Audemars Piguet Launches a New Watch and the Response Is: It's Awful

Audemars Piguet spent the last seven years designing a new family of wrist watches, heralding its most important product launch in decades as a bold move beyond the Royal Oak timepiece that the company has long relied on for the bulk of its sales. The online reaction was swift and brutal: It’s a dud.

The “Code 11:59” collection aims high, starting at 25,000 Swiss francs ($25,440) and going up to 295,000 francs. Audemars plans to make 2,000 watches in the first year and said it hopes the Code 11:59 will eventually make up at least 20 percent of its portfolio.