Audemars Piguet Watchmaking Museum in the Jura Valley

by cfryer July 5, 2020

July 5, 2020

1.5K

Audemars Piguet Watchmaking Museum in the Jura Valley

Audemars Piguet Atelier Musée

The Swiss watch manufacturer Audemars Piguet, manufacturer of luxury mechanical watches and clocks, has some major news. The company, founded in 1875 by Jules Louis Audemars and Edward Auguste Piguet in Le Brassus in the Jura Valley in Switzerland, has recently opened the Audemars Piguet Watchmaking Atelier and Museum. Seven years in the planning, the watch museum was due to be unveiled in April 2020, but due to Covid, it finally opened to the public on 26th June.

Stunning Glass and Steel Building by Architect Bjarke Ingels

Designed by Danish architect Bjarke Ingels, this glass and steel pavilion connects to the the company’s two historic 19th-century buildings already on the site. The stunning and very stylish new building is designed in a low-profile spiral form, similar to the coil used in the making of mechanical watches. As you walk through the building you follow the curved glass walls in a clockwise manner to the centre and then you “unwind” in the opposite direction.

Unique and Practical Design

It has all been designed with style and practicality in mind – so that the building works with all temperatures whether it’s a hot sunny Summer or a cold snowy Winter. It is light and airy inside allowing the craftsmen and women working natural light all day long, but also allowing the displays to blend into the natural background.

Over 300 Exquisite Watches on Display

There are over 300 watches on display at the Musée Atelier with some amazing examples of extremely complicated time pieces, some wonderful miniatures and some very unique treasures. The history in the museum showcases 200 years of watchmaking “know how” in this beautiful area of the Vallée de Joux.

Photos courtesy of Audemars Piguet

Tours of the Museum

Tours take place Monday to Friday at 2pm and 3pm and are available in a number of languages. However the tours are extremely popular so you need to book them well in advance.