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Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Selfwinding Chronograph

The Royal Oak is Audemars Piguet’s most well-known collection. In fact, it’s pretty much all the brand is known for since it bases nearly all of its watches within that iconic octagonal case (and when it doesn’t, they tend to be poorly received, I’m looking at you Code 11:59). The Royal Oak Offshore was introduced in the 1990s and became perhaps Audemars Piguet’s most popular model range. It was bigger and more muscular, with expanded cases and bigger details meant for new and excessive tastes. Gerald Genta hated it, but the audience proved that the Offshore was just what it wanted and bought them in their thousands.
These days, we don’t tend to hear about the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Selfwinding Chronograph collection as much. Perhaps that’s because of all the talk about the massively inflated Patek Philippe and Rolex prices. Even the Royal Oak Offshore’s older brother, the classic Royal Oak, has the potential to double its value on the grey market. The Royal Oak Offshore doesn’t tend to, although it doesn’t seem to lose much value either.
The Offshore collection features several models, but the two that stand taller than the others are the 42mm and 44mm chronograph models, distinguished easily by their pushers’ shape. Both of these are sporty and masculine pieces, and both wear larger than their dimensions suggest. The new models bridge the gap at 43mm and come in either gold, titanium or stainless steel. The characteristic octagonal bezels come in either black or grey ceramic, or titanium, depending on the case. Audemars Piguet says it has slightly reworked the styling and finishing of the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Selfwinding Chronograph, but it’s not very obvious. They also say they’ve updated the Mega Tapisserie dial, and they have, there are now crosses on the corners of every block, and the Audemars Piguet script has been removed. That’s it.
The new range comes with some classic dial and strap colours, my favourite remains the classic blue dial with a blue strap, but all of them look excellent. All are water-resistant to 100m.
Perhaps the most contentious part of the Offshore range has always been the movement, an Audemars Piguet base with an off-the-shelf Dubois Depraz chronograph module. There’s nothing wrong with Dubois Depraz modules, but people paying big bucks for their watches tend to like it when their watches are unique from the ground up. Luckily, Audemars Piguet was aware of that and released an in-house chronograph movement in 2019. Unfortunately, it went in the wrong watch first, the Code 11:59. Now, the Royal Oak Offshore has received the in-house movement treatment.

The calibre 4401 inside the new Royal Oak collection is an integrated chronograph movement now, instead of modular. So, instead of a base movement having an extra part bolted on, it’s all one design; if there’s no chronograph, there’s no movement at all. Fortunately, the 4401 is being made, and it comes with a 70-hour power reserve and a 22k gold automatic rotor. There’s a flyback function too, and it’s all on display through a sapphire crystal caseback.
The new Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Selfwinding Chronograph collection doesn’t have a released price yet. Luckily, none of these are limited in production, and they’re all coming in September.

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Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Selfwinding Music Edition

Time and music are closely related, and regardless of the specific genre or the artist who creates it, all music can be described as different sounds organized in patterns that are based upon time. Representing this connection between timekeeping and music and celebrating the manufacturer’s close relationships with various famous artists throughout the music industry, Audemars Piguet has unveiled five new Royal Oak Offshore models that are inspired by recording studios and the world of live music. The new watches include both 37mm and 43mm sizes and feature cases crafted from either 18k white gold, titanium, or black ceramic that are paired with Tapisserie dials inspired by the VU meter lights found on recording consoles.
The titanium and white-gold versions of the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Selfwinding Music Edition are offered in both 37mm and 43mm sizes, while the black ceramic model is exclusively available in 43mm. The cases of the new models follow the Offshore collection’s bold rendition of the original Royal Oak’s angular shape and include its iconic octagonal bezel fitted to their top surfaces for an instantly recognizable overall appearance. However, while the titanium and black ceramic models are fitted with standard bezels crafted from their respective case materials, the two white-gold editions feature bezels set with rainbow-colored “Harmony-cut” gemstones (rubies, tsavorites, and multiple colors of sapphire) that mirror the colors of the VU meter motif on their dials.
As a further nod to the music industry and the equipment found inside recording studios, all of the new Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Music Edition watches feature crown guards that are shaped like the faders on mixing consoles, complete with track engravings next to them on the side of the case. Beyond that, the small center links that connect the case of the watch to their straps are finished with a distinct knurled-texture that mirrors the pattern found on the ends of cable jacks. Similarly, all of the AP Royal Oak Offshore Music Edition watches include an anti-glare sapphire crystal fitted above their dials, along with a second one placed in the center of their display casebacks to offer an unobstructed view of their self-winding movements. In between the fader-inspired crown guards resides a screw-down winding crown, which offers either 50 meters (37mm models), or 100 meters (43mm models) of water resistance.
The new Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Selfwinding Music Edition watches all feature time-only dials that mirror the appearance of VU meter lights like the ones found on the equalizers of audio mixers or recording consoles. While the dials themselves still feature the Royal Oak collection’s signature Tapisserie aesthetic, the familiar grid-like appearance is now home to numerous multi-colored rectangles that start on the bottom and move towards the top of the dial, changing in color the higher they get, just like the lights of a VU meter.

