Audemars Piguet celebrates 25 years of the Royal Oak Offshore with three novelties: a true to the original homage re-edition, and two new interpretations of the Royal Oak Offshore. Now made even more radical than it ever was a quarter of a century ago. Details here!
First launched in 1993, amidst quite a bit of furore from the Royal Oak designer Gerald Genta, the Royal Oak Offshore, designed by a young designer was quite the watch to make fun of. It was huge, bold, and carried an ETA movement with a Dubuis Depraz chronograph module. It was very expensive in its day, costing some CHF 9,900 for a watch offered only in stainless steel. But over the years, its appeal grew, and grew, and it found a place in the hearts of collectors of the genre. One of the early icons of the internet blogosphere, the lage Hans Zbinden wrote about how he fell in love with the Royal Oak Offshore.
Recommended reading: Original review in 1998 by the late Hans Zbinden on Timezone.com
The Royal Oak Offshore, (ROO) is the springboard for Audemars Piguet to launch more than 120 references on the 42mm case in various case materials such as stainless steel, titanium, gold and platinum.
And for this coming SIHH 2018, Audemars Piguet is introducing three new versions: a re-edition of the original Royal
Oak Offshore Selfwinding Chronograph, as well as a brand new Royal Oak Offshore Tourbillon Chronograph with a contemporary dial design developed in two versions.
The re-edition is rather faithful to the original of 1993 Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph, having a very similar look and feel from our examination of the high resolution photographs (believe us, the images supplied to us are in TIFF and some 6000 pixels across, we reduce them for your viewing over the internet here.) One critical exception is that the original had a closed case back, and the new one a display case back in the standard sapphire glass.
The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Chornograph re-edition looks faithful to the 1993 version.
Two new models inspired by the previous Royal Oak Offshore Tourbillon Chronograph (26388PO & 26288OR), with an entirely redesigned movement.The crown and push pieces are now in ceramic instead of metal and rubber.
The AP ROO Tourbillon Chronograph in pink gold.
And a new bezel architecture which is bold, and on first glance looks audacious. The bezel takes DNA cues from the original design by Emmanuel Gueit, and yet takes it to a further level. Minimalism seems to be the design brief, at least for the bezel, where it seems to have been scalloped/skeletonised, but carved around the iconic and signature 8 hexagonal screw heads
The bezel is scalloped and skeletonised.
This is in line with the spirit of the original ROO, which was big, bold, and in-your-face audacious. Same spirit. We rather like the look of the new design from the photographs, though truth be told, the editorial team was rather torn…some hating it, and yet others loving it. But true iconic design should be like this, and polarize. Its the fresh approach, and shock factor that cause this reaction. We will give it a few months, perhaps years for the design to sink in, and we think the collecting public will grow to love the new design. Just as they did 25 years ago.
In Stainless Steel: AP ROO Tourbillon chronograph.
“To break the rules you must first master them”.
AP ROO Chronograph re-edition. Technical Specifications Ref: 26237ST.OO.1000ST.01
Price: CHF25,000 before taxes
Movement
Selfwinding Calibre 3126/3840
Total diameter 29.92 mm (13 ¼ lignes)
Total thickness 7.16 mm
Number of jewels 59
Number of parts 365
Minimal guaranteed power reserve 50h
Frequency of balance wheel (Hz) 3 Hz (=21,600 vibrations /h)
Case
Stainless steel case, glareproofed sapphire crystal, caseback engraved with the “Royal Oak Offshore” logo in the centre and the word “AUTOMATIC”, blue rubber-clad pushpieces and screw-locked crown, water-resistant to 100 m
Dial
Blue dial with “Petite Tapisserie” pattern, blue counters, white gold applied hour-markers and Royal Oak hands with luminescent coating, blue inner bezel
Bracelet
Stainless steel bracelet with AP folding clasp
Functions
Chronograph, hours, minutes, small seconds and date
AP ROO Tourbillon Chronograph Technical Specifications Ref: 26421ST.OO.A002CA.01 & 26421OR.OO.A002CA.01
Price: CHF275,000 for SS case, CHF310,000 for pink gold case, both before taxes
Movement
Hand-wound Calibre 2947
Total diameter 39.78 mm (17 ½ lignes)
Total thickness 11.60 mm
Number of jewels 30
Number of parts 353
Minimal guaranteed power reserve 173h
Frequency of balance wheel (Hz) 3 Hz (=21,600 vibrations /h)
Case
Stainless steel case, glareproofed sapphire crystal and caseback, stainless steel bezel, black ceramic screw-locked crown and pushpieces, sandblasted titanium pushpiece guards, water-resistant to 100m Ref 26421ST
18-carat pink gold case, glareproofed sapphire crystal and caseback, pink gold bezel, black ceramic screw-locked crown and pushpieces, sandblasted pink gold pushpiece guards, water-resistant to 100m Ref 26421OR
Dial
Black dial, white gold or pink gold hour-markers with luminescent coating
Bracelet
Black rubber strap with stainless steel or 18k pin buckle
Functions
Tourbillon, chronograph, 30-minute counter, seconds counter, hours and minutes
