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[ The WATCH ]
AN IMPORTANT anniversary
Audemars Piguet, an illustrious fine watchmaking brand founded
in Le Brassus, Switzerland, in 1875, is celebrating its Royal Oak Offshore model, launched twenty-five years ago, with a prestigious new collection by Paolo De Vecchi
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Three images of the new Royal Oak OffShore by Audemars Piguet, an automatic chronograph and diver’s watch in steel produced for the 25th anniversary of the model’s launch
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xactly 25 years ago, Swiss watch manufacturer Audemars Piguet presented its OffShore model, an even more majestic and spectacular development of the already imposing Royal Oak, produced since the
mid-1970s. We have to take a step back in time for clearer understanding of this timepiece’s importance to modern watchmaking. The Royal Oak appeared over the horizon like a sort of UFO, an unidentified object in the skies of the industry of the time, as it bore the name of a luxury brand but overturned all its hallmark elements – apart from quality, of course – starting from its imposing dimensions and the use, at least in the first versions, of steel. And when the Royal Oak OffShore was launched about twenty years these features were exaggerated even further, gaining the approval of a public looking for large, showy, instantly recognisable objects to adorn their wrist. From then on it has been referenced in over a thousand different models, but for the watch’s 25th anniversary Audemars Piguet has presented it once again in an updated version, but generally similar to that first model of 1993. The celebratory collection includes two other OffShore models, also with a chronograph, but whose dial reveals the mechanical movement based on architectural criteria and featuring a tourbillon, a complication adopted by the most prestigious fine watchmaking brands.
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[ The WATCH ] The dominance of design The watchmaking industry, especially where wristwatches are concerned, has undergone many changes, brought about above all by changing stylistic values, but the initial impact with the rules of design (form following function, for example) occurred for the first time during the 1970s. In 1972 Gérald Genta, regarded as one of the greatest watch stylists of our times, created the angular, solid shape of the Royal Oak for the Audemars Piguet brand. Destined to become a pattern for a totally new type of timepiece, this model combined the sporty appeal of steel with the aesthetic luxury and manufacturing prestige of the Audemars Piguet brand. Such a shape had never been seen before, featuring an integrated bracelet and an octagonal bezel mounted with eight visible screws. It gained a stellar reception from the most demanding and knowledgeable section of the public. The dial, with its deep guilloche finish called “Tapisserie”, completed this masterpiece of inventiveness.
The version of Royal Oak OffShore Tourbillon with steel or rose gold case. The diver’s chronograph has a rubber bracelet and manually-wound movement with tourbillon regulator
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