Audemars Piguet Code 11.59 Selfwinding Chronograph

A second pillar beside the Royal Oak

By the late 2010s Audemars Piguet had a problem most brands would envy. The Royal Oak, born in 1972, and its Offshore extension were among the most sought-after watches in the world, and to many buyers "Audemars Piguet" simply meant "Royal Oak." The brand's other lines lived in its shadow, and a single-product business carries its own risks.

CEO François-Henry Bennahmias set out to build a new pillar. The result was revealed in January 2019 as CODE 11.59 by Audemars Piguet: 13 references across six models, launched with three new movements. One Geneva-based magazine called it the brand's biggest product launch in 20 years. The collection had been in the works for more than half a decade, by one account seven years, and the brand planned only 2,000 pieces across all 13 references in the first year, with the long-term goal of reaching 20 percent or more of its production.

The name is an acronym and a slogan. CODE stands for Challenge, Own, Dare and Evolve; 11.59 is the last minute before a new day. The launch also served as AP's farewell to the Geneva fair where it had long shown its novelties.

Round from the front, octagonal from the side

Seen head-on, the Code 11.59 looks like a plain round watch. Turn it, and the case reveals an octagonal middle section, a quiet echo of the Royal Oak, sandwiched between a slim round bezel and a round caseback. Surfaces alternate between brushing and polished chamfers.

The lugs are the most debated detail. They are openworked and welded to the bezel, not to the case body, and at the bottom they merely rest against the caseback, leaving a hairline gap. The brand studied how to balance lug size against strength; under heavy stress, the lugs can lean on the caseback for support.

The crystal is equally unusual: sapphire domed on the inside and curved vertically from six to twelve on the outside, so the dial seems to shift and deepen as the wrist moves. The launch dials were glossy lacquer with a raised Audemars Piguet signature grown in thin layers of 24k gold by a galvanic process and fixed with tiny feet. The original Arabic numerals were drawn from a 1940s minute repeater in the brand's archives.

The caliber 4401

For many enthusiasts the chronograph was the real news. The caliber 4401 is Audemars Piguet's in-house, fully integrated, self-winding flyback chronograph, five years in the making by one launch account. It uses a column wheel and a vertical clutch and adds an instant-jump date.

It measures 32 mm across and 6.8 mm thick, has 40 jewels and 367 parts, beats at 4 Hz (28,800 vibrations an hour) and holds at least 70 hours of power reserve. The finishing includes Geneva stripes, perlage, satin brushing and diamond-polished bevels, seen through an openworked 22k gold rotor.

The dial follows a classic 3-6-9 layout: a 30-minute counter, a 12-hour counter and small seconds, with a tachymeter scale on the inner bezel and, on the launch models, a date window at 4:30.

Hated, then reconsidered

The online reaction in January 2019 was brutal. Commenters compared the dials to fashion watches costing a fraction of the price, mocked the lugs and questioned the 30-meter water resistance. One veteran collector, writing six months later, called the response "extremely negative" and blamed the launch more than the watches: too many references at once, a design too close to the Royal Oak in spirit, and prices that started at $26,800 for the time-only model and $42,400 for the gold chronograph.

Reviewers who handled the watches were kinder. One wrote that the first images had not won him over but meeting the chronograph in the metal did. The collection ended its first year with a prize for its Supersonnerie minute repeater at the 2019 Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève.

Audemars Piguet kept refining. In September 2022, the Royal Oak's 50th anniversary year, it added ceramic-cased tourbillon models. A unique two-tone Code 11.59 Tourbillon Openworked sold for CHF 1 million at a charity auction for muscular dystrophy research. The collection has since grown to perpetual calendars, chiming watches and a wandering-hours Starwheel.

The steel chronograph

Steel came in February 2023, four years after launch. The new 26393ST chronographs came in blue (the Royal Oak shade "Bleu Nuit, Nuage 50") and green, with a beige version, 26393QT, using a ceramic middle case. The dials gained a textured, concentric-circle finish, the date moved from 4:30 to 3 o'clock, and the inner bevel was widened. The movement stayed the 4401.

In Switzerland the steel chronograph cost CHF 29,000 and the steel-and-ceramic version CHF 31,000. In October 2026, Audemars Piguet's US site listed the blue steel 26393ST.OO.A348KB.01, now with a stamped dial and gray counters on a rubber-coated strap, at $39,700. The case measures 41 mm by 12.6 mm, with sapphire on both sides.

How to identify a 26393: the letters after the number give the case material, such as OR for pink gold, BC for white gold, ST for steel, QT for steel with a ceramic middle case and NR for black ceramic. Launch-era dials are smooth lacquer with Arabic numerals on some versions and the date at 4:30; the 2023 generation has textured dials and the date at 3.

The numbers

Reference

26393 (OR pink gold, BC white gold, ST steel, QT steel with ceramic middle case, NR black ceramic)

Caliber

AP 4401, self-winding integrated flyback chronograph, column wheel, vertical clutch, 4 Hz, 70-hour power reserve, 40 jewels, 367 parts

Movement size

32 mm diameter, 6.8 mm thick

Case

41 mm; steel version 12.6 mm thick; double-curved sapphire crystal and sapphire caseback

Water resistance

30 m

Production years

2019 to present (steel from 2023)

Production numbers

Not published; AP planned 2,000 pieces across all 13 launch references in the first year

Timeline

1. 1972

   Audemars Piguet launches the Royal Oak, the watch the Code 11.59 would have to live beside.

2. Jan 2019

   Code 11.59 by Audemars Piguet is revealed with 13 references, including the 26393 Selfwinding Chronograph.

3. Jan 2019

   Launch US prices: $42,400 for the gold chronograph; 2,000 pieces planned across the collection for the first year.

4. Jun 2019

   A widely read critique calls the launch a case study in how to fail at marketing.

5. 2019

   The collection's Supersonnerie minute repeater wins a prize at the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève.

6. Sep 21, 2022

   In the Royal Oak's 50th year, AP adds ceramic-cased Code 11.59 tourbillon models.

7. Feb 2, 2023

   Steel and steel-and-ceramic chronographs arrive with new dials and the date at 3 o'clock.

8. 2025

   Audemars Piguet marks its 150th anniversary with new Code 11.59 models, including a 38 mm perpetual calendar.

9. Oct 2026

   The steel 26393ST.OO.A348KB.01 lists at $39,700 in the US.

The world in 2019

• Jan 2019

  Audemars Piguet makes its last appearance at the SIHH fair in Geneva.

• 2019

  Omega announces the return of its caliber 321 chronograph movement after more than 50 years.

• Apr 10, 2019

  The Event Horizon Telescope publishes the first image of a black hole.

• Apr 15, 2019

  Fire breaks out in the roof of Notre-Dame de Paris.

• Jul 20, 2019

  The world marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing.

Price record

This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.

By reference price, Audemars Piguet Code 11.59 Selfwinding Chronograph is number 55 of 100 in the watches entries of the FLOAT 100. 54 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (48 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• The Code 11.59's lugs are attached only to the bezel; at the back they just rest on the caseback, with a hairline gap.
• The raised Audemars Piguet signature on the dial is grown from thin layers of 24k gold, then set on tiny feet.
• The launch dials' Arabic numerals came from a 1940s Audemars Piguet minute repeater in the archives.
• CODE is an acronym for Challenge, Own, Dare and Evolve; 11.59 is the minute before a new day.
• The same year critics savaged the collection, one of its watches won a prize at the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève.
• The steel chronograph's blue dial borrows its name, "Bleu Nuit, Nuage 50," from a classic Royal Oak shade.