It was time for the crew of our Watchmaking Roadtrip to leave Geneva, direction the Vallée-de-Joux, the heart of complicated watchmaking. But before getting there, we made a quick detour to a rather special chalet, sitting above Montreux and offering us an incredible view on the Lake Geneva. This was where we met a team of Audemars Piguet and none else than Olivier Audemars, one of the direct descendants of the two founders of the famous brand. 

Audemars Piguet had just unveiled an important restoration project, but not one you could immediately imagine, since it partnered with the Montreux Jazz Festival, one of the world’s most important jazz gathering, on the restoration and digitalisation of all the music archives of the festival, whose first edition was precisely 50 years ago. This notion of memory preservation is naturally something very dear to many watchmakers.

But it was then time for us to hop on our bus and head to Le Brassus, home of the brand, and we immediately started with a very interesting visit of the Grande Complication workshop, where Audemars Piguet crafts and assembles some very impressive timepieces, but only 8 per year, and you will soon know why.

Where this episode was shot at Audemars Piguet in the Vallée de Joux: