Audemars Piguet has celebrated the beginning of its Royal Oak anniversary year with an evening dedicated to its origins and long tradition in fine watchmaking. On Tuesday 17^th January 2012, guests of the AP Night were immersed in the birthplace of Audemars Piguet, the Vallée de Joux in Switzerland where they were able to feel how the very early watchmakers were living during the winter and autumn seasons.

The evening was divided into three parts: the cocktail, dinner and live performances. The cocktail ambience represented the autumn where inspiration stemmed from nature while the dinner symbolised the hard winters where watch-farmers used to spend time in their homes perfecting the art of watchmaking.

Audemars Piguet’s ambassadors such as Michael Schumacher, Jarno Trulli and Julien Clement along with a selection of friends of the brand enjoyed the complete gastronomic dinner by well-known Swiss chef Philippe Rochat as well as the entertainment of the evening.

The amazing performance of portrait painter Franck Bouroullec impressed the guests when in just a few minutes he was able to paint a perfect portrait of the Audemars Piguet founders, upside-down.

Audemars Piguet CEO Mr Philippe Merk and Mrs Jasmine Audemars, President of the Board of Directors, commenced their speech by thanking everyone for supporting the brand throughout the years and paid tribute to the late Gérald Genta. They also talked about the upcoming Royal Oak worldwide exhibitions before they raised their glasses and sang Happy 40^th Birthday to the iconic Royal Oak. The Audemars Piguet ambassadors who could not attend the evening personally recorded their special wishes to the Royal Oak on a video which was played just after the birthday cake was cut.

The evening ended on a high note with a live concert of Bastian Baker, the young and upcoming Swiss musician. The AP guests enjoyed a unique musical performance when the former director of the Montreux Jazz Festival, Claude Nobs, took his harmonica and along with Bastian they jazzed up the atmosphere of the evening.