Audemars Piguet Launches New Code 11.59 38mm Models

Code 11.59 from Audemars Piguet has been around since 2019 and while it remains handily outnumbered in terms of total models by Royal Oaks and Offshores, it has managed to become an established member of the Audemars Piguet lineup, albeit still less popular than anything the company makes with an eight sided bezel. The basic design has gone through a number of refinements and has been the vehicle since its inception for complications, including tourbillons, Super Sonnerie minute repeaters, Star Wheel wandering hours displays (the wandering hours complication has a long history at  AP) and, earlier this year, the Code 11.59 “Universelle,” which is one of the most complicated watches AP has ever made, in any design or case configuration. The Universelle is not only an extraordinary watch, but also a statement by Audemars Piguet of its commitment to Code 11.59 and to its intention to continue to make it not just a credible alternative to the Royal Oak, but an attractive choice in its own right.

The latest new releases are about as far from the aristocratic complexity of the Universelle as can be – they’re two 38mm versions of Code 11.59, both with the unusual, perforated dials, introduced along with the first steel Code models earlier this year.

The introduction of a couple of 38mm versions of Code 11.59 is straightforward in and of itself but it raises a couple of questions. The first is whether or not these are supposed to be what the industry traditionally refers to as ladies’ watches and while I’d like to say that that’s what the dial and strap colors suggest, that might say more about my own preconceptions than anything else. At the same time, the trend has been towards smaller, more traditionally sized watches for long enough now that I’m almost waiting for the backlash against small watches to begin (except that I don’t think it’s going to. We’ll see).

If these are a move towards extending the line into smaller case sizes for a general audience, though, I wonder why AP hasn’t released these in steel cases and in slightly less high visibility colorways – Ivory to be fair is not a color anyone chooses for emergency response vehicles (I guess purple isn’t either, although lord knows that purple 38mm Code is high visibility) but they are not exactly an exercise in under-the-radar versatility either.

The Code 11.59 case, says AP, is finished to the same high standards as its movements (it may in fact be finished to higher standards) and the complex case shape has always seemed to me to be inherently better suited to a larger case. Reducing or increasing the size of a design can have unexpected pitfalls as proportions which work well in a larger case may not work as well in a smaller one, and vice versa. The amount of effort that AP puts into manufacturing and assembling the Code 11.59 cases makes them some of the most complex in the business. That said, at least in press images it looks as if AP has handled height to width ratios well.

The new 38mm models are powered by the AP caliber 5900, which is 26.20mm x 4mm and which AP has used previously in 37mm Royal Oak models. It’s not an in-house caliber – the base movement is manufactured by Vaucher and the 5900 looks like a slightly larger version of the AP 5800, which AP’s used in some 34mm Royal Oaks and which is based on the Vaucher VMF 3002. The use of outsourced movements is a long-standing practice at Audemars Piguet and considerably predates Code 11.59, and for that matter, the Royal Oak itself; AP has throughout its history made extensive use of movements from Jaeger-LeCoultre and modules from Dubois-Depraz, including perpetual calendar and chronograph models from the latter.

With a sixty hour power reserve, this is a movement that doesn’t quite call attention to itself as an haute horlogeriecaliber, but the primary purpose of Code 11.59 in AP’s current lineup is to offer an alternative to the Royal Oak, which The 1916 Company’s Mike Manjos, in a recent Market Wrap, says he feels AP needs badly, on the not unreasonable observation that sooner or later, current high demand notwithstanding, both the reputation and the market position of the brand require diversification of the design portfolio. Manjos, interviewed by Bloomberg Pursuits for the launch of the 38mm models, recalled the divisiveness that the design produced, when it was first launched, saying, “This was the first time in my memory that people really panned a new model … You had a few people go negative, and the next thing you knew, everybody was piling on,” and goes on to remark, “They have certainly underperformed … even though Audemars Piguet has done some really nice variations of it nowadays, especially the new models.”

Still, Code 11.59 while still not exactly a smash hit, represents close to 15% of AP’s revenue, which the brand hopes to increase to 20% by 2025.

Part of AP’s strategy has been to modernize its movement portfolio, which now relies on a combination of in-house complications, in-house calibers like the new extra flat caliber 7121 which was first seen in the 50th anniversary update to the Jumbo, the 16202, and calibers like the 5900 and 5800 which are supplied. The company has discontinued the use of the legacy ultra-thin caliber 2120/21, which was used in the first Jumbo (which was also the first Royal Oak) and which had been a staple of Jumbo production; that movement is now only available from AP in some of its complications, and in a handful of complicated watches from Vacheron Constantin (which has also followed the same strategy of using some supplied movements from Val Fleurier, a movement manufacturer owned by the Richemont Group).

This means that the AP caliber 3120 is discontinued in the 37mm Royal Oaks – I haven’t looked through the entire current catalogue but in general, the movement, which was introduced with great fanfare as AP’s first in-house selfwinding movement in 2003. It had its idiosyncrasies but in general gave the impression of a determined attempt to make a movement to traditional haute horlogerie standards, including the use of a freesprung, adjustable mass balance and overall, a finer level of finishing than that found in the 58/5900 series of movements.

Audemars Piguet’s in-house caliber 3120, introduced in 2003

However, as with the discontinued (mostly) 2120/21, the decision to use an outsourced but highly reliable movement, which can be decorated to approximate fine watchmaking standards, is a sensible decision both economically and from an owner reliability standpoint.

Like a lot of AP fans I continue to have conflicted feelings about Code 11.59 – the complexity of the case is inarguable but whether or not it’s ultimately successful from a design standpoint is not a matter of an objective parts or processes count, but individual tastes. Nonetheless, the collection seems to have found an audience and while the appeal of these particular versions may be slightly narrow, they represent an expansion of the versatility of the collection overall (not everyone wants a 41mm dress watch, not even one with an interestingly architectonic case). I don’t know that a version of this watch all in steel would necessarily work – the intricate case design might not read properly in that size and with just one material – but something like steel with a black ceramic case middle might be very, very interesting.

The Code 11.59 Selfwinding 38mm: two models; both with 18k gold cases, sapphire front and back, 30M water resistance; 38mm x 9.6mm. Ivory dial with embpossed decoration, with ivory inner bezel and pink gold hour markers and hands; Purple dial with embossed decoration, purple inner bezel, pink gold applied hour markers and hands. Both watches, automatic caliber 5900, Vaucher base, 26.2mm x 4mm, with 60 hour power reserve, running in 29 jewels at 28,800 vph. Price, on request; more info at Audemars Piguet.