Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore watches

The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore is the larger branch of the Royal Oak family. Gérald Genta designed the original Royal Oak, first shown at the Basel fair in 1972. For the model's 20th anniversary Audemars Piguet asked the designer Emmanuel Gueit for a new version. Planned for 1992, it was delayed and appeared in 1993 with a 42 mm case against the original's 39 mm, which earned it the nickname "the Beast".

The first reference, the 25721ST, made its debut at the Basel fair in April 1993: a steel chronograph 14.05 mm thick, with a thick rubber gasket lining the octagonal bezel, eight hexagonal screws and 100 m water resistance, which few chronographs offered then. Inside was a self-winding Jaeger-LeCoultre movement with a Dubois Dépraz chronograph module, calibre 2126/2840. Ceramic arrived with the Rubens Barrichello model in 2006, and the 2007 Team Alinghi edition brought a forged carbon case and the first 44 mm Offshore. The Diver followed in 2010, and in 2021 the 26420 chronograph moved to a 43 mm case with the integrated flyback calibre 4401.

The core of the range is the 42 mm chronograph, carried from the 25721 through the 26170 to the 26470, joined by the 44 mm 26400 and the 43 mm 26420. Around it sit the 42 mm Diver, the 38 mm Full Calendar, 37 mm Lady models, 48 mm pieces such as the T3 and the Shaquille O'Neal, and tourbillon and Grande Complication models of 43 to 45 mm. Cases run from steel and titanium to pink, white and yellow gold, platinum, ceramic and forged carbon.

Many Offshores were made as limited editions. The 1999 End of Days, made for Arnold Schwarzenegger and his film, ran to 500 pieces. Other editions honoured Juan Pablo Montoya, Rubens Barrichello, Shaquille O'Neal and Michael Schumacher, and one marked the 10th anniversary of Jay-Z's career. The Survivor and the Team Alinghi pieces were limited too, as were boutique Scuba editions for Wempe, Bartorelli and Montenapoleone.