News 
The watchmaker unveiled its latest lounge designed by Brooklyn-based artist and designer Fernando Mastrangelo in the Collectors’ Lounge at Art Basel Hong Kong 2019. This immersive space, evoking the brand’s native Swiss Jura mountain region, will be presented at all three editions of Art Basel 2019.
Fernando Mastrangelo is known for his sculptures in natural materials, such as salt, sand and stone. His new lounge concept, entitled La Vallée, offers visitors a new experience of the Vallée de Joux, the cradle of Audemars Piguet since its foundation in 1875. The process of deconstruction and reconstruction of nature and its play on the geological manifestations of time enables Mastrangelo to initiate a dialogue between past and present, at the crossroads between the purity of nature and the passage of time.
Minerals extracted from the region’s quarries have been processed and used to build walls, display cases and furniture. In the centre of the lounge, a forest of spruces shaped with sand and silica presents Code 11.59 timepieces from the Manufacture’s new collection, as well as vintage watch models featuring an unconventional design. Behind the watchmaker’s bench installed in the craftsman’s workspace, a layered wall appears like a dismantled part of the quarries of the Combe Noire, in the Vallée de Joux. This wall also highlights five materials – gold, copper, aventurine, sapphire crystal and iron – characteristic of the latest Audemars Piguet collection. They depict the history of the Manufacture, which is firmly rooted in the region, as well as the complex process of manufacturing high-end timepieces. Mastrangelo’s study of the geological formation of the Vallée de Joux continues with the crushed glass chandelier, which refers to the limestone stalactites of the Vallorbe caves in Switzerland.
A small part of the lounge dedicated to relaxation, nicknamed the “escape” area, enables visitors to unplug for a few moments while enjoying a sunset in the Vallée de Joux. The architectural design of this part, combining round and octagonal shapes, is inspired by the complex geometry of the company’s new watch collection. Its curved walls have a dark and rough texture made of sand and their lighting system reproduces the natural light of the Valley, captured by high-tech drones.
April 25, 2019