Audemars Piguet has just launched one of its most affordable watches ever

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Say what you like about Audemars Piguet and people cannot question the watchmaker’s ambition, nor how quickly he is realizing it.

Five years ago, almost exactly on the day, the brand’s CEO François-Henri Bennahmias boasted that his position had just joined the billion-franc (now around 900 million) Swiss watchmaking club, a term informal for brands with 10-figure revenues.

Thanks to the booming trade it was making at Royal Oaks as worn by Jay-Z, Arnold Schwarzenegger, LeBron James and others, it had become one of only six, maybe seven watch brands that have overstepped the mark, along with Rolex, Cartier, Omega , Patek Philippe, Longines and maybe Tissot (which has since shrunk). The big dogs, in other words. For a high-end brand that makes around 40,000 watches a year, that was impressive.

Fast forward to this week, and at a press conference at AP’s home in the Swiss village of Le Brassus, Bennahmias said revenue has doubled. In 2022, he said, AP minted it to the tune of two billion Swiss francs (1.8 billion), moving 50,001 watches. The and one added for effect, of course.

Its cor-blimey stuff. Only Rolex increased revenues more in the same period and produces more than one million watches a year.

So how did Audemars Piguet do it?

Raising prices, for one. Other watches have also helped. 10,000 more pieces at an average price of 40,000 Swiss francs (36,000) is real money. And somehow, even with the increase, AP has in no way saturated the market. Like Rolex, it could sell multiple times its annual inventory.

Then there is the Code 11:59 collection. Contrary to what critics anticipated, its introduction four years ago has boosted the business, perhaps because Audemars Piguet is using it as the entry watch to the grand prize, the Royal Oak.

But the real answer, if it can be distilled, lies in the brand’s nearly unparalleled ability to create desirability. As Bennahmias once told me, people want what they can’t have. Indeed. Add to that, but what can Stormzy, Ed Sheeran, and Serena Williams have, and you have one hell of a formula.

Taking his watches out of shop windows and hiding them in AP Houses (London is one of about 15 worldwide now) also had the same effect: not only can’t you have that watch, you can’t even see it IRL.

By the way, AP just released 30 new references, so let’s take a quick look at three.

It’s very complicated

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