Audemars Piguet brings rare watches and watchmaking demonstrations to Singapore

The free exhibition at the National Museum of Singapore explores the Swiss manufacture’s history, from astronomical complications and openworking to chiming watches.

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26 Aug 2026 05:08PM

Swiss haute horlogerie manufacture Audemars Piguet will bring 150 years of watchmaking heritage to the National Museum of Singapore from Sep 10 to Sep 13. Titled Audemars Piguet: Perspectives on Time, the immersive exhibition will be held at The Gallery Theatre. Admission is free.

Curated especially for Singapore, the showcase will bring together historical and contemporary timepieces from the Audemars Piguet Museum in Le Brassus, Switzerland, many of which will be shown in Singapore for the first time. Beyond the watches, it will explore the specialist knowledge and craftsmanship behind their creation.

Designed for seasoned collectors and newcomers to mechanical watchmaking, the event combines archival displays with interactive elements and live demonstrations to trace Audemars Piguet’s evolution since its founding in Le Brassus in 1875. The company remains in the hands of the Audemars and Piguet families and describes itself as the oldest fine watchmaking manufacturer still owned by its founding families.

The exhibition unfolds across four themed rooms, each dedicated to a different facet of Audemars Piguet’s watchmaking expertise. Looking Back and Beyond begins with rare archival timepieces charting key milestones in the manufacture’s history. From there, Astronomy: Guided by the Cosmos turns to celestial timekeeping, tracing the watchmaker’s mastery of astronomical complications through pieces spanning several generations. A demonstration will bring one of its most intricate calendar mechanisms to life.

The third room, The Beauty Within, explores the art of openworking – the demanding craft of removing sections of a movement’s plates and bridges to reveal its inner architecture. Vintage examples trace the technique’s development, while newer creations show how it continues to inform Audemars Piguet’s contemporary designs. The final room, Crafting the Future: Giving Time a Voice, turns to chiming complications, among the rarest and most complex in horology. Here, sound becomes an expression of fine watchmaking, with a live demonstration giving visitors the opportunity to hear one of these mechanisms up close.

Audemars Piguet: Perspectives on Time runs from Sep 10 to Sep 13, from 10.30am to 6pm daily, in 30-minute sessions at The Gallery Theatre, National Museum of Singapore, 93 Stamford Road. As places are limited, visitors are encouraged to register in advance here to secure their preferred slots. Walk-ins will be admitted subject to availability.