The Swiss luxury watchmaker flexes its technical muscle by unleashing a new horological sports icon
With the release of the Royal Oak Offshore Grand Complication, Audemars Piguet’s hugely popular Royal Oak Offshore collection takes on sophisticated high-complications with trademark machismo.
Grand complication watches, defined by their amalgamation of three key complications – tourbillon, minute repeater and perpetual calendar – are considered the apex of technical horology for their fastidious construction and mechanical ingenuity. While most of such timepieces are lavished in refined and classically inspired designs, Audemars Piguet’s latest variant brims with robust athleticism.
Distinguished by its signature octagonal bezel, fastened onto a hefty case with exposed screws, the Royal Oak Offshore Grand Complication isn’t shy about its sporting soul. Underneath the hardy hood, however, lies a highly complex web of mechanisms requiring the most delicate of touches to construct.
At the watch’s heart is the Calibre 2885, a 648-part movement that not only fuses the three complications for optimum performance and precision, but does so with aesthetic finesse. Complementing the watch’s technical virtues is superlative finishing on the skeletonised movement, which melds modern techniques such as sandblasting with traditional ones such as bevelling and straight graining to enhance its mechanical brilliance.
Case: Titanium with ceramic bezel
Movement: Automatic Calibre 2885
Functions: Minute repeater, perpetual calendar, split-second chronograph, hours, minutes, small seconds.
Power Reserve: 45 hours