Audemars Piguet /

Audemars Piguet (AP) (French pronunciation: [o.də.maʁ pi.gɛ]) is a manufacturer of expensive Swiss watches which compete with Patek Philippe, Jaeger-LeCoultre, and Vacheron Constantin. The roots of Audemars Piguet date back to 1874, when the 23-year-old Jules-Louis Audemars met Edward-Auguste Piguet, then only 21, at Vallée de Joux, which is considered to be the cradle of prestige watch-making. Their hometown was Le Brassus. When they graduated from school they went to Vallée de Joux to start working in their favorite field of watch manufacturing. Thus Audemars started producing component parts for movements and Piguet got the job of a repasseur, whose job it was to make the final regulation of the timepiece. They founded a firm later known as Audemars, Piguet et Cie. Since 1882, members of the Audemars and Piguet families have always been on the board of directors and have thus directly or indirectly run the company. The business started with Audemars managing the production and technical part and Piguet focusing on sales, and success was not immediate.