Audemars Piguet

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Hands on with Royal Oak Offshore 42mm – latest evolutions

Those were the days ...! 21 years ago AP shocked the watch world with a new watch, unprecedented: the (then!) humongous 42mm Royal Oak Offshore . A strong watch, heavy, with presence thanks to the prominent use of rubberised accents (bezal seal, pushers, crown), solid case back and (for the chronograph at least!) a modular movement based upon a JLC ebauche. One main difference to the original Royal Oak was the three- instead of two-part case construction.

Many, many versions have been presented so far, with more or less subtle developments:

We have not seen all new models but here they are sitting like chickens on the roost:

Six new versions (four in steel and two in rose gold), but we have just seen five in the metal …  Before we present them one after the other let's take a look at the common theme for these novelties: First, and most important for many, we find a display back allowing us to admire the in-house Cal. 3126 modular chronograph movement. Its quite well-known with its freesprung balance (under a bridge) and the 22 carat gold rotor adorned with the coats of arms of the Audemars and the Piguet families, respectively:

Excellently legible dial, with correctly placed colour scheme (time steel; chronograph hands orange colour).

Great metallisé effect of the dial. The blue looks different depending on the light and is just perfect for sporty and casual occassion.

Note how well the numerals and the tapisserie pattern match:

This one comes on a rubber strap with matches the dial colour - even when you can´t see it in the next picture.

Next up is the black version. Chronograph functions here in red, matching the stitching of the strap (barely visible in our single (;-() image...

Third version (and Magnus' favourite...) is the 'Safari' coloured ROO:

Favourite because the dial has an almost magical glow in it which - surprise! - even comes reasonably well in our images.

It is also quite versatile in respect to different shirt colours.

Somehow the Safari dial perfectly complements the elaborately finished case surfaces.

We continue with a nearly monochrome version, the silver/anthracite model. Chronograph functions displayed in white here:

It is a kind of reductionist version(and by the way Oliver´s favorite), and makes the watch appear even smaller.

Depending on the light the dial may look brighter or darker than the steel case:

Even the leather strap is monochrome and it should be nice to have additionally a grey rubber option in the future ...

That's for the steel models.

Finally the rose gold pieces. We have only seen the one with gold bracelet. The dial matches the colour of the case, with dark grey subdials.

Tone-in-tone also on the back:

As usual for the ROO case and bracelet have many facets (but still not as many as the standard RO):

Note he fine details on inner side of the clasp:




On the wrist this version was the most controversial for us: a worthy member of the collection, important for many, and a great reference to the manly gold chronographs a few decades back. But this weight - we would not want to carry the watch all day!


Back to the face of the watch which is predestinated for "light games" ...







Once more the ceramic parts fit very well.

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