Audemars Piguet K2071 (in English)

Pardonnez-moi, pour mon Français est insuffisant!

I am, among other things, a collector of vintage watches. And like many vintage collectors, I look back at the 1950’s and ’60’s as having been the golden era of wristwatch production. I mean that not only in terms of aesthetics, though I do love the classic, understated look of watches from that period, but also in terms of the development and production of superb movements. The peak of high-end automatic movement design arguably came in the early 1960’s, when both Audemars Piguet and Vacheron & Constantin developed calibers in an effort to compete with Patek Philippe.

I currently own one vintage Audemars Piguet model which houses one of these movements. It is cal. 2071, and I’ve just had an opportunity to create some images which, hopefully, will give you a feel for its quality. Here is some further technical background for those who are interested:

The AP cal. 2071 (2072 with date) were based on a "reserved" JLC ebauche, and designed to compete directly with the legendary Patek Philippe cal. 12-600 and cal. 27-460 movements. The ruby rollers were a technical breakthrough (reduced friction), and the movements are easily identifiable by the beautiful 18k gold guilloche rotor.

They also feature a two-spoke Glucydur screw balance; self-compensating Breguet balance-spring; fine adjustment of the index via micrometer screw and swan’s neck spring; indirect central seconds; “Kif”-Flector shock absorption, and 29 jewels. They were regulated at various temperatures, and in four positions. The plate, bridges, and rotor bearer are all decorated with Geneva Stripes. The movement’s diameter is 29 mm, and it is 6.3 mm in height. The beat rate is 18,000 bph.

It is worth noting that these movements are nearly identical to the Vacheron & Constantin cal. 1071/72 movements, which are equally fine, and are based on the same ebauche. Many serious observers understandably consider these to be among the finest automatic movements ever produced, a good example of why the ‘in-house’ obsession can be rather limiting.

Best estimates are that there were a total of only 800 cal. 2071 movements ever produced!

I hope that you enjoy these images, and please respect the copyright.

Regards,

Tony C.