The SIHH 2016 watch trade show sees a lot of new Audemars Piguet watches including the brand new Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Diver Chronograph for 2016 – that arrives in four very summery, fun color schemes. If you recall, it was back in 2010 that Audemars Piguet first introduced the Royal Oak Offshore Diver. This time-only model has proven to be quite successful, and I later experienced some “in-the-wild” wearing with the Royal Oak Offshore Diver here. Since its initial release, the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Diver has has come in a range of versions, with cases in Forged Carbon and Ceramic (both in black and white).
The blancpain skeleton watch Royal Oak Offshore Tourbillon Chronograph 25th Anniversary and Royal Oak Offshore Selfwinding Chronograph are 3 new, pre-SIHH 2018 references which we’ll see in shops next year, even when AP is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its Royal Oak Offshore line.When Audemars Piguet introduced the first Royal Oak Offshore some 25 decades before, I do not think they anticipated it to be the success that it’s today, even though it largely built on the first Royal Oak recipe: proceed really large, very daring, and expensive. Many forget that at the time of its introduction in 1972, the now-classical 39mm Royal Oak caused quite a stir with its cost, its on-display screw heads in its bezel, its steel case and bracelet, and its extremely high cost, unprecedented for a steel watch. Now, all this was to be taken to the next level with the Royal Oak Offshore.It was big and brash, and purists who saw it in Basel back in 1993 screamed that the Royal Oak was desecrated — likely the very same people who cried out to about the original Royal Oak desecrating luxury watches generally. Truth be told, the Offshore was a daring move by Audemars Piguet, but now most of us know how well it has paid off. Now, the Royal Oak and Royal Oak Offshore are Audemars Piguet’s best-selling collections — essentially synonymous with the brand itself, which obviously isn’t a good thing, but we’ll leave that discussion for another time.
As 2018 will mark the 25th anniversary of the Royal Oak Offshore, blancpain quantieme complet 8 jours will commemorate the event with three special Royal Oak Offshore offerings — with certainly a couple more in the pipeline, waiting to be established at SIHH 2018. 26237ST stays very much loyal to the first. Water-resistance is 100m. The principal differences that we can see between this 2018 model and the original are very subtle, namely from the moments monitor and ‘Swiss Made’ print onto the periphery of the dial.Inside that the re-edition Royal Oak Offshore Selfwinding Chronograph defeats the Caliber 3126/3840, the same movement used in other modern Royal Oak Offshore chronograph watches. Aside from the moment, of course, this movement features chronograph and date complications, a 22k gold strand, beats at 3Hz, and includes a power reserve of 50 hours.
The dial of the Patek Philippe Nautilus is an actual piece of art. The colours are mesmerizing when the angle of the lighting changes on the dial with its horizontal embossed bars. It may change from dark blue to green and it seems if the center component of the dial is much more bright compared to the rest of it.
This version sees a return to a steel case, but that is because blancpain l evolution welcomes a new member to the Royal Oak Offshire Diver family with the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Diver Chronograph. I easily anticipate that future years will see even more versions of the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Diver Chronograph in more traditional color tones, as well as more case materials.
Powering the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Diver Chronograph is the in-house made Audemars Piguet calibre 3124/3841 automatic chronograph movement that we last saw fitted into an entirely different style of watch in the Audemars Piguet Jules Audemars Chronograph. From classic and dressy to modern and sporty, this two-register chronograph separates itself visually from other triple-register chronograph movements people tend to associate with most Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph models.
The Royal Oak and Nautilus have evolved over the past decades, like the Royal Oak Off-Shore series, Royal Oaks with all kind of mechanical complications and the Nautilus chronograph or Nautilus moon phase. The pure versions of the Royal Oak and Nautilus were always there though — in stainless steel — just such as the initial models of the 1970s. Ahead of these titans meet each other, let us briefly introduce them one by one.About 40 years back, 3000 Swiss Francs would buy you a very decent gold dress watch. Therefor, journalists and people involved in the watch sector were in shock to watch blancpain l-evolution super trofeo flyback chronograph introducing a stainless steel sports watch for this sum of money throughout the Basel watch exhibition of 1972.
The calibre 3124/3841 is made up of 364 parts and operates at 3Hz (21,600 bph). Once again, I am going to chime in requesting that blancpain bathyscaphe blue develop a 4Hz chronograph movement for their sport watches. Power reserve is 50 hours, and the movement uses a lovely gold automatic rotor – which, in this instance, you unfortunately cannot see, as there is a solid caseback.
The blancpain quantieme complet 8 jours Royal Oak Offshore Diver was not only intended to be the brand’s first serious diving watch, but was also meant to offer a cleaner time-only dial. Here, we get what is arguably among the more simple chronograph dials across the entire Royal Oak Offshore collection.
