Consider this contrarian take: what if, in the face of the trend for watches growing ever smaller, you embraced a big, hulking timepiece on the wrist? Trends, as it goes, are cyclical and as an idea reaches critical mass it’s often the case that its reverse takes on a new shine. That may be the case now for big, bulky watches, and it’s as good a time as any to shine the light on a pioneering collection: the Royal Oak Offshore by Audemars Piguet.
The legend of Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak is oft-told and well-known. In a bid to break through the quartz crisis of the ‘70s, Swiss makers of fine watches focused on luxury and handcraft as the antithesis of cheap and plentiful battery-powered watches. The designer Gérald Genta was called upon by Audemars Piguet to design a luxury timepiece in steel that had never been seen before. Genta soundly delivered, though as avant-garde and revolutionary as his Royal Oak of 1972 was, it adhered to one traditional diktat of fine watches: it had to be slim enough to fit under a shirt cuff.
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Fast forward to the 1990s, and we see a shift in attitude. The mood of the era carried on from the exuberant ‘80s: a time of carefree liberated hedonism. New money was being made in all corners of the world, and fashions had shifted soundly toward a more colourful, casual and individual look. The ‘80s were, in fact, the defining decade that inspired the Royal Oak Offshore. The Royal Oak is significant for Audemars Piguet for being its first named watch, though in fact the name came after the design. Whereas in the late ‘80s, the bosses at the Swiss watchmaker had already floated the idea of a design inspired by ‘Offshore’—the name preceding and inspiring the concept.
‘Offshore’ in this case refers to the sport of offshore powerboat racing, which was at its zenith in the ‘80s. What Audemars Piguet desired was to channel this spirit of speed, virility and action into a timepiece, an outrightly rugged foil to the modern classic elegance of the Royal Oak. A sportif design, say, to stand alongside its icon of sport-chic.
In 1987, a young design talent joined the esteemed brand. Emmanuel Gueit, in his early 20s at the time, joined Audemars Piguet and worked with the famed designer Jacqueline Dimier. Perhaps it was his youth that gave him just the perspective the Offshore project needed. Gueit’s earliest sketches of the watch already bore its key traits: a thick, oversized case, bulked up and visible gaskets, and stud-shaped crowns and pushers covered with coloured rubber. When the first Offshore was introduced in 1993, it did not receive universal praise. More traditional quarters were aghast that a fine timepiece by so revered a manufacturer was so huge and bulky. Genta himself apparently had choice words for Gueit, storming into a presentation to yell “You have spoilt my watch, you’re a murderer!”
Fighting words, to be sure, but nowhere near the last. Scandal has a way of drawing attention, and the Royal Oak Offshore was embraced by a younger audience who saw in it a reflection of their lifestyles and aspirations. Here was a high-end Swiss timepiece never meant to sit obediently half-hidden underneath a shirt cuff. It jostled brazenly out and over the cuffs of shirts and jackets, and looked best worn with a sleeve rolled up. If that sounds unextraordinary today, then it certainly speaks to how sharply Audemars Piguet took the temperature of the times and how style would change in the years to come.
This year, Audemars Piguet unveiled a number of creative new additions to the collection. The Royal Oak Offshore Selfwinding Chronograph 43mm, the line’s archetypal style, welcomed two new designs that make the most of modern, high-end watchmaking materials: titanium and ceramic.
The first puts the spotlight on blue ceramic—more precisely, ceramic in Bleu Nuit, Nuage 50, the brand’s signature colour that was originally the definitive shade of blue on Royal Oak dials. This model is complemented with a grid-shaped guilloché Méga Tapisserie dial in beige with accent details in Bleu Nuit, Nuage 50; and an interchangeable textured calfskin strap in a matching tone. The second Chronograph model is cased in titanium with contrasting bezel, push pieces and crown in black ceramic, complemented with a smoked green Méga Tapisserie dial with black and beige accents, and an interchangeable grey-green rubber strap for a sportif look.
There are also three new models to the Royal Oak Offshore Diver 42mm line of dive watches. Here, Audemars Piguet has embraced the affective powers of colour, and given its robust, rugged design a touch of chromatic light-heartedness. Two references feature black Méga Tapisserie dials, contrasted with a pink and turquoise rotating inner bezel. The former is matched with a white rubber strap, and the latter with a matching turquoise one. The third reference features a deep teal Méga Tapisserie dial, with a black and white inner bezel and hour markers in pink gold.
All three references are cased in steel, water-resistant to 300 metres, and powered by Audemars Piguet’s in-house selfwinding Calibre 4308 movement. A subtle touch of colour to these watches that are made to be robust and high-performance, built for wherever one’s adventures take them, whether on land or under water.
Make an appointment to discover these Royal Oak Offshore novelties at AP House Singapore or at the Audemars Piguet boutique in Liat Towers.
