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Audemars Piguet reissues chronograph from our Darkest Hour with [Re]master01

World War II two-tone chronograph re-imagined for the modern world and launched as another desperate period of world history is unfolding.

We have a reminder today of why we will still be in love with watches and the watch business long after the Coronavirus crisis has passed in the form of a stunning revival of a 1943 chronograph from Audemars Piguet called the [Re]master01.

The automatic chronograph borrows the design aesthetic from a wartime era (and decades either side) when AP was virtually unknown for chronographs.

Examples from the 1940s fetch huge prices at auction today.

 

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This 1941 Audemars Piguet chronograph sold at Phillips for CHF 384,500 in 2018.

 

[Re]master01 is a modern interpretation of a rare 1943 watch, made it in a limited edition run of just 500 pieces, and bristling with today’s technology, engineering and materials.

It has a perfectly round stainless steel hand-polished case with steel lugs. Its golden dial is framed by an 18ct pink gold bezel and its crown and pushers are the same precious material.

The satin-brushed dial has black hour-markers contrasting with pink gold hour, minute and seconds hands and a blue chronograph hand tachymetric scale.

 

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It is worn on a light brown hand-stitched calfskin strap.

Inside beats an AP manufacture self-winding chronograph Caliber 4409, exposed through a large exhibition caseback.

According to AP, only three stainless steel and gold chronograph wristwatches with the [Re]master01’s case design were sold in 1943. They were somewhat oversized at that the time, with a 36 mm case. Today’s model is a more contemporary 40mm.

 

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The 1943 Audemars Piguet chronograph on which today’s model is based.

 

Audemars Piguet’s choice of name, [Re]master01, is certain to have watch aficionados’ imaginations racing for what other historic references may be brought back with 21st century interpretations.

Michael Friedman, AP’s head of complications, does little to suppress the speculations. “People are very cognizant of the design shake-up that took place in the 1970s and in the early 2000s. However, creative expressions of case form and dial design have occurred during every decade of our history. For [Re]master01, we chose to explore the strength and elegance of one of our chronograph wristwatches from 1943 through the prism of 2020. This is not a historic reissue – it is a contemporary remastering of one of our past creations,” he says.

It goes on sale at AP boutiques for $53,100.

 

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5 Comments

  1. Lovely.Is it available in U.K. and at what price? Also limited edition of how many. Must get on

  2. The entire world is unemployed and afraid of dying and Audemars Piguet is selling a limited edition $53k “darkest hour” watch.

    ‘member back when Rolex would advance watches to allied POWs in prison camps? This is kind of the opposite of that.

  3. There are many more people in the world who are neither unemployed nor afraid of dying. There are approx. 8 billion people on our planet & (so far,) 500,000 of them have been positively diagnosed with coronavirus…lets get some context here. The world doesn’t stop & nor should it!

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