Audemars Piguet (AP) is increasing its presence in what’s historically been the territory of Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin. Not only is AP returning to Watches & Wonders, the industry’s flagship event held each year in Geneva, the brand is also expanding is footprint in the city’s suburb of Meyrin with an expanded case and bracelet manufacture.

What and where

Meyrin was already the home of AP’s case and bracelet manufacture, but the brand has been bulking up on industrial capacity and took over a U-shaped building, completed in 1965 for a pharmaceutical company, in 2023. The new facility increases its Geneva footprint almost four-fold, to 9,000 square metres, with room for 350 staff.

While the brand has built new structures closer to home, the choice to renovate an existing historical building is notable. Fortunately AP’s employees won’t be stuck in the past, as the building has been modernised for energy management and to accommodate modern machines.

The building is a short jaunt from Les Boîtiers de Genève, F.P. Journe’s case and bracelet manufacture, in what’s already a hotbed of horological activity, home to brands like Roger Dubuis and Chopard.

In addition, the new facility will be home to what the brand is calling its New Technologies hub, presumably part of the brand’s new approach to research and development, known internally as the ‘Fab Lab.’

Industrial excellence

We recently had the chance to hear directly from AP’s chief industrial officer Lucas Raggi, who outlined the brand’s quest for industrial quality. The expansion in Meyrin adds further industrial capacity to a brand that has already demonstrated a willingness to invest heavily in its manufacturing infrastructure.

The Arc Manufacture in Le Brassus, which recently came online, was itself designed to be part of a manufacturing ecosystem capable of producing up to 65,000 watches annually, up from an estimated 50,000 in 2025 and roughly 30,000 just a few years prior. The Meyrin expansion, which quadruples the brand’s case and bracelet manufacturing footprint, is another step in this direction.