The company was founded by Jules Louis Audemars and Edward Auguste Piguet in the Vallée de Joux in 1875, acquiring the name Audemars Piguet & Cie in 1881. The company has been family-owned since its founding. Audemars Piguet is a highly regarded watch manufacturer. To mark the 20th anniversary of the Royal Oak, Audemars Piguet hired a young designer, Emmanuel Gueit, to design a new watch known as the Royal Oak Offshore. The Offshore was formally introduced in 1993, with a much larger case (42mm compared to the original 39mm) which was thought to be tougher than the original.

The Royal Oak was designed by the not-yet-famous watch designer Gerald Genta in 1971 and was released to the public in 1972 at Baselworld. The Royal Oak was groundbreaking for Audemars Piguet at the time, as it was the brand's first sports-luxury wristwatch and the design itself was quite avant-garde. Launched in 2019, Code 11.59 by Audemars Piguet writes a new page in the Manufacture’s history. The contemporary evolution of a classic round watch, it presents a multifaceted and curved architecture with more details than meet the eyes.