Audemars Piguet has unveiled three new Minute Repeater Supersonnerie watches, two of them Royal Oaks, alongside a pair of 38mm Code 11.59 models with natural stone dials.
Most watch launches show you something. This one is mainly about what you hear. Audemars Piguet has started November with three new Minute Repeater Supersonnerie watches and two Code 11.59 models with stone dials.
The chiming trio doesn’t change the formula. Instead, it puts proven hardware into new cases and dials. With prices from 325,000 to 391,400 Swiss francs, buyers will expect it to sound as good as it looks.
A Decade of Work Behind the Chime
The story starts with the Royal Oak Concept Supersonnerie from 2016. The brand spent nearly ten years developing it. Its chime was notably loud and clear because AP built it to improve acoustic performance.
The key is in how the gongs are mounted. Most repeaters fix them directly to the mainplate. AP’s patented gongs sit on a dedicated soundboard instead. The brand says this improves clarity, volume and tone. Put simply, the watch case works more like an instrument body.
All three new watches use the Calibre 2953. It arrived in 2019 as a development of the Calibre 2937 and the Calibre 2874SS, which powered the first Supersonnerie. It has a small seconds counter at 6 o’clock and a 72-hour power reserve.
Two Royal Oaks and a Code 11.59
Two of the new repeaters are Royal Oaks. Both have 42mm cases with the familiar octagonal bezel and integrated bracelet.
- Ref. 26591TI.OO.1252TI.08: titanium case, smoked green sunburst dial, CHF 351,100.
- Ref. 26591OR.OO.1252OR.01: pink-gold case, brown Grande Tapisserie dial, CHF 391,400.
According to AP, the second watch is the first pink-gold Royal Oak in the Supersonnerie line. Pairing a warm metal with a brown dial is a softer look than this tech-heavy watch has had before.
The third repeater belongs to the Code 11.59 family. Ref. 26395BC.OO.D009CR.01 has a white-gold case with a fully polished middle section. Its smoked sapphire dial is translucent, so you can see the movement underneath. It costs CHF 325,000, which makes it the cheapest of the three. That’s relative, of course.
Dark Stones for the Smaller Code 11.59s
The other two launches are more traditional. Both Code 11.59 models have 38mm cases and natural stone dials. AP, Rolex and Piaget have used stones and minerals on dials since the 1970s. AP has made more of them recently as collectors have embraced the trend.
This time, AP picked two dark stones:
- Ref. 77410BA.OO.A604CR.01: yellow-gold case, gold obsidian dial, US$57,500.
- Ref. 77410OR.OO.A001CR.01: pink-gold case, black onyx dial with diamond hour markers, US$68,500.
Both use the Calibre 5909, which has a 60-hour power reserve.
Building on What Works
This launch shows that AP sees the Supersonnerie as an established platform, not a one-off experiment. The acoustic engineering stays the same. What changes are the metals, dials and the collection each watch belongs to.
With a pink-gold Royal Oak and a see-through Code 11.59 dial, AP offers buyers more choice in how the watch looks. The way it sounds stays unchanged.
