When talented people kick around ideas, some pretty cool stuff can result. As the Swiss watch industry as we know it was built on the spirit of collaboration (a watch could contain parts manufactured in over a dozen independent shops, and some companies went as far as sharing board members) it comes as no surprise that when two big names came together on a project in the 1950’s, an incredible line of watches was born. The year was 1953; the companies – Gübelin and Audemars Piguet.
Founded in 1854 by Mauritz Breitschmid, Gübelin was on the eve of their 100th year in business and wanted to offer customers a special watch to mark the occasion. They turned to their longtime horological ally, Audemars Piguet for the important task of manufacturing watches that would embody the grand jubilee anniversary. Founded in Le Brassus in 1875, Audemars Piguet had made a name for themselves producing complicated timepieces of the highest quality. 1953 was not the first time the two houses had worked together however. As far back as the 19th century Audemars Piguet had produced Gübelin-branded watches for retail in their shops.
Audemars Piguet chose the 13″‘ VZ Valjoux based movement to power the requested run of 200 pieces; 100 center second VZASC, and 100 subsidiary second VZSS. The movements were finished to the utmost standards of quality, with generous use of Geneve stripes, anglàge, and black polishing throughout. As was the custom, movement nomenclature was meticulously hand engraved. A special commemorative dedication read “GÜBELIN – 1854 – 1954”. Technical notables include microregulation, balance shock protection and a blued Breguet hairspring.
The watches were constructed in a variety of metals, with varying dial and case designs and different sizes. It is believed that a total of 10 examples were produced in white gold with a diamond dial as seen below.
The extremely limited amount of reference material available on VZ based Jubilee watches point to a total production run of 200 pieces (a number that was subsequently confirmed by Gübelin when we reached out). However, a twist in the plot came when a VZASC Jubilee with diamond dial was sold by Antiquorum last year that was numbered several digits over 200. This begs the question; were there really 200 made in total? Presuming that they were indeed numbered sequentially, is it possible that 200 complete watches were delivered but a few excess movements were included in the sequence of serial numbers and not cased? This new evidence raises many legitimate questions, but because Gübelin themselves confirm 200 as the total with no additional details it seems that, for now, we must be content to simply speculate.
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