Audemars Piguet Code 11.59 Rose Gold & Ceramic — Skeleton Grande Sonnerie Carillon Supersonnerie | Ref. 26397NR.OO.D002KB.01

To encounter the Code 11.59 Grande Sonnerie Carillon Supersonnerie, Ref. 26397NR.OO.D002KB.01, is to stand before one of the most technically daunting objects Audemars Piguet has ever committed to production. Introduced as a 2023 new release, it combines a grande sonnerie striking mechanism — the apex of the chiming-watch hierarchy — with a three-gong carillon arrangement and the patented Supersonnerie acoustic system, all within a 41 mm case that blends black ceramic middle case with 18-carat pink gold lugs, bezel, and caseback.

The Supersonnerie system, developed in collaboration with acoustic engineers, decouples the case from the movement to optimise resonance — a technical departure that delivers tone clarity superior to virtually any striking watch. The movement visible through the open-worked skeleton dial is a hand-wound grand complication of several hundred components, with black hands and index hour-markers providing minimal but legible time indication above the mechanical spectacle beneath. The dual-material case — ceramic absorbing and dampening against the gold's resonant properties — is not an aesthetic contrivance but a functional choice.

The screw-down crown and AP folding clasp ensure 20-metre water resistance, while box and papers accompany this $399,999 commission. The 26397NR is, without qualification, one of the most ambitious wristwatches in current production — a minute repeater's spiritual heir taken to its logical extreme, housed in the Code 11.59's resolutely contemporary architecture and finished to standards that justify every cent of its considerable price.