The Audemars Piguet Code 11.59 Starwheel Is Based On A System Developed For An Insomniac Pope

The Audemars Piguet Code 11.59 Starwheel is based on a system of timekeeping invented in the 17^th century for an insomniac pope. It was modernized and interpreted in the 1990s by Audemars Piguet and is being reinterpreted again on the Code 11.59 Starwheel, introduced at Art Basel Miami.

The wandering hours concept can be traced to 1655 Rome, when Pope Alexander VII found himself suffering from insomnia that was aggravated by the ticking of a clock. He ordered a “night clock” from Roman clockmaker Campani brothers, requesting that it be silent and easy to read in the dark. The Campani brothers presented him with the first wandering hours clock, on which the time was read on a semi-circle in an aperture that indicated the quarter hours and was lit from the inside.

Audemars Piguet resurrected and refined the complication in 1991, with a movement that used a system of three satellites rotating on a central disk and also on their own axes, lining up the appropriate hour numeral along a retrograde minutes scale along an arc at the top of the dial. Named the Starwheel, the unusual mechanism was visible on the dial, and was used for Audemars Piguet models in several collections up until 2003. The concept is reinterpreted again here on the Code 11.59 Starwheel, introduced yesterday at an event at Art Basel Miami. The slightly domed trio of disks are made of aluminum with black PVD coating. They are placed on a central panel that does a complete revolution once every three hours in a way that lines up the approproate hour number with the corresponding minutes. The panel is positioned against a backdrop of aventurine. There is a central seconds hand.

The 18k white gold case measures 41mm wide x 10.7 thick, with a double curved sapphire crystal. The movement is displayed through a sapphire caseback, revealing detailed decoration and a 22k pink gold rotor, signature to the 11.59 collection. The strap is textured black rubber. It is priced at $57,900.