Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Watches

A young designer – Emmanuel Gueit - was delegated the task of bringing about a revolutionary change in the make of Audemars Piguet Royal Oak so that it could address the needs of the young audience. Thereby, Gueit thought that the world is in need of a masculine watch which will swoop everyone off their feet. Why masculine you ask? Because the designer observed that women have begun to don the original edition of the watch. All he wanted was for the AP watch to be regarded as a men's watch exclusively.

This led to the advent of the AP Royal Oak Offshore. The watch was thick and was proportioned very well – however – the introduction of the watch was postponed for quite some time. This decision sprouted due to the fact that thin models were still in fashion and if this Royal Oak Offshore watch were to be brought about in the marketplace, it may not be liked as much as it is supposed to. Nonetheless, the 20th anniversary of the AP Royal Oak – in 1992 - felt like the right moment to surprise the market with something new. However, the introduction of the Royal Oak Offshore watch was postponed by another year and it finally was released in the year 1993. The name Offshore did not appear on the watch, initially, because AP had not come to terms with the new introduction just as yet. The first 100 models of the recent addition to the hall of fame of AP only carried the name Royal Oak in the case back, thereafter, those Audemars Piguet watches came engraved with the name “Royal Oak Offshore.”

Like the Royal Oak, the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore was received as a disaster and even Gerald Genta – who originally designed the watch – looked down upon it. He was of the view that the watch has been unnecessarily enlarged to the size of a walrus. Nonetheless, the Audemars Piguet watch saw an overwhelming welcome in Italy. Slowly but surely, the Audemars Piguet watch was accepted by the rest of the world and saw an increase in its sales. Since we have already taken you through the journey of how did the Audemars Piguet watch climb the ladder of success – let's discuss its details. This Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore watch first reference was 25721ST and the watch was known as "The Beast". The reference of this Royal Oak Offshore watch began with the D-series which began in the year 1992. The number of the first watch so introduced was D23744 and one of the last is D97184 which was produced in the year 1998.

The case of the D-series was huge with a height of 16mm, to be precise, and it made use of rubber in place of the crown. The Audemars Piguet watch's movement made use of the Jaeger-LeCoultre 888 calibre which was combined with a chronograph module making it a AP chronograph watch. It was acclaimed to be way ahead of its time and there was nothing in the watch that could be taken for granted. The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore watch weighed too heavy because of the incorporation of a stainless steel belt and the weight increased further with the introduction of the gold and platinum models.

Thereafter, AP introduced the E and the F series. The difference between these Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore models is not often noticed immediately but if you begin to have a closer look you are bound to find it. Aforementioned is the most prominent difference and that is the engraving of the case back of the first 100 dials. Also, the pattern of the dial has changed slightly but it would use an eagle’s eye to figure out that the bracelet has been updated over the past years. The clasp of the initial Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore watches was relatively simple as compared to the ones introduced later on and the links between the bracelet are distinct in the various series. The D-series witnessed four screws – two on both the sides – whereas the E-series saw a decrease in the screws to two – one on each side.

In the year 2018, AP introduced a variant to the Royal Oak Offshore with the reference number 26237ST. The eye-catching thing about the Audemars Piguet watch is that is that its dial is still 42mm but it doesn't feel as though it has been used since the past 25 years – it looks fresh as ever. It could make for the perfect watch of today's world and with the beauty that the Royal Oak Offshore watch already is people are bound to enjoy it just as much. The Audemars Piguet watch has witnessed an emboldened Offshore engraved in the case back to suggest that the beast is back and that Royal Oak Offshore watch is bolder this time around.