BY HARLAN CHAPMAN-GREEN
Audemars Piguet’s latest release is the [re]Master02 Selfwinding, a tribute to a weird design the brand made way back in 1960. It’s unusual to see brands making asymmetrical watches if we ignore the crown and optional pushers, of course. The Model 5159BA is the reference point for this new piece, but the brand only made seven of them 60 years ago. For Audemars Piguet to go to the trouble of redesigning a super-limited model range it shows they clearly think there’s an audience for these types of pieces. We’ll come back to that theme.
The [re]Master02 Selfwinding looks like something made by an independent watchmaker, thanks to its lopsided design and interesting crystal. It’s almost like the Alto Art 01 (which we covered recently) and the old Angelus U10 Tourbillon Lumière had a baby and this was the result.
It’s quite attractive, isn’t it? The 41mm wide case looks distinctive and angular, and at only 9.7mm thick, it seems quite subtle. It’s also made of Sand Gold, a unique colour blend from Audemars Piguet that settles somewhere between white and rose gold without looking too much like either of them. The crown seems to have been lifted from a Royal Oak, but on an angular watch like this, it seems fitting. The case is 30m water resistant, but looking at it it’s very clear it’s not a sports watch.
The offset dial is coloured “Bleu Nuit, Nouage 50”, which translates literally to Blue Night, Cloud 50. The dial is divided by straight 18k sand gold lines into segments which give you a rough idea of how to read the time on it. It’s interesting that they chose to only use the ‘Audemars Piguet’ text as the logo on this model, rather than also using the ‘AP’ symbol and putting it somewhere else as they do on that other watch they make.
Visible through the caseback is the self-winding calibre 7129. It’s based on the calibre 7121, which Audemars Piguet introduced for the 50th anniversary Royal Oak models, but it has a funky-looking rotor. The rotor’s design reminds me a lot of the wheels Peugeot is putting on their cars at the moment. Take a look at their new 3008 or 5008, and you’ll see what I mean. Anyway, the specs are good for a modern watch, with a 4Hz beat rate and a 52-hour power reserve; note I said good, not amazingly outstanding. What is outstanding, though, is likely to be the quality of the movement’s finishing; we are talking about Audemars Piguet here, after all.
Presented on a blue alligator leather strap, this watch is limited to just 250 examples costing €47,800.
What do you think of it? I’m a little on the fence about brands pulling out the history books like this. We’ve seen competitors like Vacheron Constantin and Piaget, to name a few, bring an old model back to life in a similar manner. While the end result is a very interesting-looking watch, it would be nice to see some more new designs. Although having said that, the launch of Code11:59 was a bit of a disaster for Audemars Piguet from the fans’ points of view, now that range has flourished. If I were to nitpick at the [re]Master02 Selfwinding, apart from its slightly ridiculous name, I would have liked to see a square movement to match the case, but that might’ve been too much work for what is likely to be a one-off release of pieces rather than a new permanent range, so I can kind of excuse it for that. It’s still a good-looking piece, anyway.
