For 2014, Audemars Piguet unveils six new iterations of the Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph 42mm. Today, focus on the model with the blue dial.
For lifelong fans and newcomers alike, these new models serve to highlight Audemars Piguet’s ongoing commitment to technical progress, and this family-owned company’s spirit of independence; the perfect embodiment of the Manufacture’s motto, “to break the rules, you must first master them.”
A noble lineage
The Royal Oak Offshore design – so perfect it has barely changed in two decades – echoes that of the virile, iconic Royal Oak, whose octagonal, stainless-steel facets so shook up the peaceful scene of classic, round, gold watches. However, the Royal Oak Offshore was even sturdier, sportier and more masculine. When it was first introduced in 1993, no one would have entertained the idea of a 42 mm watch! But it proved to be a pioneer – it singlehandedly set the trend for uncompromising, oversized watches that has continued ever since.
Beneath that groundbreaking exterior, the Royal Oak Offshore has remained mechanically traditional, as one would expect from a ‘Maison’ with as many years of savoir-faire as Audemars Piguet. Made in the Vallée de Joux by the last historical watchmaking house owned by the founding families, it respects all the criteria of Haute Horlogerie, its movements hand-decorated and hand-assembled – even in the models without sapphire-crystal casebacks.
The ‘26470’ evolution
New for 2014, the ‘26470’ Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph Collection maintains the original 42 mm ‘supersize’ of 1993, yet moves things on for the first time from its 26170 predecessors.
An evolution of these groundbreaking timepieces, the new references are distinguished by a more technical, sculpted aesthetic, as is notably visible in the design of the pushpiece guards, the crown and the pushpieces. Black ceramic replaces rubber on the crown and pushpieces, which have been resized to create a more contemporary look.
The bezel is in satin-brushed and polished stainless steel or 18-carat pink gold, secured by eight polished steel hexagonal screws – the bold, immutable signature of the Royal Oak Offshore collection. Every dial is decorated with the Royal Oak Offshore’s distinctive, waffle-like ‘Méga Tapisserie’ pattern. The more sculpted and refined hour-markers lend an additional technical touch. Moreover, the new facetted hands with polished decorative fillets surrounding the hour markers, counters and date window, together with the use of a luminescent coating, make the dial more radiant and ensure enhanced readability of the time indications.
A polished appliqué presents our brand initials, along with the ‘Audemars Piguet’ logo transferred in white on a raised cartouche. The dial colour is echoed on the date disc in order to accentuate the overall uniformity. Attached to the 26470 collection is either a rubber or alligator strap, featuring a broader taper and a new pin buckle, both of which ensure greater comfort and user-friendliness.
A handsome ‘navy’ variant of the new ‘26470’ royal oak offshore collection, the piece presented today is characterized by a royal-blue dial and rubber strap, with contrasting chronograph hands in orange – a colour combination that lends a fresh, sporty feel to audemars piguet’s 20-year-old icon.
