For the end of 2014, the house of Audemars Piguet presents its new Millenary Quadriennium model, an impressive addition to its Millenary collection, which epitomizes a neo-classical aesthetic for the Third Millenium.
Same as all other members of the Millenary family, the new Audemars Piguet Millenary Quadriennium comes in a distinctive oval-shaped case, with elegantly openworked dial, which reveal the complex hand-finished inner workings of its movement. As announced by the famous haute horlogerie brand, the new Millenary Quadriennium perpetuates a tradition of watches with Astronomical indications. Its hand-wound caliber 2905/B01, is a unique calendar mechanism furnished with an escapement developed originally for marine Chronometers. The iconic AP Escapement with double balance-spring requires no lubrication at all, and beats at a frequency of 21,600 vibrations per hour (3Hz). The very first escapement of this kind was patented in 2000 and launched a couple of years later, with the Tradition d’Excellence N°5, in 2006. That was also the very first Millenary watch with a 3D movement, which is specifically built to follow the curves of its oval case…
This time, however, Audemars Piguet’s Millenary Quadriennium brings another exciting surprise – the most advanced rendition of the popular annual calendar complication. The name of this model - Quadrennium – is a Latin word for a period of 4 years, which gives us a strong hint that leap years may be somehow of importance for this watch…
As you may know, the main difference between an annual calendar watch and a perpetual calendar watch is that the first one displays date (sometimes not only days but also months and days of the week) automatically, except the last day of February. It requires setting the date once per year, on February 28th or 29th to March 1st. The perpetual calendar complication, however, automatically takes into account leap years, and requires no adjustment at all before the year 2100. Audemars Piguet’s new Quadriennium is, therefore, a completely unique variant of an annual calendar watch, as it requires only one adjustment every four years. This watch automatically takes into account that February has 28 days, so you need to adjust it only once – on the occasion of leap year, when February is 29 days long.
In the terms of aesthetics, its pure, simple and oval shape is inspired by the Coliseum in Rome. The watch features an off-centered dial, which is slightly shifted right, to provide enough space to disclose the movement. The hours are indicated via large Roman numerals, while the vibrant red hand indicates the date on a date dial that shares the same center of axis as the hours/minutes dial. The upper aperture on the dial indicates the current month, while the lower aperture serves as a day of the week indicator. Finally, the seconds sub-dial appears between 7 and 8 o’clock, just below the beautiful balance wheel, which can be seen at 9 o’clock position. The case of the Millenary Quadriennium is made of polished rose gold, and it measures 47 x 42 mm. The watch is mounted on a luxurious, hand-stitched brown leather strap.
Audemars Piguet Millenary Quadriennium was officially unveiled at the Hong Kong’s Watches & Wonders exhibition in October 2014. The watch is referenced as 26149OR (or 26149OR.OO.D803CR.01), and it should appear at Audemars Piguet’s boutiques beginning 2015. The price is yet to be announced.
Author: Marina Milojevic Pinterest
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