In-Depth: Understanding – And Going Hands-On With – The Audemars Piguet [RE]Master02

At the tail end of May, Audemars Piguet released a watch that took people by surprise for a number of reasons. Many people, myself included, thought that AP’s vintage-inspired [RE]Master collection was a one-and-done proposition. A limited edition chronograph made in 500 pieces, inspired by one of the brand’s great vintage pieces, it came out right at the start of the pandemic in May 2020. I watched anxiously to see what else would come out of a collection that I saw as a potential third pillar to complement the Royal Oaks and Code 11.59 (which at the time had a pretty lukewarm reception). It seemed desperately needed and it just didn’t seem to come.

Audemars Piguet’s [RE]Master01 from 2020.

To be fair, production, development, marketing – everything wound down during the early months of the pandemic and took a while to get going. Four years later, we have the next watch in the collection, the [RE]Master02, and the watch they chose as inspiration was its own surprise. Among a myriad of other options at their disposal, AP went with a re-imagination of a shaped, very asymmetrical – dare I gamble on saying Brutalist – watch. Limited to 250 pieces and priced at $47,200, I expected a lot of pushback from the commentariat because of size (41mm by 9.1), burnout on “shaped watches,” its limited nature, or the cost. 

I was pleasantly surprised to see the response was much more mixed. It sounds like the commercial reception has been the same. I’ve heard that AP is getting a lot of inquiries from people who don’t collect vintage watches and maybe have never seen the watch that inspired the new [RE]Master. On the other hand, I know several people who passed on this watch. But I hadn’t seen the watch in person, so I tried to reserve judgment. Now, I have thoughts.

But I also wanted to give my colleague Tony Traina, a vintage lover extraordinaire with plenty of thoughts of his own, a chance to break down the watch and vintage AP in general and – not having seen it in person – tell us what he thought from afar. You might actually recognize the inspiration for the [RE]Master02 from a story Tony wrote earlier this year about looking at what AP offers vintage collectors that don’t rhyme with “Loyal Bloke.” I figured that out of anyone, he might have thoughts about what the brand got right or where they missed the mark.

[Re]Master02: Shaping Its History

By Anthony Traina

AP [RE]Master02 and the old ref. 5159BA.

“Experimentation with design and shapes, often connected with complications – but not always – has been a constant at AP,” Sebastian Vivas, AP’s Heritage and Museum Director, said when we spoke in January.

While we were talking about vintage watches, it should’ve been obvious that Vivas wasn’t talking only about the past of AP, but also its present.

Because the [Re]Master02 is really an experiment. While it’s based on an asymmetrical vintage watch in AP’s archives, almost everything else is different: size, material, finish, and movement. Experimentation was also the driving force behind the inspiration for the [Re]Master02, reference 5159BA, a watch so rare it doesn’t even have a proper name.

After World War II, GIs came home with round wristwatches on their wrists, and every other shape was forgotten about while they went to college, bought houses in the suburbs, and had babies.

“But AP kept a rich creativity,” Vivas said. Throughout the Brutalist architecture movement and the retro-futuristic Space Age, AP continued to explore shapes.

Vivas mentioned that AP had recently studied its “golden age” of asymmetric watches, from 1959 through 1964, and found that it produced more than 30 different shapes just in this five-year period, most of them in less than 10 examples. AP experimented with rectangular, cushion-shaped, asymmetrical, and other shapes that defy the traditional polygonal naming conventions of the Euclidean geometry that tormented your high school years. The Brutalist, sharp lines of the ’50s and ’60s gave way to soft edges with the hope of the Space Age in the ’70s. And it wasn’t just case shapes, but components like crystals and dials, too. 

One of those asymmetric watches was the ref. 5159. According to AP, just seven examples were produced and sold in 1960 and ’61. The yellow gold example photographed here is now in AP’s archives, originally sold to Elco Clocks in the U.K. in 1961. Its polished yellow gold case measures just 27.5mm. Next to the [Re]Master02, it looks like a Mini Cooper to the [Re]master’s Cybertruck. This isn’t to say one is better than the other: The Cybertruck has had four recalls and the Mini Cooper’s defining moment, as far as I’m concerned, was 20 years ago in a Mark Wahlberg heist film.

But these shape-shifting designs helped lay the groundwork for AP’s most iconic watch.

