Introducing The Audemars Piguet [Re]master01 Selfwinding Chronograph

It's not often that Audemars Piguet launches a whole new collection of watches, but that's what we're getting today. Meet the [Re]master01, an automatic chronograph inspired by a beautiful watch from the brand's past. A specific watch, no less.

Audemars Piguet produced very few chronographs in the early 20th century – only 307 by their count – and this is one of the more interesting of the bunch. You might even remember the watch: It made an appearance in Talking Watches with Alfredo Paramico back in 2014 and sold at Phillips a year later too. That's where Audemars Piguet acquired it, though the idea for this project started even before the watch made its way into their collection.

"People are very cognisant of the design shake up that took place in the 1970s and in the early 2000s," says Audemars Piguet's Head of Complications, Michael Friedman, in the watch's press release. "However, creative expressions of case form and dial design have occurred during every decade of our history." He's also careful to emphasize that "this is not a historic reissue – it is a contemporary remastering of one of our past creations."

That's an important distinction to make. It's far from just semantics. The former would be about being faithful to an original in form, while the latter is more about being faithful to an original in concept. The [Re]master01 looks, on a black background, very similar to the original watch from 1943, but if you take a look at the spec sheet or see the watch in the metal, you quickly realize it's more than that. The watch is 40mm across and neither particularly thick nor thin for a modern automatic chronograph.

It still retains that distinctive two-tone case though, with the caseband, lugs, and caseback made of stainless steel and the bezel, crown, and pushers made of pink gold. That's then paired with a gold-toned dial that hovers somewhere between champagne and yellow, with vertical brushing and crisp printing. The chronograph hands and tachymeter scale are printed in blue, adding a punch of color, and the chronograph minutes totalizer also includes a red 45 (again preserved from the original) that's meant for timing the halves of a soccer match. My favorite vintage touch though? The old-school "Audemars, Piguet & Co / Genève" logo. It's just so cool looking.

The movement powering this watch is the caliber 4409, an in-house, automatic chronograph movement that's finished to the very high standards you'd expect from AP. If you think the movement looks a bit familiar, that's because it is a modified version of the caliber 4401 launched in last year's CODE 11.59 chronograph. This version has had the date complication removed and the skeletonized rotor swapped out for one with an elegant hobnail pattern on it. Some enthusiasts might wonder why this watch isn't hand-wound like the original – but this is a remaster, not a reissue, remember?

The [Re]master01 is a limited edition of 500 pieces, and they will only be available at Audemars Piguet boutiques. Many of those boutiques are currently closed due to the COVID-19 situation, but the first watches should be available as soon as the boutiques reopen. It will sell for $53,100, not including taxes.

Spoiler alert: I've already had the opportunity to see this watch in the metal, and it's fantastic. Next week you'll get a lot more on that, with a deep-dive into the history behind this watch, how this modern reinterpretation came to be, what it means for the history of Audemars Piguet, and, of course, tons of live photos. It'll be worth the wait, I promise.

For now, though, I think this watch does a nice job signaling where AP's thinking is, in terms of how it wants to relate to serious collectors, how it wants to round out its product offerings, and how it plans on utilizing important technical developments. It's also another reason for everyone who freaked out last year about the CODE 11.59 to calm down. Audemars Piguet is one of the greatest watchmakers on Earth (see this and this, for example), especially when it comes to doing things at any kind of scale, and when their internal brain trust gets together and pushes themselves, they can do incredible things. It will be interesting to see how AP continues to build on the new calibers and the know-how they gained in launching CODE (such as the movement in this watch) to continue to expand the brand beyond the Royal Oak in the modern era.

To add another layer of context, the launch of this watch is meant to coincide with the reopening of Audemars Piguet's new museum. That's now opening to the public on June 25 (you can learn more about it here), and you'll be able to see the original 1940s watch that inspired this piece if you visit.

Taken on its own merits, though – context be damned – I still think this is one of the better releases I've seen over the last year. It's beautiful, it's technically impressive, and it's a watch that contains a lot of stories and history in a wearable, not-too-fussy package. If you're looking for a high-end chronograph that's a little bit different than the usual suspects, this is your watch.

Brand: Audemars Piguet
Model: [Re]master01 Selfwinding Chronograph 40mm
Reference Number: 26595SR.OO.A032VE.01

Diameter: 40mm
Case Material: Stainless steel and pink gold
Dial Color: Yellow gold-toned dial with blue tachymeter scale
Indexes: Arabic numerals and batons
Lume: None
Water Resistance: 20 meters
Strap/Bracelet: Light brown calfskin strap and dark brown alligator strap

Caliber: In-House Caliber 4409
Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds, chronograph with 12-hour and 30-minute totalizers
Diameter: 32mm
Thickness: 6.82mm
Power Reserve: 70 hours
Winding: Automatic
Frequency: 4 Hz (28,800 vph)
Jewels: 40
Total Components: 349
Additional Details: This movement is a modified version of the caliber found in the CODE 11.59 chronograph, with the date complication removed.

Price: $53,100
Availability: At Audemars Piguet boutiques worldwide
Limited Edition: 500 pieces

For more, click here.