Audemars Piguet has truly had an unforgettable journey in the luxury watchmaking industry so far. The Swiss Haute Horlogerie giant is a concoction of emotions, experiences, and genius that only seems to get better with time. Audemars Piguet’s greatest accomplishment came in the form of an octagonal-shaped watch designed by none other than Gerald Genta. A few decades later, it turned out to be a sensation that soon became the benchmark of modern luxury watchmaking. This watch goes by the name of Royal Oak. It was released in 1971 and was the first stainless steel watch that was touted as a luxury timepiece.
Audemars Piguet pulled a tough one with the Oak as the industry wasn’t as welcoming to change as it is today. These were different times with its own share of trends and taboos. It took the brand a couple of decades to launch another mega-hit in the form of the Royal Oak Offshore. The Offshore capitalized on the Oak’s reputation and legacy. It was a watch that was meant to evolve. The timepiece had a barrage of changes made to it within a few years of its release. Often referred to as The Beast, the Offshore transformed from being the black sheep of the herd to being a sheer spectacle.
The Royal Oak Offshore is probably the most successful sequel that the luxury watch industry has ever seen. Today, after almost 27 years of its launch, the watch is not only widely accepted but also celebrated for its design and boldness. The three new releases from Audemars Piguet do a great job in encapsulating that coveted Royal Oak Offshore robustness and mould it into colourful ceramic masterpieces.
All three watches come with black ceramic cases with their respective colour schemes. The bezel, the crown, and the chronograph pushers implement their own colour pattern depending on the reference. There is a minor difference between the first two references (Ref. 26405CE.OO.A056CA.01 and Ref. 26405CE.OO.A030CA.01), which are in green and blue colour schemes, and the third reference (26405NR.OO.A002CA.01), which takes inspiration from the pink gold Royal Oak Offshore. The latter replaces some of the regular features in this series with 18-carat pink gold. The crown, as well as the chronograph pushers by its side, are made of black ceramic. The dial is distinct as well. The Arabic numeral hour markers have been made big, bold, and extremely legible suitable to the new 44 mm case size. They do, however, take inspiration from the 42 mm Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph.
Getting In The Details – The Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph 44
With a diameter of 44 mm, the watches already possess a massive wrist presence. The cases, as well as their bezels, offer a distinct appearance that provides the watches with an opportunity to truly stand out. As mentioned above, Ref. 26405NR.OO.A002CA.01 has a black ceramic case and comes with pink gold accents. On the other hand, Ref. 26405CE.OO.A056CA.01 comes in a black ceramic case along with a green coloured ceramic bezel while Ref. 26405CE.OO.A030CA.01 comes in a black ceramic case with a bezel with a blue ceramic theme.
When it comes to the dials, the design is uniform with slight deviations in colour. Ref. 26405NR.OO.A002CA.01 features a smoked grey ‘Mega Tapisserie’ design, rhodium toned sub-dials, and a silver themed inner bezel. Ref. 26405CE.OO.A056CA.01 too features a ‘Mega Tapisserie’ pattern with a smoked green hue, rhodium toned sub-dials, and a black inner bezel. Lastly, Ref. 26405CE.OO.A030CA.01 features a similar smoked blue themed ‘Mega Tapisserie’ dial along with rhodium toned sub-dials and a black inner bezel. Two of the new watches have white gold Arabic numeral hour markers (Ref. 26405CE.OO.A056CA.01 and Ref. 26405CE.OO.A030CA.01) and the third watch (Ref. 26405NR.OO.A002CA.01) has pink gold Arabic numeral hour markers.
The timepieces are water-resistant to up to 10 meters and have rubber textured straps with pink buckles. Ref. 26405NR.OO.A002CA.01 has a grey textured rubber strap and a pink gold pin buckle while Refs. 26405CE.OO.A056CA.01 and 26405CE.OO.A030CA.01 have green and blue textured rubber straps, respectively, with titanium pink buckles.
The Movement
The Ceramic Royal Oak Offshore Chronographs come fitted with the good old Calibre 3126/3840 automatic which is a chronograph movement. It musters up a power reserve of around 50 hours and beats at 21,600 vibrations per hour (3 Hertz). The movement is in-house manufactured and has a Chrono module from Dubois Depraz. The movement is highly functional and offers the standard hours, minutes, and small seconds apart from the chronograph. It consists as much as 59 jewels and is 29.92 mm in diameter.
Honest Opinion
The watches are quite bulky. Some would even argue that they are pretty intimidating. In all honesty, this chunky and oversized nature of the watch is part of Royal Oak Offshore experience. People who buy the Royal Oak Offshore, in particular, are well aware of what they are getting involved in. The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore is a family of extra-large and robust watches. It always has been and it always will be.
When it comes to this particular release, the brand has put special emphasis on the colour schemes. The Royal Oak has had a history with ceramic references such as the white and black ceramic watches of the Royal Oak Perpetual series. However, the blue and green tones offer something different in terms of aesthetics. The already non-conformist timepiece gets more rebellious with its use of colours.
Talking about attention to detail, you get exactly what you would expect from a brand like Audemars Piguet. Everything starting from the bezel to the chronograph pushers looks perfect. The watches bring a certain kind of freshness much like petrichor after the rain with them in the brand’s catalogue. The colours that are used look vibrant and charming. However, at the same time, the watchmaker does not make the mistake of overdoing it with the colours by making them too noisy.
At the end of the day, one has to acknowledge that these watches aren’t for everybody. They cater to a specific crowd with a distinct taste in watches. Nonetheless, they are what they are, some of the coolest and most good-looking mechanical watches that Audemars Piguet has produced lately. Too bad they are boutique exclusive.
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