“Asymmetric, Brutalist design prepared the way for the Royal Oak,” Vivas said. “There’s a clear link.” It might not have been clear to designer Gerald Genta, but his eccentric and expressive sports watch had its roots in an entire generation of shapes. AP’s experimentation with shapes dates back even further – look to its design in the ’20s and ’30s and you can find chronographs and calendars that are far from round.

[Re]Master01, released in 2020, illustrates a similar approach to heritage as the [Re]Master02. 

In many ways, this history makes the modern [Re]Master collection a sensible way for AP to continue its experimentation with shapes. The [Re]Master01, introduced in 2020, explored a similar corner of AP’s history – its early, pre-WWII chronographs. Similar to its asymmetric watches, this is an era before AP had serialized production, and all of its complicated watches were essentially unique. In the first half of the 20th century, AP only made 307 chronographs. Extrapolating out some numbers, I’d bet they made a similar number of asymmetric watches during the golden era that ended in the early ’60s.

Like the [Re]Master01, the 02 is not a reissue or an homage of a vintage watch. While it evokes the ref. 5159 of the past, it’s otherwise a contemporary watch. It uses the latest material innovation (sand gold), a thin automatic caliber (cal. 7129), and that size. Disagree if you’d like, but AP is certainly the most contemporary of watch brands – who else is putting music equalizers on its dials? – so this is the approach.

With that, let’s get hands-on with the [Re]Master02.

Hands-On With The Audemars Piguet [RE]Master02

By Mark Kauzlarich

There are a few blind spots I’ll readily admit come with writing about and handling sometimes dozens of different watches a month. Pricing is always a hard one to pin down because there’s a massive part of “value” that can come down to personal taste. What makes one watch wear well while similar dimensions on another watch might not – that’s another tough one to keep on top of because two similar-sized watches can wear differently for a number of reasons. Right now, I struggle to tell if we’re in the middle of a shaped-watch renaissance or if the [RE]Master02 is an example of a good idea that came just a bit too late.

I am a big lover of Audemars Piguet for a lot of reasons – its history, its experience with complications, the fact that (regardless of how hard it might be to get an AP at retail) the brand feels a little more culturally accessible than the walled-off world of Patek – but no brand is without faults. 

Unfortunately, the Code 11.59 launch was lackluster, but the collection has gotten stronger. While the Code collection is starting to pick up traction with some collectors, I still don’t know if it’s a watch I would pick over anything else at the price point. The Offshore also has a ton of solid offerings – some I like quite a bit – but I could almost certainly point to several Royal Oaks I’d rather have first. The Concept line is one of my favorites, and I’m lucky to get away with wearing one with my taller frame. But those last three collections, I think rightfully, get grouped together in people’s minds as Royal Oaks. And if Royal Oaks are one thing, they are iconic, design-forward pieces. So when looking for a second watch to be the third leg supporting the brand’s collection, why go for another brushed, Brutalist design, especially when the time has possibly passed?

Well, let’s make the argument in favor of the decision. The [RE]Master02, at the very least, is an incredibly striking watch and an example of creativity that often feels lacking from major modern catalogs. The case measures 41mm wide (at the longest angle) by 9.7mm thick and is the star of the show, as it would be in almost any shaped watch. It’s also made out of sand gold, Audemars Piguet’s newest alloy that first appeared in a Royal Oak Selfwinding Flying Tourbillon earlier this year. As I explained in that story, it’s a material that works best in cases like this with hard angles that will react to light differently, all at the same time. That allows the case to shift from pinkish hues to white, as the material will want to do. 

It’s the kind of combination of materials science and design acumen that Audemars Piguet is known for, even if it does draw from history. The entire case, save for the faceted edges on the caseback, is either horizontally or vertically brushed. I have a feeling that that kind of texture just further accentuates the color shift of sand gold and its definitely more modern than the polished case on the vintage example.

The shape of the crystal follows the facet of the case. The hard lines intersect thoughtfully, and if you look at the lugs, you can imagine a world in where that half millimeter of width on each side could have been thrown out to make the lug width just one millimeter wider and the lugs easier to shape. But AP has accentuated the design by leaving that little hanging edge next to the strap.

Even the buckle feels like it mirrors the case shape, even if it’s the same as the buckle on the Code 11.59. The strap is a nice, soft, matte alligator that matches the dial color – which is another place AP got a lot of the details just right.

