On June 23rd 2003, Audemars Piguet inaugurated
its New York Boutique, in a ceremony attended by
Arnold Schwarzenegger
40 E 57th St. : the address of the first Audemars Piguet boutique in the United States. Located between Madison Avenue and Park Avenue, at the heart of the fashion district, a five-storey building now houses the US offices of the Manufacture.

The Audemars Piguet spirit
The ground floor dedicated to the boutique houses the watch collections as well as the Royal Oak La Mer jewellery collection, presented in a setting that features the brand colours. On the first floor, a reception area has been specially arranged for events, while the upper floors are occupied by offices.
Architects Marco Carrano and Xavier Casals were respectively entrusted with the project as a whole and with the interior decoration. While this was a first for the former, whose references include Bulgari and Ferragamo, the latter has been working with the Manufacture for many years. Together, they have designed an entity that is functional, refined, and welcoming.

Inaugural auction
Arnold Schwarzenegger was present to celebrate this inauguration. This dedicated collector of Audemars Piguet watches has inspired several creations by the Manufacture, including a Royal Oak Offshore chronograph in yellow gold named after him and the Royal Oak Offshore T3 chronograph, worn by the actor in the film Terminator 3, Rise of the Machines. A box containing the Royal Oak Offshore Arnold Schwarzenegger yellow gold chronograph, the Royal Oak Offshore End of Days chronograph, the Jules Audemars 6th Day chronograph, as well as a prototype of the Royal Oak Offshore T3 chronograph, was placed up for auction. Along with other objects from the film including three other prototypes of the Royal Oak Offshore T3 chronograph, it raised a total of US$ 400,000, which will be entirely donated to the actor's Inner-City Games foundation.

The Manufacture Audemars Piguet, which has always cultivated excellent relations with the United States, can now, in the words of Jasmine Audemars, Chairman of the Board of Directors, “communicate directly” with this country. “The opening of our first boutique in the United States is the expression of the distribution strategy we have established over the past few years”, stated Georges-Henri Meylan, President. “Given that we control the greater part of our global distribution through our subsidiaries and our boutiques, we can control our brand image and promote direct contact with customers”. Witness the successes scored by Audemars Piguet since 1999, when the Manufacture took over distribution in North America.

The Manufacture Audemars Piguet in a nutshell
Created in 1875 by Jules-Louis Audemars and Edward-Auguste Piguet in the Swiss village of Le Brassus, Audemars Piguet is the oldest Manufacture of Haute Horlogerie never to have left the hands of the founding families. It currently holds a record number of world firsts in the field of complex watch mechanisms. 500 people work on the three production sites in Switzerland, while 70 more are employed by the distribution subsidiaries in Germany, France, Switzerland and the United States.



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Source: Audemars Piguet press release
June 2003