Audemars Piguet brings 150 years of high horology to Singapore with Perspectives on Time

You do not necessarily need to travel to Switzerland to get a closer look at some of the finest examples of Swiss watchmaking this September.

Audemars Piguet is one of the so-called “Holy Trinity” of Swiss watchmaking, alongside Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin, an unofficial term used by collectors to describe three of the industry’s most prestigious historic manufactures. Now, Singapore visitors will have an opportunity to explore what has earned Audemars Piguet that reputation over the past 150 years.

From 10 to 13 September 2026, the manufacture is taking over The Gallery Theatre at the National Museum of Singapore for Audemars Piguet: Perspectives on Time, a four-day immersive exhibition exploring its watchmaking savoir faire.

Admission is free and the exhibition is open to everyone, making this an excellent opportunity for seasoned collectors and those simply curious about mechanical watches to explore the world of high horology. Especially curated for Singapore, the show brings together archival pieces from the Audemars Piguet Museum alongside contemporary watches, with a number of the historical timepieces appearing in Singapore for the first time.

Rather than concentrating solely on famous modern designs, the exhibition looks more broadly at the movements, materials, techniques, and complications that have shaped the house since its beginnings in Le Brassus in 1875.

The experience unfolds across four rooms, each unveiling a different aspect of Audemars Piguet watchmaking.

The first, Looking Back and Beyond, provides the historical foundation, tracing the manufacture from its founding in the Vallée de Joux through rare archival timepieces representing significant milestones in its development. It is a particularly relevant starting point for understanding a company that still remains in the hands of its founding Audemars and Piguet families more than 150 years later.

From history, the exhibition moves towards the heavens. Guided by the Cosmos examines Audemars Piguet’s longstanding expertise in astronomical complications through watches spanning different generations. The room also includes a demonstration designed to bring one of the manufacture’s intricate calendar mechanisms to life, offering visitors a clearer understanding of how such complex mechanical displays actually function.

The third room, The Beauty Within, turns its attention to openworking, the demanding practice of removing as much material as possible from a movement while retaining its structural integrity and functionality. Visitors will be able to examine exceptional vintage examples and see how Audemars Piguet has carried the technique into its latest creations.

Finally, Giving Time a Voice explores one of high horology’s most fascinating areas: watches that tell the time through sound. The room focuses on striking complications, where precisely controlled mechanical components transform the passage of time into an audible experience. A live demonstration will offer the rare opportunity to hear such a mechanism up-close.

That emphasis on demonstration should make Perspectives on Time particularly useful for visitors relatively new to high watchmaking. Terms such as astronomical complication, openworking, and striking mechanism can sound intimidating, but seeing and hearing them in action offers a much more immediate introduction to why these techniques occupy such an important place in traditional Swiss watchmaking.

Audemars Piguet: Perspectives on Time runs from 10 to 13 September 2026, daily from 10.30am to 6pm, at The Gallery Theatre, National Museum of Singapore at 93 Stamford Road. Entry is complimentary, with visits organised in 30-minute sessions. Spaces for each session are limited, so advance registration at bit.ly/ap-perspectivesontime is encouraged. Walk-ins will also be accepted subject to availability.