Introducing the Audemars Piguet Code 11.59 Starwheel

What exactyl is a wandering hours? Turns out, despite its exotic look, it’s a complication that improves legibility. A carousel carries the three hour discs and rotates them around the dial, letting each take turn to point at the fan-shaped minute scale at 12 o’clock. In other words, the hour numerals move along the minutes scale as time passes, and because the hours and minutes are practically next to each other, time telling is easy (though it might take some getting used to). A wandering hours, however, isn’t a jump hour as each disc rotates gradually to display the hours. It’s like a stripped version of a digital jumping hour display, but one that is quietly elegant and charming thanks to the carousel motion.

Inside the watch is the cal. 4310. This movement is essentially a cal. 4309 with an additional wandering hours module on the dial side. Notably, the movement retains an impressive 70 hours power reserve despite having additional discs that consume a considerable amount of energy. The finishing of the module is noteworthy with the steel parts vertically grained on top and flanked by rounded, polished bevel. The back, however, is industrially but precisely finished, as is usual for an AP movement that’s not a skeleton or high complication.