The burst of radial lines from the center post acting as hour markers carries over from the vintage models, acting as hour markers and rendered in sand gold to match the hands and the logo. But that radial pattern continues to the “Bleu Nuit, Nuage 50” toned dial (taken from the original Royal Oak dial color). Up close, the texture almost looks like wood marquetry. Another thoughtful decision from Audemars Piguet was to line the logo up such that, when viewed from above, the crystal hits the break between the two words.

The last little touch I barely noticed, but it’s worth pointing out. If you look closely at the top, bottom, and left side of the dial, the case has been shaped slightly under the bezel so that the minute hand can easily make a full turn while being long enough that it makes practical sense. All this comes together in a package that feels either very timely for the growing demand for shaped watches, or is slightly overdue. It’s hard to tell if a moment has passed, so I think this [RE]Master02 will be the ultimate litmus test for whether the Renaissance is over or has just begun.

If there’s one big criticism you could levy on the [RE]Master02, it is the size of the watch. It’s not so much that it’s a thick watch. A lot of the thickness is just a necessary part of the very angular shape. The movement inside – the self-winding Calibre 7129 – is the same as in the 16202 “Jumbo” Ultra-thin Royal Oak and only 2.8mm thick, so in theory the watch could be thinner, but then it just wouldn’t be the same thing anymore. The rotor is also made in sand gold, which is a nice touch, but raises the question: could (or should) this watch have been a hand-wound movement?

The original watch was significantly smaller, and while I didn’t measure the thickness – I wasn’t expecting to see the original so I didn’t bring calipers – it was a relatively dainty watch with a hand-wound caliber inside. But I don’t really think that would have made much difference.

I’m not alone in my assessment that the watch is probably too big. I’ve heard from a few friends who got to try the [RE]Master02 in person, and they all (with no exception) felt the same way. That’s not to say they didn’t agree that the design was great – I’ve had friends who collect vintage watches that loved the idea of the [RE]Master02 – but it’s hard not to feel that this execution is a bit unwieldy.

The measurements on paper don’t seem that large, but the case is very flat and has to be strapped so tight that it’s immobile on the flattest spot on the top of your wrist. With other watches, a little looseness or play isn’t always bad if the watch rotates back and forth or up and down on your wrist. The design of this watch doesn’t accommodate that. It also doesn’t allow the watch to move anywhere below the wrist bone if you wear it on your left wrist. The case would dig into your hand if you bent it.

That said, if you’ve got a smaller wrist, you’re probably better off with the vintage piece below – except for the fact that only seven were ever made, and this example belongs to AP. You also don’t get all the thoughtful design decisions that bring this watch into the 21st century.

The watch didn’t wear uncomfortably or bother me on the wrist, but it felt pretty apparent that the watch would likely have been successful somewhere between the vintage sizing and the new – maybe around 37mm. As much as I love vintage watches, there’s no world in which the vintage model – measuring 27.5mm – would be appropriately sized for me. But the new watch? I’m not convinced, either.

This is what makes vintage-inspired reissues such a tough nut. There’s so much wrapped up in the things that make vintage watches great – nostalgia, size, design – and a lot of that is so hard to create. With too light a touch, the watch is an homage. If a redesign is too heavy, the result can get away from you. 

With all that said, I don’t think I think AP will have a hard time finding clients for this piece, even if it’s not the same ones that bought the [RE]Master01. That’s actually probably the greatest success here: how AP uses a watch like this to keep broadening its audience. With the demand for vintage watches slowly getting bigger every day, I don’t think it will be long before we see a [RE]Master02 on the wrist of someone like Tyler the Creator or another celebrity who appreciates both thoughtful design and vintage aesthetics. Then the [RE]Master02 will take on a life of its own and we’ll look back to see how silly my criticisms look in hindsight.

Audemars Piguet [RE]Master02, ref. 15240SG. 41mm diameter by 9.7mm thick sand gold case, with 30m water resistance. Segmented “Bleu Nuit, Nuage 50” dial with linear satin finishing and sand gold lines. Sand gold hands without lume. Hours and minutes. Caliber 7129 automatic movement with 52 hours of power reserve, running at 28,800 vibrations/hour. Alligator leather strap in contrasting shades of blue with matte finishing and 18-carat sand gold pin buckle. Limited to 250 pieces. Price: $47,200.

​Hodinkee 

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