Nowadays, watches like the Royal Oak perpetual calendar skeleton (a standard in AP’s collection and among the finest perpetuals available on the market, in my opinion), the Royal Oak Equation of Time, the revolutionary Chron-AP, and this Millenary Minute Repeater demonstrate that AP is without a doubt a top-tier manufacture. AP’s in-house self-winding caliber 3120, located inside the fundamental Royal Oak 15400, is also among the finest base movements in the world. All these are the things which keep AP pertinent to “real” watch lovers that sometimes get lost in the buzz round the other kinds of AP buyers.And then there is your typical well-to-do watch buyer. For me, the best analogy for this other type of AP purchaser is advised via a singular scene in 1 episode of a single television series that was popular for a period of time some years ago. I am speaking about Entourage, and I bet the great majority of you understand the way to which scene I am referring.Ari Gold receives a solid gold Royal Oak chronograph (not unlike the watch I’ll review down below) by his then-soon-to-be boss, who explains it as “One of the finest watches in the world.” The camera then pans to the good gold watch in its box, and Ari is in disbelief regarding the present — and consequently, AP is introduced to a whole group of potential new clients, the guys who watch Entourage. From this moment on, you see a number of the personalities on the show wearing APs. Many at the time considered Audemars Piguet had paid for the positioning, but in discussions with AP over time, it had been disclosed to me that not just one dollar was exchanged. Rather, a specific manufacturer on the show proved to be a large AP customer, and insisted it be a Royal Oak presented to Ari. Entourage did a lot for AP, but it wasn’t this one placement that defines the “other” type of AP client. It does give you an idea of where AP is popular, and that is in Hollywood, music, and sports, with the young and moneyed.
Last year Audemars Piguet introduced the Royal Oak Offshore Diver Chronograph in luminescent colours – that same colour palette has now been applied to the time-only Royal Oak Offshore Diver.
One of a dozen new Royal Oak models to be unveiled at SIHH 2017 tomorrow, the Royal Oak Offshore Diver “Funky Colour” is available in five different colours: white, blue, yellow, orange and green. Each dial colour has dark blue accents to match.
The dials are decorated with the chequerboard Méga Tapisserie guilloche that’s standard for the Royal Oak Offshore.
Colours aside the new Offshore Diver is identical to the previous models. The steel case is 42mm in diameter and rated to 300m, with the crown at 10 o’clock to rotate the inner elapsed time bezel around the dial. And it’s powered by the calibre 3120, AP’s in-house automatic movement.
The Offshore Diver “Funky Colour” is delivered with two rubber straps, one to match the dial colour, and another in dark blue.
AP has yet to reveal pricing and availability, but with the earlier versions of the same retailing for US$19,000, expect this to be similarly priced.
Individual model references are as follows:
Blue – ref. 15710ST.OO.A027CA.01
White – ref. 15710ST.OO.A010CA.01
Yellow – ref. 15710ST.OO.A051CA.01
Orange – ref. 15710ST.OO.A070CA.01
Green – ref.15710ST.OO.A038CA.01