The splendid automatic chronograph by Audemars Piguet that I present to you today, brings the aesthetics of the past back to the present: the [Re] master01 Automatic Chronograph reinterprets one of Audemars Piguet’s rarest wrist chronographs with the most advanced technology of the Manufacture and a design of the dial which increases its legibility for the present day. Replica Audemars Piguet‘s vintage wrist chronographs are among the rarest watches in the world with only 307 pieces produced between the 1930s and the late 1950s. This first reinterpretation project of the past includes a limited edition of 500 pieces that evokes the highly distinctive design features of the original 1943 wrist chronograph, with its rose gold and steel case, embellished with a champagne-colored dial. True to the original design of the 1943 pre-model 1533, [Re] master01 features a round case and steel lugs, highlighted by a bezel and beveled pushers in 18K pink gold. The teardrop-shaped lugs emphasize the harmonious curve of the two-tone case, while the extremely thin bezel offers an unobstructed view of the dial details. The case has been hand polished. And speaking of the case, the two-tone polished look is enhanced by a satin gold-colored dial, enhanced with black transferred hour markers, rose gold hour, minute and second hands, chronograph hands and speedometer scale transferred in blue color. Although the dial design has retained the classic features of the original timepiece and the numbers inspired by Art Deco, the larger diameter of the watch (40 mm in the current version) ensures better readability. Seconds counters have also been revised to be more legible. Yet, [Re] master01 has ingeniously kept the indication of 4/5 of the original clock above the 15-minute indicator inside the 30-minute counter at 9 o’clock, to allow recording of up to 45 minutes. Curiosity: this function was requested by a member of one of the two third generation founding families, Jacques-Louis Audemars (1910 – 2003), to indulge his passion for football and indicate the first part of the game of his favorite sport. The watch comes with a light brown hand-stitched calfskin strap and also features an additional dark brown alligator strap. The blue chronograph hands add a pop of color to the gold-colored dial, embellished with an 18-karat rose gold bezel.
[Re] master01 is equipped with the Manufacture’s latest generation automatic chronograph mechanism: an integrated chronograph with column wheel and flyback function. Unlike the original 1943 wristwatch, [Re] master01 features an anti-reflective sapphire crystal case back that reveals the beauty of the chronograph mechanism and the special 22-karat rose gold oscillating weight combined with the bezel. The oscillating weight is satin-finished and decorated with “Clous de Paris” (a traditional decoration technique used by Audemars Piguet since the 1950s). The 22-karat rose gold oscillating weight is satin-finished and decorated with “Clous de Paris.” Similarly to the 1943 watch, [Re] master01 has the signature “Audemars Piguet & Co Genève” on the dial. In fact, from about 1885 until the mid-1970s, the Audemars Piguet brand owned a laboratory in Geneva to be closer to end customers and facilitate distribution within Europe and beyond its borders. When Audemars Piguet began signing his watches in the early 20th century, the city of Geneva was frequently mentioned on the dial. And the “Audemars Piguet & Co Genève” logo pays homage to the Manufacture’s global distribution network fake rolex.
Each Audemars Piguet watch was produced as a one-off until 1951. This sporting function began to appear on Audemars Piguet wristwatches in the 1930s. During the Second World War (1939–1945), when the pre-model 1533 was made, wrist chronographs represented less than a tenth of the company’s total watch production. In 1943, only three stainless steel and gold wrist chronographs with the current case design were sold. The 36 mm diameter of the watch was quite impressive for the time, when most wrist chronographs usually measured between 31 and 34 mm
