Stainless steel Audemars Piguet, reference 14538 automatic bracelet watch. Made 1960

In 1875 Jules-Louis Audemars and Edward Auguste Piguet established a workshop. In it, Audemars was in charge of production and assembly whilst his friend Piguet was in charge of regulation, sales and ‘quality control’. Both had learned the watchmaker's trade after finishing public school together in their hometown of Le Brassus by training at the bench. They had returned to the Vallee de Joux to find jobs in the local watch making industry.

Their attention to detail and ability with business affairs helped the two friends establish themselves as eventually one of the largest watch making employers, as well as producers of stunning complex movements based in Vaud, Switzerland.