Audemars Piguet may be best known for the Royal Oak, and not so much for their horological innovation, but back in the 1990s this was different. The wandering hours complication is one that goes back to the 17th century but was first introduced in a wristwatch by Audemars Piguet in 1991. As the story goes, the wandering hours complication is said to have been made in Italy for Pope Alexander XII and was meant to make it easier to tell time using an oil lamp at night. The Pope suffered from insomnia and the complication was meant to help him tell the time when he woke up in the middle of the night in the dark.
The way that it works is that three floating disks with the hour are shown on top of a central rotating wheel in the middle of the dial. As these disks rotate, one will pass by the top sector of the dial that shows the minutes from 0-60, the correct hour aligning with one of the minutes – with an arrow on top of the hour pointing to the correct minute. A somewhat intuitive way of telling time but certainly more complicated than the two-hand method that did eventually catch on.
The time showing 7:12 on the Audemars Piguet Star Wheel Wandering Hour / Credit: European Watch Company
Audemars Piguet released this beautiful timepiece, the Audemars Piguet Star Wheel Wandering Hours ref. 25720, powered by the self-winding Cal. 2124, that was heavily modified and based on the Jaeger-LeCoultre Cal. 888. It was a high-end horological complication watch produced in fairly limited quantities and today fetching mid-5-figures in auction. While Audemars Piguet is not the only brand to make such a complication, Arnold & Son and Moser & Cie being others who have tried, AP was one of the first to do so in a wristwatch in the early 1990s, and, in my opinion, their Star Wheel Wandering Hours in one of the most beautiful renditions of the wandering hours complication today. An ancient alternative to the traditional method we have of telling time today, reborn about 30 years ago.
By: Andres Ibarguen
Read more:
Klint, David. “Wandering but Not Lost: The Audemars Piguet Star Wheel Reference 25720BA.” European Watch, https://www.europeanwatch.com/blog/audemars-piguet-star-wheel-25720ba-review/.
Wong, Suzanne. “The Mysterious Wandering Hour.” World Tempus, February 22nd, 2021, https://en.worldtempus.com/article/watches/innovation-and-technology/editorial-the-mysterious-wandering-hour-29696.html.