SINGAPORE — Some of the world’s most intricate mechanical watches are coming to Singapore, and visitors won’t just be looking at them behind glass.
Swiss luxury watchmaker Audemars Piguet is bringing 150 years of watchmaking heritage to the National Museum of Singapore this September through “Audemars Piguet: Perspectives on Time,” a free immersive exhibition featuring rare historical timepieces, contemporary creations and live demonstrations of some of horology’s most complex mechanisms.
The four-day exhibition will run from September 10 to 13, 2026, at The Gallery Theatre at the National Museum of Singapore. Especially curated for Singapore, the showcase will include pieces from the Audemars Piguet Museum in Le Brassus, Switzerland, with several historical watches appearing in the country for the first time.
But the exhibition’s biggest appeal may lie beneath the surface.
A journey through the hidden world inside a watch
Rather than simply presenting a lineup of luxury timepieces, Perspectives on Time takes visitors through four themed spaces designed to reveal how Audemars Piguet has pushed the boundaries of mechanical watchmaking since its founding in Le Brassus in 1875.
The journey begins with “Looking Back and Beyond,” where rare archival watches trace key moments in the Swiss manufacture’s 150-year history.
Visitors are then taken skyward in “Astronomy: Guided by the Cosmos,” which explores astronomical complications — sophisticated mechanisms that track celestial and calendar-related cycles. A demonstration will offer a closer look at how one of these intricate calendar mechanisms works.
The third space, “The Beauty Within,” focuses on openworking, the painstaking process of removing material from a watch movement to expose its internal architecture while preserving its structural integrity and function.
Finally, “Crafting the Future: Giving Time a Voice” turns the spotlight — and the sound — on chiming complications. These highly sophisticated watches use mechanical systems to mark time audibly, and visitors will have the rare opportunity to hear one of these mechanisms demonstrated up close.
Rare history meets a new generation of watch enthusiasts
The exhibition arrives during a milestone year for Audemars Piguet, one of Switzerland’s most influential independent watchmakers and the company behind the iconic Royal Oak.
While the brand is widely associated with modern luxury sports watches, the Singapore exhibition places its deeper technical heritage at the centre of the story — from historical complications and finely engineered movements to contemporary interpretations of centuries-old craft.
Recent coverage by international watch and luxury publications has highlighted the exhibition’s accessibility, with the experience designed for both seasoned collectors and newcomers who may be curious about what makes mechanical watchmaking so complex. The four-room format also gives visitors a rare opportunity to see, understand and even hear elements of haute horlogerie that are normally hidden inside a watch case.
Free entry — but limited spaces
The exhibition will be open daily from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., with visits organised into 30-minute sessions. Admission is complimentary, although capacity is limited and advance registration is encouraged. Walk-in visitors may be admitted subject to availability.
For watch collectors, the exhibition offers a rare look at historical pieces that seldom leave Audemars Piguet’s museum collection. For everyone else, it may be an opportunity to discover that the story of a luxury watch is not just about what appears on the wrist — but about the extraordinary world of engineering hidden beneath the dial.
Audemars Piguet: Perspectives on Time
📍 The Gallery Theatre, National Museum of Singapore
📅 September 10–13, 2026
🕥 10:30 a.m.–6:00 p.m. daily
🎟️ Admission is free; advance registration is encouraged
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