From rare archival timepieces and astronomical complications to openworking and striking watches, Audemars Piguet is bringing 150 years of haute horlogerie to the National Museum of Singapore this September
It may only have been a few months since Audemars Piguet, with its Royal Pop collaboration with Swatch, generated a wave of frenzied buzz in Singapore, but the storied maison is not quite done capturing the attention of local collectors. This September, the Le Brassus manufacture is turning its focus from headline-making releases to heritage and craftsmanship with Audemars Piguet: Perspectives on Time, an immersive exhibition at the National Museum of Singapore.
Running from 10 to 13 September 2026 at The Gallery Theatre, the four-day exhibition offers a closer look at the 150 years of savoir-faire behind Audemars Piguet. Specially curated for Singapore, it brings together archival pieces from the Audemars Piguet Museum, contemporary watchmaking and interactive experiences, with a number of the historical pieces making their first appearance on our shores.
Rather than presenting the manufacture’s history as one long chronology, Perspectives on Time divides the experience into four rooms, each examining a different facet of the craft and technical expertise that has developed in Le Brassus since Audemars Piguet was founded in 1875.
The journey starts with Looking Back and Beyond, which traces the manufacture’s evolution through a selection of rare archival timepieces. Drawn from key moments in Audemars Piguet’s history, the watches serve as markers of how its approach to mechanical watchmaking has developed across generations.
From there, Guided by the Cosmos turns its attention skyward. The room explores Audemars Piguet’s expertise in astronomical complications through watches spanning different eras, illustrating the longstanding relationship between traditional watchmaking and the celestial cycles upon which our understanding of time has historically depended. A demonstration of one of the manufacture’s intricate calendar mechanisms will also offer visitors the opportunity to see some of that mechanical complexity in action.
The focus shifts inward in the third room, The Beauty Within. Dedicated to the art of openworking, the space traces the technique through exceptional vintage watches before examining how it continues to find expression in the manufacture’s newest creations. Here, the movement itself becomes the attraction, revealing the architecture and intricacy that would ordinarily remain concealed behind the dial.
The final chapter, Giving Time a Voice, shifts the emphasis from sight to sound. Centred on striking watches—among the more uncommon expressions of complicated mechanical watchmaking—the room explores how a timepiece can communicate the passing of time acoustically. A demonstration will allow visitors to hear one of these mechanisms at close range, bringing an otherwise rather esoteric complication into something much more immediate.
Together, the four spaces make Perspectives on Time an introduction to the different disciplines that sit behind some of the brand’s most coveted watches. History, astronomy, openworking and acoustics become separate ways into the same subject: what it takes to build a mechanical watch at the highest level.
Audemars Piguet says the experience has been conceived for watch enthusiasts and newcomers alike. By bringing archival objects together with contemporary watchmaking and live demonstrations, the exhibition offers visitors a more tangible way of understanding the craft—and the considerable complexity that can sit behind something as seemingly simple as telling the time.
With pieces from the Audemars Piguet Museum appearing in the country for the first time, Perspectives on Time presents a rare opportunity to see the manufacture’s past and present brought together under one roof—and, perhaps, to understand a little more of what goes on beneath the dial.
Audemars Piguet: Perspectives on Time will take place from 10 to 13 September 2026, from 10.30am to 6pm daily, at The Gallery Theatre, National Museum of Singapore, 93 Stamford Road. Admission is complimentary, with visits taking place in 30-minute sessions. Advance registration is encouraged as capacity is limited, although walk-ins will be accepted subject to availability.
