If there’s any place to preview a gemstone-covered timepiece where, at the touch of a button, an enameled hand-sculpted peacock unfurls and spreads its wings, it's at Watches & Wonders. Thank you, Audemars Piguet.This year was the 150-year-old Swiss watchmaker’s debut at the fair, as it stopped showing at the previous iteration, SIHH, in 2019. But AP has only been under CEO Ilaria Resta’s (relatively) new stewardship since 2024 and Resta brought Audemars Piguet back to Watches and Wonders to reveal the company’s grand new project.Amongst all the independent young bucks unveiling sci-fi timepieces, century-old watch couturiers relaunching, and literal “super freaky” wristwear, Audemars Piguet was launching the Atelier des Établisseurs.

This is to be AP’s incubator of wildly ornate timepieces, harking back to an 18th-century tradition that stayed alive till the early 1900s, where farmers spent the winters creating specific watch components in small home workshops. This birthed a seasonal network of master craftspeople who together produced feats of watchmaking. Audemars Piguet wants to recreate that system.

Atelier des Établisseurs promises to revive this traditional way of working by bringing together various artisans with specific skills to construct extravagant watches in very limited quantities. Each watch will come with a list of the many hands it passed through.The aforementioned white-gold “Établisseurs Peacock” secret watch, which opens up to unveil both its timekeeping properties and its peacock's shimmering feathers, is just one of three timepieces presented to demonstrate the capabilities of Atelier des Établisseurs. It is also, objectively, the wildest of the bunch.Not that there’s anything understated about Établisseurs Galets, a small 31mm watch where a medley of turquoise or tiger’s eye stones creates a shiny strap or the Établisseurs Nomade, a skeletonized pocket watch designed to open up into a miniature desk clock.

Different variations of all three watches will be available only to AP’s top clients, with the Peacock expected to arrive next year. Audemars Piguet was sure to underline, though, that this is only the beginning of the program, which makes you wonder what other rare birds AP has in store.Highsnobiety has affiliate marketing partnerships, which means we may receive a commission from your purchase. Want to shop the products our editors actually love? Visit HS Shopping for recs on all things fashion, footwear, and beauty.