Audemars Piguet

Code 11.59 by Audemars Piguet Universelle

A landing page with a level of depth and immersion rivalling that of the Audemars Piguet Code 11.59 Universelle timepiece.

Challenge

Culminating years of research, design and manufacturing on web

The Code 11.59 Universelle timepiece marks Audemars Piguet’s uncompromising approach to craftsmanship and engineering of its ultra-complicated watches. The biggest challenge was to represent the details of this timepiece on the web in 3D. To achieve this, we needed to optimise the model for web display to ensure that the website loads quickly, avoiding slow page speeds that could deter visitors.

Audemars Piguet website homepage featuring a luxury Code 11:59 Universelle watch centered against a technical white background with the headline "ENERGY AT ITS PEAK."

Approach

Fly through the RD#4 set of complications

With the Audemars Piguet product team, we improved the 3D model's interactivity, allowing users to experience the watch's various complications, including the tourbillon, perpetual calendar, split-seconds flyback chronograph, and Grande sonnerie supersonnerie. This attention to detail was needed to craft a realistic representation of the watch and its craftsmanship.
Combining unique UI elements and a variety of technical drawings, we built a highly interactive tunnel experience that visualizes the watch and its internal mechanisms with natural dynamic lighting and realistic interactions and, most importantly, at realistic resolution for both mobile and desktop.

A minimalist white background featuring the text "A NEW R&D GENERATION" in the center. The composition includes various floating 3D watch components, such as a coiled spring, several metallic gears of different sizes, a screw, and a crown, all set against a backdrop of light circular line art resembling a watch dial.

A close-up view of a silver mechanical tourbillon assembly. Text: "The flying tourbillon offers an aerial glimpse of a powerful beating heart. Calibre 1000/RD#4 takes flight with its new escapement and construction building on decades of savoir-faire and three generations of R&D innovations."

A silver watch angled against a dark, starry sky surrounded by moon phases. Text: "A perpetual calendar to effortlessly travel through time until the year 2400. The dial display and corrections of the semi-Gregorian perpetual calendar have been conceived with ergonomics in mind to enhance user experience."

A full view of the watch face featuring three sub-dials. Text: "Timing perfected in a split-seconds flyback chronograph. The flyback mechanism restarts the chronograph without stopping it first, while the split-second hand enables the measurement of intermediate time intervals. This classic complication marries precision, synchrony and ease of use."

Floating 3D gears and a watch crown on a white background with circular line art. Text: "BEAUTY FOR THE EYES AND EARS."

The back of a silver watch with an open caseback revealing internal components, overlaid with gold sound wave lines. Text: "Aesthetics and acoustics combine in a Grande Sonnerie Supersonnerie. The Supersonnerie technology has been revisited to reveal the mechanism's inner beauty without compromising on the watch's acoustic performance."

A vertical exploded view diagram showing the many layers of a watch movement. Text: "AN ULTRA COMPLICATED WRISTWATCH."

A detailed 3D render of a single silver mechanical watch gear with a central hub.

Solution

Ticking work of art

Like the watch, the website is simple and intuitive, allowing users to move seamlessly through the content, reaching deeper and deeper levels of craftsmanship and complexity as they travel. It effortlessly combines video, images, and 3D renderings into a single flowing experience that takes the viewer to the technical and emotional centre of a ticking work of art.