Opening the Heart of Time
Some watches show time; others think it. Audemars Piguet's new openworked perpetual calendar unites both gifts on a single wrist and, quite literally, lays bare the heart of time. The maison's new in-house Calibre 7139 makes its debut in two different 41 mm models.
This is not merely a watch; it is the reinterpretation of one of watchmaking's most complex complications, the perpetual calendar, through the art of skeletonisation and a contemporary sense of ergonomics. Light no longer rests on the surface of the dial; it flows through the very centre of the movement.
An Intelligence That Thinks in Centuries
The perpetual calendar (quantième perpétuel) is one of watchmaking's most elegant displays of intelligence. Through a mechanical memory engraved into its wheels, it knows of its own accord whether a month has 28, 30 or 31 days, and even the leap years in which February has 29. Set correctly, it flows without fault for years, with no need for manual correction.
Audemars Piguet is one of the most deeply rooted masters in the history of this complication. The new Calibre 7139 takes this century-old expertise and carries it to new heights, both technical and aesthetic: the day, date, month and moon-phase indications are now read amid the bare architecture of the movement itself.
Openworking: Showing the Unseen
Openworking is the art of boldly hollowing every unnecessary trace of metal from a movement, leaving behind only the skeleton of function and beauty. Yet this is no act of destruction, but on the contrary the most demanding kind of construction: each bridge and each plate is hollowed, filed and polished by hand so that, while preserving its strength, it lets the light flow through it.
Each bridge and plate embodies more than 30 hours of Haute Horlogerie handwork. Sapphire dials, meanwhile, frame this fragile architecture in all its brilliance; a mechanical organism breathing behind a vitrine of glass.
Two Models, One Innovation
Calibre 7139 comes to life in two striking 41 mm models. The first is a distinctive Royal Oak crafted in titanium and Bulk Metallic Glass (BMG), an alloy whose molecular structure is glass-like. The second is the first openworked perpetual calendar in the Code 11.59 by Audemars Piguet collection; a round, contemporary case of architectural elegance.
Two different souls, one mechanical heart: one telling the story with the Royal Oak's iconic octagonal sharpness, the other with the soft curves of the Code 11.59, each recounting the same innovation in a different language.
A Revolutionary Simplicity: Setting from a Single Point
The greatest chore of traditional perpetual calendars lies in their use: one must poke the tiny correctors hidden in the flank of the case, one by one with a fine stylus, to adjust the day, date and month separately. With the Calibre 7138 unveiled in 2025, Audemars Piguet broke this convention, making the entire calendar adjustable from the crown alone, through an intuitive all-in-one system. The new 7139 inherits this revolutionary ergonomics.
And all this refinement is contained within a movement just 4.1 mm thick. Beating at 28,800 vibrations per hour (4 Hz), the calibre offers a 55-hour power reserve, and its harmonious calendar layout also improves legibility. Here complexity becomes not a burden but an elegance.
Where Heritage Meets the Modern
Audemars Piguet's leadership sums up the innovation thus: uniting the art of openworking with ergonomic design, this new movement offers a contemporary take on a classic complication, reaffirming a commitment to crafting timepieces that resonate with modern lifestyles while honouring the maison's heritage.
In the end, what stands before us is the rebirth of nearly two centuries of accumulated knowledge, in the aesthetics and comfort of today. Opening the heart of time, these watches offer the privilege of seeing not only what a complication does, but how it beats.
