Haute horology for effortless allure
Discover Audemars Piguet’s latest Royal Oak and Royal Oak Offshore – iconic timepieces that will complement your entire wardrobe
There are few watches that can be worn just as deftly with a pair of jeans as a frothy ball gown, yet the Royal Oak and Royal Oak Offshore – protagonists of Audemars Piguet’s roll call of contemporary, elegant timepieces – allow their wearer to do just that.
The recent seismic shift away from smart workwear and party dressing towards luxe athleisure – call it glasual, call it smasual, call it what you will – has only served to emphasize the laid-back luxury that the Royal Oak and Royal Oak Offshore quietly exude. A heady mix of eclectic materials – diamonds, rubber, pink gold – has enabled them to slip seamlessly to the top of our wish lists, while we seek to invest in key pieces with limitless longevity and forgo anything uncomfortable or contrived.
Coupled with a soft jersey T-shirt, a finely knitted sweater or a well-pressed white shirt, their sporting and androgynous attributes come to the fore. Their instantly recognizable octagonal bezels, with their signature hexagonal screws, have come to epitomize haute-couture craftsmanship delivered in effortlessly wearable designs.
“A heady mix of eclectic materials – diamonds, rubber, pink gold – has enabled them to slip seamlessly to the top of our wish lists, while we seek to invest in key pieces with limitless longevity
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First launched as a men’s timepiece in 1972, the Royal Oak was an immediate disruptor within watchmaking circles. The design crumbled the age-old wall dividing sporting and luxury timepieces – it was imbued with technical savoir-faire, encased in sleek steel. Audemars Piguet was serving up a new kind of haute horology, built upon the finest Swiss watchmaking skills it had garnered since 1875, and female connoisseurs soon wanted a slice.
Who was responsible for bringing it to them? A woman, of course. In 1975, watch designer Jacqueline Dimier was appointed head of product design at Audemars Piguet – a lone female changemaker in an industry that had been passed from father to son for generations. Charged with translating the Royal Oak’s free-spirited aesthetic into a timepiece for women, she did so with panache, creating the first women’s Royal Oak in 1976.
From the tapisserie, or ‘tapestry’, dial, a delicate disc that is precisely engine-turned to create miniature pyramidic relief, to the slender gold hands, each element of the Royal Oak has been handcrafted with the utmost skill. Without this attention to detail, the impeccable artistry would be spoiled – much like a needle snagging silk in a couturier’s atelier.
In 1993, Audemars Piguet poured its hive mind into creating a new timepiece that would emulate the horological flair of the Royal Oak, while amplifying its daring spirit. The Royal Oak Offshore was born – a more muscular design featuring a chronograph movement poised to capture sporting and intrepid adventures, with striking, souped-up push-buttons. Once more, women wanted in on the action.
The first women’s Royal Oak Offshore arrived in 1996. Whether fitted with a gold bracelet or a contemporary rubber strap, embellished with a diamond bezel or entirely unadorned, the eclectic harmony between its masculine silhouette, mechanical movement and precious materials makes it a versatile timepiece.
The partnerships forged in recent years between Audemars Piguet and some of fashion’s finest tastemakers – couturier Ralph & Russo, along with fine-jewelry doyenne Carolina Bucci – have only served to emphasize the chameleon-like qualities of the Royal Oak and Royal Oak Offshore. Slipped into a stack of Carolina Bucci’s cult K.I.S.S. bracelets, the watches lavish luxury on any dress-down day. Embraced by the froth of a Ralph & Russo couture gown, they scintillate alongside shining crystals and gleaming beads. These watches effortlessly blend into their surroundings – you may not notice them at first, but once you do, you won’t be able to look away.