The extremely exacting art of movement open-working can lend extraordinary delicacy and refinement to an already superb watch. Practiced in its traditional form by the finest brands, the movement of a skeleton watch gradually takes form under the practiced and absolutely steady hand of a superbly skilled master artisan; he or she must gradually remove metal leaving just enough to provide sound structural support for the watch mechanism, then carefully bevel, polish, and engrave each square millimeter to perfection. The result is amazing, and in the finest examples, you can literally see through the entire mechanism, as light shimmers off of every minuscule surface.

A superb example of this magnificent horological art form is the pictured timepiece from the Audemars Piguet Jules Audemars watch collection. This magnificent manually wound dress watch demonstrates all the qualities of the finest open-work executions, its Audemars Piguet 3090 caliber exposing every mechanical secret to the admiring and patient eye. This watch also provides a silent testament to why Audemars Piguet stands among the world’s most celebrated manufacturers of haute horlogerie.