Although all of the dials offer this same equalizer motif, they are not the same across all of the different watches. The two titanium models feature blue backgrounds with their colorful VU meters printed on their surfaces, while the black ceramic version includes a black background for its printed VU meter. However, both 37mm and 43mm white-gold models feature blue aventurine dials, which have the different colors of their VU meters created by multicolored “Harmony-cut” gemstones (rubies, peridots, tsavorites, and sapphire) that are invisible-set into their surfaces. On all of the dials, applied white-gold hour markers and matching luminous hands display the time of day, while an angled chapter ring in either black or blue serves as the minute track.
Powering the two 37mm versions of Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Selfwinding Music Edition is the Caliber 5909 movement, while the three different 43mm models all run on the Caliber 4309. Both in-house movements feature three-handed time-only displays and run at a standard frequency of 28,800vph. However, the larger size of the Caliber 4309 means that it is able to achieve a longer power reserve than its more compact sibling, and it offers users 70 hours of autonomy compared to the 60-hour power reserve of the Caliber 5909.

All of the new Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Selfwinding Music Edition come with a quartet of rubber straps consisting of one in either black or blue to match their dials, along with three alternate options in turquoise, yellow and green. Additionally, the straps for the 37mm models include a “mosaic effect” pattern on their surfaces and they include the same interchangeable strap system that first debuted on the full-size Offshore collection in 2021. Fitted to the straps of the titanium and ceramic models are titanium pin buckles, while the two white-gold editions receive matching folding clasps made from 18k white gold.
Despite being one of the luxury watch industry’s most prestigious manufacturers and having a history that dates all the way back to 1875, Audemars Piguet has never been afraid of shaking things up a bit and releasing something a bit unconventional. The very first Royal Oak was seen as a groundbreaking design when it first appeared in 1972, and models such as the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Selfwinding Music Edition challenge the notion that expensive watches always need to be serious items.

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Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Selfwinding 41 Pink Gold

Audemars Piguet unveils a new evolution of the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Self-winding Chronograph, upholding the Manufacture’s forward-thinking spirit while keeping with traditions.

Housed within a 41mm 18-carat pink gold case, this model is equipped for the first time with the latest generation chronograph movement, the Self-winding Manufacture Calibre 4401, visible through the watch’s sapphire caseback. Two dial options are available, executed in blue or brown hues.
For the first time, the self-winding Manufacture integrated chronograph, Calibre 4401, launched in 2019 within the Code 11.59 by Audemars Piguet, appears in the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Self-winding Chronograph collection. This movement features a column wheel and the flyback function that enables to restart the chronograph without stopping or resetting it first.
The column wheel works in collaboration with a vertical clutch system. When the chronograph is started or stopped, the hands respond accordingly without any hint of jumping. Furthermore, the push-pieces feel smoother when pressed. A patented zero resetting mechanism ensures that each one of the counter hands instantaneously resets to zero.
For the first time, the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Self-winding Chronograph has been fitted with a sapphire caseback, affording sight of the integrated chronograph’s column wheel mechanism in action. Moreover, the wearer can admire the views of the 22-carat pink gold oscillating weight and refined finishing, including “Côtes de Genève,” circular graining, circular satin and polished chamfers throughout. The case, which has been modified to accommodate the new movement, now has a slightly thicker height of 12.4mm. The dial features a “Grande Tapisserie” pattern and pairs blue or brown hues with pink gold-toned counters, pink gold applied hour-markers and Royal Oak hands with luminescent coating. The Manufacture has subtly updated the dial design. The positions of the minute counter and hour counter have been reversed, augmenting readability, while the date disc is located closer to the inner bezel.
The model is available with a matching 18-carat pink gold bracelet or a colour-coordinated alligator strap.

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Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Self-Winding 41

It wouldn’t be SIHH without some updates to the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Self-Winding 41 collection. This year we’ve got a new base model Royal Oak in the form of the ref. 15500, replacing the ref. 15400 that came out back in 2012. The ref. 15500 is still a 41mm, automatic Royal Oak with classic looks, but the proportions and detailing have been updated with increased legibility and cleanliness in mind. Specifically, the date window is now further from the center, the applied luminous indexes are a bit wider, and the minute track is printed on the very edge of the dial outside the “Grande Tapisserie” pattern. There are five references in total, three in stainless steel (with blue, grey, and black dial options) and two in rose gold (one on a bracelet and one on a strap, both with black dials).

One of the most important updates though is the use of a new movement, the caliber 4302. This in-house movement was just introduced yesterday in the three-hand CODE 11.59 model (see, we told you AP would likely roll these movements out to other watches). This is a much more modern movement than the classic caliber 3120 that powered the ref. 15400 – it beats at 4 Hz instead of 3 Hz, it has 70 hours of power reserve instead of a 60, and it was designed and made totally in-house. Now, this has the added effect of making the watch thicker too, with the ref. 15500 measuring in at 10.4mm top to bottom instead of 9.8mm. Whether or not this makes any difference is yet to be seen, but we’ll be looking for it when we see these in the metal soon.
For many die-hard collectors, the “Jumbo” is the “base” Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Self-Winding 41, but that’s just not the case. The ref. 15202 is tough to come by and represents a very small percentage of the overall Royal Oak production. It’s this watch, the ref. 15500, that forms the true foundation of the collection, and the technical and aesthetic tweaks offer both something new for customers right now and some insight into where AP sees the Royal Oak going overall.

One of the things I find interesting about the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Self-Winding 41 ref. 15500 is just how different is actually is from its predecessor. It would be easy to shrug this release off as an incremental update – that was definitely my first reaction. But just look at how different the 15500 appears from the 15400 when you put the two side by side (the 15500 is on the left, the 15400 on the right):
And that doesn’t even take the movement swap into account. I think that while it’s not a particularly splashy release, we’re going to look back at this watch as one of the more important introductions of the fair in terms of impact on consumers.