The Ultra-complicated Audemars Piguet 150e Héritage Pocket Watch

For its 150th anniversary, Audemars Piguet has chosen a format that predates the wristwatch yet remains central to the brand’s most ambitious technical expressions: the pocket watch. The new 150e Héritage pocket watch directly references the Manufacture’s historic ultra-complicated pocket watches of 1899 (L’Universelle) and 1921 (La Grosse Pièce). It is also connected to milestones such as the world’s first perpetual calendar wristwatch with leap year indication (1955), the ultra-thin calibre 2120/2800 (1978), and the recent ergonomic breakthroughs of calibres 7138, 7136 and 1000. At the core of 150e Héritage is a new movement, Calibre 1150, paired with an entirely novel concept: the Universal Calendar, a mechanical, independent calendrical calculator that connects solar, lunar and lunisolar cycles on a single display. Let´s discover what this watch does and admire the fine Métiers d’Art decoration along the way.

The 150e Héritage was explicitly conceived for pocket use, and looking at its size, it´s hard to imagine otherwise. The 50mm platinum case houses a movement engineered without compromise. At 23.4mm thick, the watch accommodates extreme mechanical density yet appears very ergonomic for handheld operation. The case construction offers crown-pushers and correctors regrouped and re-engineered to optimise comfort, avoid accidental activation and ensure symmetry when the watch is closed. Extensive 3D modelling and real-world testing were used to refine tactile feedback, positioning and resistance, an approach that reflects AP’s recent focus on intuitive high complications, such as the patented all-in-one crown system for its next-gen perpetual calendar movement, the Calibre 7138.

A discreet push-piece at 6 o’clock releases the secret caseback, which opens 180 degrees to reveal both the movement and the Universal Calendar. The inside of the caseback doubles as a Supersonnerie sapphire soundboard, enhancing acoustic performance while offering a view into the calibre’s design. The case itself is hand-engraved. With all functional controls confined to a limited area, the remaining surfaces depict Audemars Piguet’s history, including portraits of the founders and the 150-year anniversary emblem.

The main dial is crafted in 18-carat white gold and finished with blue translucent grand feu enamel. Hand-engraved Roman numerals sit above star-trail motifs, supporting the astronomical theme. The hand-engraved hands in pink gold provide contrast and legibility while echoing the tone of the tourbillon bridge. The split-seconds hand is crafted from white gold. The Universal Calendar dial boasts the same decoration, with engraved star trails filled with blue enamel and titanium-toned discs.

The hand-wound Calibre 1150 builds upon the Calibre 1000 (RD#4), introduced in 2023, also known as the Universelle, but has been extensively reworked for pocket-watch use. The oscillating weight has been removed, and all activation mechanisms have been redesigned. The movement comprises 1,140 components, delivers a minimum 60-hour power reserve, and operates at 21,600 vibrations/hour. In total, it integrates 40 functions and 22 complications, and if you add the Universal Calendar to the equation, we’re talking about 47 functions and 30 complications in one watch.

Among its headline complications are:

• Grande Sonnerie, Petite Sonnerie and minute repeater, enhanced by AP’s patented Supersonnerie technology
• Split-seconds flyback chronograph, with semi-instantaneous minute counter and dragging hours counter
• Flying tourbillon with large amplitude
• Semi-Gregorian perpetual calendar, accurate until 2399
• Astronomical moon and precise moon phases.
• Despite the multitude of functions, legibility remains a priority. Calendar indications are displayed through dedicated apertures, leaving chronograph counters uncluttered and readable.

Operation is centralised around three crown-pushers:

• At 2 o’clock, a multifunction crown-pusher starts and stops the chronograph, selects chiming modes (silence, petite or grande sonnerie), and activates the minute repeater via a pull function.
• At 3 o’clock, the main crown-pusher manages winding, bidirectional date correction, time-setting and split-seconds activation through a patented return system linked to the stem.
• At 4 o’clock, a push-piece resets the flyback chronograph and adjusts the month forwards or backwards, returning automatically to neutral after each use.
  Additional correctors for weekday (WD) and moon phase (marked by a crescent) are hidden under the caseback.

The most original part of the 150e Héritage is the Universal Calendar, housed within the caseback cover and operating independently of the main movement. The traditional perpetual calendars are usually tied to a single civil system (Gregorian, Chinese, etc). This mechanism, however, uses the Gregorian calendar only as a reference, and compiles 8 complications and 17 indications, presenting a panoramic view of astronomical and cultural cycles. It displays:

• Year, leap years, months, dates and weeks
• Moon phases and lunisolar dates
• Solstices and equinoxes
• Nine major cultural celebrations derived from solar, lunar and lunisolar calendars, including Christmas (Sol Invictus), Ramadan, Diwali, Easter, Vesak, Rosh Hashanah and Chinese New Year

The calendar operates via a bidirectional wheel on the caseback. A single rotation advances the system through one Metonic cycle of 19 years, synchronising lunar and solar rhythms. The mechanism covers the period from 1900 to 2099 and remains accurate regardless of the watch’s power reserve.

The watch comes with a hand-made platinum chain, a tribute to traditional chain-making and a reminder that this is a pocket watch conceived as a complete object, not merely a movement in a case. The 150e Héritage is produced in just two unique platinum pieces, with additional white gold variations planned. The price is upon request, but undoubtedly rather astronomical.

For more details, please visit AudemarsPiguet.com.