A quintessential dive watch…

Perhaps one of the most exciting new watches of 2010 is the new Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Diver — Ref 15703.  What I like most about this new Royal Oak Offshore Diver is its relative simplicity in both form and function.  The look is monochromatic – black dial, black pushers and a black strap paired with the signature AP Royal Oak brushed stainless steel case.  The Royal Oak Offshore Diver tells the basic time and date and has a dive-time measurement scale via an inner-rotating bezel.  By reducing to watch to its most basic elements — all done to AP’s high quality standards, of course — the 15703 seems to be really an outstanding watch — in or out of the water.  Let’s take a closer look, shall we?

The 15703 has a 42mm brushed stainless steel case (13.75mm thick) that is water resistant to 300 meters.  The dial, strap and crowns are executed in black and black rubber.  The watch actually features two black rubber crowns — one at 3 o’clock position to set the time and another one at 10 o’clock which controls the inner rotating dive bezel.

The bezel features features a minutes scale on which five- and one-minute periods are clearly highlighted.  The wearer can only turn the bezel by deliberately unscrewing the rubber crown.

The dial is marked by baton shaped hour-markers that are also luminescent.   The hour hand is distinguished by two additional bands of luminescent coating on the side, as you can see here:

The movement inside the Royal Oak Offshore Diver is AP’s selfwinding Calibre 3120 (a “manufacture”, or “in-house” movement) which features a 22-carat gold oscillating weight engraved with the AP monogram and the Audemars and Piguet family crests.  The Caliber 3210 is hand-assembled in the work shops of Le Brassus and no doubt is of exceptional quality in both function and finishing.  Otherwise, it is a straightforward selfwinding model without any complications!

If you want to see and learn more about the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Diver Ref 15703, you should check out the mini-site dedicated to the new RO Offshore Diver, that Audemars Piguet just launched.  I especially recommend the feature on the site that is a world map which highlights 10 of the top “Urban Diving Spots” in major cities around the world.  You can also download pics and wallpapers for your viewing pleasure, too.

The AP 15730 price is approximately $15,000.  In summary — I WANT THIS WATCH!

Did You Know?

It is worth remembering that Audemars Piguet actually invented the first high-end sports watch in 1972, which it named Royal Oak, and that it achieved the unprecedented feat of raising steel to the rank of a noble metal on a par with gold.  In 1992, the octagon then took on its extreme sports appearance with the advent of the Royal Oak Off shore. This collection makes ample use of rubber that is often  associated with steel, and sometimes even with gold.  Its dials feature a distinctive criss-cross or grid pattern named “Méga Tapisserie ”.

If you haven’t yet heard, Lionel Messi has joined Audemars Piguet as its newest ambassador.  You can see the full press release with pics (and even the official Audemars Piguet video) here, but I figured something a bit more exciting would be appropriate for all you blog readers — Top 10 Messi goals, anyone?

As an aside, I found this sentence in the Audemars Piguet press release interesting:

In joining the Audemars Piguet “family”, Leo Messi thus becomes the first footballer to associate his name with that of a prestigious Swiss watch brand.

Really?  Hmmm….I think Hublot and Maradona will have something to say about that!

We recap our favorite wrist shots…

Readers of this blog know that we here at First In Watches like to keep an eye on “who’s wearing what” — particularly when it is discovered by an “in the wild” spotting of a wrist shot.  Come to think of it, we’ve spotted and called quite a few candid wrist shots over the past year, and so we thought we’d take a moment to reflect.  Enjoy!

For starters, we spotted Bill Clinton wearing a Panerai to his meeting with North Korea’s dictator:

and then there was France’s Nicolas Sarkozy wearing a very stately Girard-Perregaux:

Moving on from world leaders, we founder ourselves wondering what YouTube founder Chad Hurley was wearing (in fact we still don’t know!):

And then there are society’s seedier characters, from which we have set our spying eyes upon everything from disgraced Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff’s forfeited watch collection:

to plea-dealing lawyer Scott Rothstein’s gaudy wrist wear:

and — yes — we’ve even been lured in to writing about “Narco Bling” aka the watches of Mexican drug lords:

Alas, our passion for the elusive wrist shot is rarely satiated.  And so our relentless pursuit of precious metals housing precious movements often leads us to search the wrists of athletes — out of their uniforms and into casual mode, elite athletes are no match for our horologically trained eyes which have transformed many an innocuous photo into a story about a wrist shot.