At 42mm wide in steel, the blancpain ocean commitment 2 Royal Oak Offshore Diver Chronograph watches are water resistant to 300 meters and have an inner rotating bezel that is operated via the black ceramic crown positioned at 10 o’clock. Additional black ceramic pushers are used for the chronograph, and the main crown is also in black ceramic (with a metal interior segment).
Writing about the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Diver Chronograph, I am reminded of the high-quality rubber strap that not only has a nice non-slip texture, but helps this watch fit amazingly comfortably. It is likely that the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Diver Chronograph will be slightly thicker than the three-hand Diver, but I think that wearing comfort will be similar.
The Royal Oak and Nautilus have evolved over the past decades, like the Royal Oak Off-Shore series, Royal Oaks with all kind of mechanical complications and the Nautilus chronograph or Nautilus moon stage. The pure variations of the Royal Oak and Nautilus were always there though — in stainless steel — exactly such as the initial models of the 1970s. Before these titans meet each other, let’s briefly introduce them one by one.About 40 decades ago, 3000 Swiss Francs would buy you a very good golden dress watch. Therefor, journalists and people involved in the watch industry were in shock to watch Audemars Piguet introducing a stainless steel sports watch for this amount of money throughout the Basel watch exhibition of 1972.
As you can see, the brand has chosen to debut the blancpain leman aqualung grande date Royal Oak Offshore Diver Collection with a “splash” in four notably bold color schemes. Perhaps, the most subtle model is the reference 26703ST.OO.A027CA.01 that has a blue dial and strap with yellow accents on the dial and internal rotating bezel. Next is the reference 26703ST.OO.A070CA.01 in orange, followed by the 26703ST.OO.A038CA.01 in lime green. My favorite model is the reference 26703ST.OO.A051CA.01 Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Diver Chronograph in yellow – because I have never been shy about my love of black and yellow “bumblebee” Audemars Piguet timepieces.
Sometimes one can get lost in the enchanting illusion that more is achieved by hand than, in fact, is possible with certain techniques and modern expectations for tolerances. The frosting gives the gold a shiny effect similar to that of getting diamond powder on the surface, just less reflective. The bezel edges are polished and case edges beveled for some extra pop in involving the frosting, and the caseband is brushed (perhaps there is such a thing as too much bling). The “frosted” completing isn’t often seen in instances (motion parts and dials, more often), which makes this an intriguing and unusual appearance that should probably be looked at in person to determine exactly how attractive/wearable/masculine/blingy or otherwise it is. Besides the use of the frosted gold, this is essentially the blue-dial version of the time-only Royal Oak that we’ve come to know from various versions over the years since Gerald Genta designed it.While the previous smaller versions were offered in white and rose gold, this 41mm Royal Oak will only be available in white gold. It has the blue tapisserie dial with a matching blue date window. The palms and applied markers are golden, clearly, and filled with a sliver of Super-LumiNova to create the watch legible at night. The bracelet is the comfortable and incredibly comfortable design. Like the 37mm frosted gold god, it is powered with the automatic standard 3120, which provides 60 hours of power reserve, beats at 3Hz, and has the customary, solid 22ct gold, decorated monobloc rotor — every one of that is visible through a screen caseback.Those wanting to stock up on some bling will have to hurry as the blancpain vintage Royal Oak Frosted Gold 41mm is limited to 200 pieces just. If you happen to miss out, you can always console yourself by buying a set of Royal Oak cufflinks that the brand released together with the watch. The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Frosted Gold 41mm is available at retailers and boutiques for $55,000 plus a pair of the cufflinks will put you back $4,200 for the gold and $1,600 for steel.
In terms of availability, blancpain villeret continues with the increasing trend of making a lot of appealing watch models available exclusively in Audemars Piguet brand boutiques stores. While this might seem like an arbitrary way to get customers in to brand boutiques, it is part of an important and larger overall strategy in the watch industry to focus on more vertical integration as brands both produce timepieces and sell them directly to customers. In the long run, this will lead to benefits for consumers, as it is the only viable option to allow for price stability and gradual elimination of the gray market (which actually causes retail prices to go up).
Again, as the debut collection, these four colorful models of the blancpain quantième perpétuel 8 jours Royal Oak Offshore Diver Chronograph are meant to make a bold statement and are probably some of the “funnest-looking” yet serious luxury sport watches I’ve seen in a while. I am pretty sure that future models will nevertheless offer more “conservative” tones for those people who don’t think they can pull off lime green on a daily basis – no matter if it is on an Audemars Piguet or not. Price for the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Diver Chronograph is $27,900. audemarspiguet.com
