Royal Oak 40 Years @ From Avant-Garde to Icon

Audemars Piguet Royal Oak 40 Years global travelling exhibition arrived in Beijing at the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA) recently and held an opening gala to celebrate a journey through the origins of an iconic timepiece for 40 Years: From Avant-Garde to Icon.

After kicking off in New York, stopping in Milan then Paris and its stint here in Beijing, the exhibition will continue to its final stop in Singapore in October.The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, launched in 1972, is considered as the world’s first luxury sports watch that broke the rules of fine watchmaking and sparked a complete paradigm shift in the industry. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of this world-famous iconic timepiece, the Swiss Manufacture from Le Brassus in the Vallée de Joux has put together a unique and ephemeral global travelling exhibition.

In 1875, Le Brassus in the Vallée de Joux became the birthplace of Audemars Piguet. Today, to facilitate lovers of watchmaking from all over the world to perceive the charms of the Vallée de Joux, the three artists Sebastien Leon Agneessens, Quayola and Dan Holdsworth have used installation, photography, sound and film in the exhibition to reflect Audemars Piguet’s origins, mastery and artistry as well as to tell the stories of Audemars Piguet and the Royal Oak in an unprecedented way.

SIHH as well as those set with the finest jewelry, the most complicated watches, borrowed pieces from the private collections of the most avid watch enthusiasts and limited edition pieces one would be hard-pressed to find in the market. The exhibition in Beijing will also have the privilege to showcase for the first time the number 10/100 of the platinum edition of the Royal Oak Leo Messi limited series, launched earlier this year in three versions of 1000 pieces worldwide. The number 10/100 of the limited edition platinum models will be up for auction at the brand’s official website in December. The entire proceeds of the auction will be donated to the Foundation Lionel Messi (Leo Messi Foundation) to help educate and treat underprivileged children.

The design behind the exhibition lies in the creative hands of Sebastien Leon Agneessens, who drew his inspiration from the origins of the brand in Le Brassus to create installation works Fragments and Between Now and Then. Hundreds of tubular sticks of different heights symbolizing the lush forests of the valley area are treated as organ-like sound sculptures surrounding the exhibition. Fragmented mineral rocks typically found in the Vallée de Joux, on the other hand, are made to be the showcase. The angular and multi-faceted exterior of each of the fragments and its dark reflective metal surface inspired by the Royal Oak creates a natural contrast with the wooden interior that reflects Audemars Piguet’s long tradition and humble origins. Each of these fragmented units is a journey of discovery of the origins and savoir-faire of the brand.