The Royal Oak and the Royal Oak Offshore are such iconic watches that finding new ways to explore their designs is something of a challenge for Audemars Piguet – mostly because they’ve already tried everything. What that means is that when they release new watches, it sometimes requires careful examination to determine what is actually new. Such is the case with the new Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Selfwinding 43mm and Chronograph 43mm.
Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Selfwinding 43mm
When first looking at the new Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Selfwinding 43mm it looks more or less exactly like you’d expect from a time and date Offshore. Although that may actually be down to a kind of Mandela effect because, in reality, time and date models of the Offshore are few and far between as the collection is mostly reserved for chronographs and other specialised tool watches.
However, the mere existence of a modern time and date model isn’t the most remarkable thing about this design. That accolade has to go to the iconic octagonal bezel, which is presented with a blue rubber coating that matches the colour of the blue fumé Méga Tapisserie dial. It’s worth noting that AP have explored rubber bezels previously with a 42mm chronograph version, but this is the first time on the 43mm selfwinding and the first time in blue. Worth noting that there is also a 37mm women’s version in gold and ivory.
Rubber bezels are not very common in the watch industry at large but they do have their root in genuine horological innovation. The example that comes to mind is the Mühle-Glashütte S.A.R Rescue Timer designed to be worn by life boat operators and which has a rubber bezel in order to protect the watch, the wearer, the people being rescued and the boat when choppy waves inevitably cause you to smack your wrist into something. It therefore matches the sporty, more tool watch oriented design of the Royal Oak Offshore.
Beneath the surface of the dial is the calibre 4302, an automatic movement with a 70-hour power reserve. It’s a really solid movement with time and date functions and operating at 4 Hz. The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Selfwinding 43mm is priced at £23,800.
Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Selfwinding Chronograph 43mm
Second up at 43mm is the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Selfwinding Chronograph in brown. Beyond the colour of the dial, which is new, the main update to the case is tricky to spot. That’s because the new feature is the fact that the steel bezel is matched to the steel case. Every other Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph 43mm is either bi-metal, ceramic or titanium, meaning a standard steel on steel model didn’t actually exist.
Focussing in on the new colour, it’s a rich chocolaty shade with a slight fumé gradient around the peripheral edges. That’s paired with black chronograph subdials that display the running seconds, 30-minute timer and 12-hour timer. Matching the black accents of the dial are the black ceramic pushers and crown that operate the complications.
Powering the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Selfwinding Chronograph 43mm is the calibre 4401, an automatic movement with flyback chronograph. Like the 4302 it has a 70-hour power reserve and a 4 Hz frequency. The additional complications of the chrono edition means it has a substantially higher price than the time and date model at £36,100.
Price and Specs:
Audemars Piguet calibre 4401, automatic, 40 jewels (chronograph)
More details at Audemars Piguet.
