Audemars Piguet is sometimes criticized as being a one-trick pony due to the iconic Royal Oak‘s outsized presence in its catalog, with three of the brand’s four current collections consisting soley of different types of Royal Oaks. (Technically, there are five collections, but the fifth has just two replica watches for sale that were released over a five-year period, neither of which is still available.)
This criticism comes largely from a place of love. As one of the “Holy Trinity” of high Swiss replica Audemars Piguet watches UK, AP has an illustrious back-catalog filled with countless covetable references that, unfortunately, have no modern equivalent.
But Audemars has quietly been addressing this frequent criticism lately by elevating its only non-Royal Oak collection, the Code 11.59. While it met with a lukewarm reception when it debuted in 2019, the line has grown to be something of a dark horse in the market thanks to an ever-increasing stable of desirable models. For example, when AP unveiled its impressive new perpetual calendar calibre earlier this year, it did so with a Code 11.59 — not the Royal Oak (though that came very shortly after).
Now, AP has once again turned to the Code 11.59 for a very cool creation. In fact, it’s probably my favorite 1:1 Audemars Piguet replica watches from the brand this year.
Star Power
Buried in the Code 11.59 catalog is the Starwheel, unique best replica Audemars Piguet watches with a wandering hours complication. This type of complication consists of three discs (or other objects) on the dial, each with four numerals equally spaced apart. The discs are all in constant incremental movement along the dial so that, one by one, they align with a stationary minute track to tell the current time. Every time the hour changes, the next disc moves into place with the next hour ready to go.
The Starwheel — which is a spectacular name for such cheap Audemars Piguet fake watches, btw — features a partially skeletonized outer case of white gold around an inner case in black ceramic, while its dial boasts a dark blue aventurine backdrop for a trio of rotating black PVD aluminum discs that tell the hour against a minute track located between 10 and 2.
It’s the type of watch I’m used to seeing from more avant-garde brands like Urwerk, not modern Audemars Piguet. Once upon a time, however, AP did produce wandering hour watches with some frequency. The brand first introduced the original Starwheel line in 1991 and made several Starwheel high quality fake Audemars Piguet watches over the next decade before phasing them out in the early 2000s.
In 2022, AP brought back the Starwheel with the version described above, but three years later, it’s still just the one reference that exists. Despite its historical provenance, its uniqueness in AP’s lineup and its off-the-charts cool factor, the Starwheel sits alone as an oddity in Audemars Piguet’s lineup.
Red Redemption
Until now, that is. AP has created a new Code 11.59 Starwheel, and it’s even better than the standard version. The new perfect fake Audemars Piguet watches swaps out the blue aventurine dial for one of sparkling red lacquer. It’s seriously eye-catching with a bit of a Wizard of Oz vibe going on; I’ve never seen a dial quite like it.
The wandering hour discs remain black with white numerals, but the outer dial containing the minute and seconds tracks has been updated from black to white, a swap which sounds simple but has completely transformed the Audemars Piguet copy watches for men.
The standard Starwheel is a fairly monochrome affair, but this new version with its black discs, sparkling red dial and white outer dial boasts far more contrast. Not only does this make the watch more legible, but it also improves its looks immensely.
You’ll also notice the 60 on the minute track is red. This can hypothetically serve as a warning to the wearer that a new hour is about to start, but really, it was chosen to honor the 60th anniversary of Singapore’s independence, which is the reason why the AAA+ fake Audemarfs Piguet watches exist. Singapore’s flag is red and white, so we have the Southeast Asian country to thank for the watch’s gorgeous color scheme.
The case remains white gold with a black ceramic core and crown, but even that hits harder on this model. Here, the black elements of the case appear more cohesive, as they visually connect to the black hour discs. Before, all of the dark colors of the Starwheel sort of blended together.
The Swiss clone Audemars Piguet watches is of course still powered by the in-house calibre 4310, which features automatic winding and a 70-hour power reserve to complement its wandering hours complication. Here, the movement has been given a 22-carat pink gold rotor with a special motif celebrating Singapore’s birthday. I could do without the big “60th Anniversary” label, but I love the woven pattern of the rotor.
Finally, there’s the strap. Or, rather, straps. One is a black rubber strap that’s textured to look like woven nylon. It’s the same strap that comes on the standard Starwheel. The other is a “denim effect” strap with red stitching.
Patek Philippe tried to make denim straps a thing last year and, well, they never really caught on. But I like the look of the black faux-denim strap here, as it adds even more visual interest to the best selling Audemars Piguet super clone watches — which is, admittedly, very interesting-looking already.
This is a seriously cool watch from AP that serves as a reminder that there’s more to the brand than the Royal Oak, mainly some highly impressive and attractive watches. But, at least when it comes to this Starwheel, there is a catch.
The Audemars Piguet Code 11.59 Starwheel SG60 is what’s referred to in the watch industry as a piece unique. What that means is only one of China fake Audemars Piguet watches exist, and a second will never be made. In this case, the watch will be auctioned off to benefit the National Museum of Singapore in a fundraising event on August 15.
Raising money for a museum is commendable, but it’s definitely a shame that only one of these watches will ever exist and that it will probably spend eternity sitting inside a safe.
Still, top replica Audemars Piguet watches is so cool and so great-looking that I feel like AP must be planning other colors of the Starwheel down the line that apply the lessons of contrast learned from this model. That’s my hope, anyway.
