a better future. In our challenging era, we need to reinvent ourselves every day, based on what we learnt.

Which item would you like to draw our attention to from the Audemars Piguet Heritage Collection? Why?
300 masterpieces dating from the 18th to the 21st century are exhibited in the Musée Atelier, including highly complicated watches, masterpieces of design, highjewellery brooches and necklaces, as well as several world firsts. At the centre of the museum resides the so-called “Universelle” pocket watch from 1899, one of the world’s most complicated watches. It took four years for our specialized watchmakers to restore its movement, made of 1168 parts (316 screws). During this process, we managed to convince its previous owner that the best place to host this was in the museum. However, we hope that everyone, from the most experienced watch collectors to amateurs of architecture and tourists discovering our beautiful region, wherever they come from and whatever their age is, finds something that will move them. We hope that they say “wow” a few times and experience something surprising and memorable.

Do you have a preference for the type of material you like to include within the historical collections, or that stands out most within the maison’s history?
I would not say a preference but rather a difficult decision to make. The selection of the watches exhibited was a long process for the heritage team. The objective was to build the multiple narratives of a guided tour addressed to many types of visitors, from the “béotien” to the most skilled collector. Yes, the watches were selected for their intrinsic qualities: material, technics, aesthetics, rarity, condition, history. We chose “la crème de la crème”. But first of all they had to illustrate the messages and the stories we convey during the visit. After years of adjustments and re-adjustments of the selection, the heritage team spent a few days in an isolated small hotel, sticking to large walls, small pictures of each watch, reworking the narrative and giving the final touch to the selection.

Tell us why everyone should own an Audemars Piguet watch.
When our company was founded in 1875, the Swiss watchmaking sector had started its first industrialisation phase. Threatened by the American industry, the watchmakers built large mechanised factories to produce thousands of standardised timepieces. Meanwhile, our founders Jules Louis Audemars and Edward Auguste Piguet decided to follow their convictions and to craft unique pieces, most of which were equipped with complications. This original philosophy still guides us today. We are the oldest Manufacture still owned by the founding families. Thanks to this independence, we are free to trace our own path, and we have chosen to be guided by a longterm vision. We perpetuate and pass on traditional craftsmanship to the next generations, while constantly reinventing ourselves and making uncompromising choices. Our aim is not only to create extraordinary watches, but to foster the numerous talents in the company. Our strength is the people.

What plans do you have or are you developing to draw visitors to the museum, and especially in the case of Middle Eastern clients / fans of the brand?
Since the beginning of the project, our dream has been to offer each visitor an unforgettable experience. A guide will accompany the visitors and they will be in connection with our craftsmen, in a journey rhythmed by playful and didactic animations.

I enjoy travelling to the Middle East, mainly because the people of this region are still deeply attached to family values, friendship, human relations and have a wonderful sense of hospitality. In our Musée Atelier we share this sensitivity to human qualities, the tour is rhythmed by several family histories, as well as masterpieces of design, crafts and technicity, which I am confident will be highly appreciated by our Middle-East visitors.

Tell us an interesting fact about yourself that we’d be surprised to hear.
I love working on dozens of projects implying various people, including watchmakers, cabinetmakers, collectors, artists, architects, graphic designers, light engineers, museographers, digital specialists, publishers, journalists, guides, filmmakers… all animated by the same energy to create extraordinary projects. I find it highly motivating to see how an idea transforms into reality thanks to people’s enriching input and collaboration. But what fuels my motivation every day is the positive energy given by our clients, collectors, brand aficionados, when they discover and enjoy our projects, and especially our watches. This is the best reward.

“In our Musée Atelier, some watches are over 250 years old. They still tell the time. Today, the mechanical watches are among the last (if not the only) highly complex objects produced to work for several centuries.”

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