A Partnership to Watch: Audemars Piguet and Art Basel

Leading haute horology brand Audemars Piguet and Art Basel, the world’s premier international art show for modern and contemporary works, kicked off their visionary collaboration during Hong Kong’s Art Basel in May of 2013 with a celebratory cocktail party at exclusive restaurant-cum-gallery Duddell’s.

The swank list of partygoers included guests of honor Louis Koo, who wore an elegant Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph, and Sandra Ng, who dazzled in the brand’s Lady Royal Oak 18-carat white gold quartz watch with diamonds. As Associate Partner and official “Time of Basel,” Audemars Piguet will also host upcoming Art Basel exhibitions, showing off a carefully curated display of exceptional timepieces, later this year in Basel and Miami Beach. The innovative brand is also expect to cultivate relationships with leading Art Basel artists in order to produce special events throughout the fair.

Heralded as a pioneer in the avant-garde watchmaking world, Audemars Piguet has long hovered at the extraordinary juncture of artistic creativity and technical mastery. With a home in the village of Le Brassus in Switzerland’s Vallee de Joux–regarded as the country’s “cradle of fine watchmaking”–Audemars Piguet is the last great watchmaking brand still run by its founding families. Sporty models, traditional timepieces, distinctive decorative watches, and singular creations comprise Audemars Piguet’s iconic line.

This is not the brand’s first venture into the world of contemporary art shows–most notably through involvement with 2012’s “From Avant-Garde to Icon,” itinerant exhibition in celebration of the Royal Oak’s 40th anniversary, held in cities from New York to Paris to Milan to Beijing. And considering the company’s inspired commitment to the integration of fine art and horology, it is unlikely to be its last.