For example, we outran Jamaican super-sprinter Usain Bolt striking to catch him in his trademark pose with a Hublot Big Bang Ceramic:

And when it comes to the hoops game, it was an easy drive down the lane for this slam dunk shot of Shaq with this Audemars Piguet:

Likewise, Kobe Bryant was quick to flash the peace sign giving us a clean steal and a clear look at his Nubeo:

and the same for the Miami Heat’s Dwyane Wade — spotted in a watch only an NBA player could wear, a Haimov:

Check that — Dwayne Wade has most recently been spotted wearing Hublot!  Nice trade, D-Wade!

So what will Team Perpetuelle spot next?  Stay tuned!

We hope you enjoyed this special edition of “Wrist Shot Rewind”!

Audemars Piguet to join seventeen Ferrari 250 GT SWB’s on the scene in 2010…

Today I am highlighting the new Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Tour Auto 2010.  This watch is a commemorative piece for Audemars Piguet’s sponsorship of the  historic Tour Auto Optic 2000 car rally which will take place in late April this year.  This is AP’s fifth consecutive year sponsoring the event, and I know that the brand has produced a special watch every year going back to 2007 (not sure about 2006).

The Royal Oak Offshore Tour Auto 2010 Chronograph is a limited production run of 60 watches, driven by AP’s selfwinding, hand-decorated Calibre 2326/2840.  The watch is equipped with a chronograph function with central seconds hand along with 30-minute and 12-hour counters.  The tachometric scale on the inner bezel ring, decorated with alternating black and white squares, evokes the chequered flag that is waved at motor-race finishes.

The 42 mm-diameter brushed steel case is topped by a bead blasted bezel which looks pretty cool, in my opinion. The case assembly screws are also in polished steel, while the screw-lock crown and pushers are in black rubber. The caseback is engraved with the “Tour Auto” logo and bears the legend “Royal Oak Offshore – Série Limitée”.   Water-resistant to 100 metres.  Comes on a very nice looking black-with-red-underlay hand-sewn perforated leather strap with stainless steel AP folding clasp.

As for the event itself, it is basically a classic car rally which has several stops all around France, from Vichy to Aix en Provence.  Approximately 220 classic collector cars spanning 2 different classification categories (“competition” or just for fun!) are expected.  Autos “on the scene” will include the Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato, Ferrari 250 GTO, Lamborghini Miura, Porsche 904 and 906, Ligier JS2, AC Cobra, Lotus Elan.  A Ford GT40 is the current title holder in the competition class. Also of note are the seventeen Ferrari 250 GT SWB’s participating this year to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first victory of the Ferrari 250 SWB in the our de France Automobile.   Audemars Piguet joins other headline sponsors Leica, Motul, Alain Figaret, and Pictet.  More at www.tourauto.com!

50 Rose gold, 100 Titanium, Beautiful Presentation Box…

Titanium case, steel bezel ($35,000 USD est)

Ref. 26365IS Ti

While I am hot on the subject of Argentina (see Hublot Big Bang Maradona 3/3/10) this is the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore “Pride of Argentina” commemorative watch.  Commemorating what, you ask?  The 200 years of Argentinian independence, that’s what!  Actually, the watch commemorates the “May Revolution” of 1810 which was the starting point of the Argentine War of Independence, but without a formal declaration of independence (the Argentine Declaration of Independence actually took place on July 9, 1816).  But as you can see on the back of the watch (below), it is clearly the 1810 date that is being commemorated given the engraving of the the Cabildo, a symbol of the 1810 May revolution.  The concept is similar to the AP ROO “Pride of Mexico” watch produced last year, but of course the invocation of national pride is to each its own

The watch – actually there are two variations – are to be “officially” presented in May and won’t be shipping until July / August.    Movement is a caliber 2326/2840 (automatic chrongraph).  Perhaps my favorite part of this watch is its presentation box – love those colors – Argentina pride!

Below:  Rose gold case + bezel ($69,500 USD est)

Ref. 26365OR

Presentation box

National Flag of Argentina

The “right” way…..

Finely tuned – the Audemars Piguet Millenary Quincy Jones Edition

and the wrong way….

Off-key – the Piaget Limelight Jazz Party Polo Tourbillon Relatif

Seriously – those little musical notes intended to imitate Roman numerals are more than tacky!  Sure you are free to disagree – that’s what the comment button is for

Yawn…..

Here’s the new Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore New York 57th Street special edition that some have been waiting for.  Obviously this watch is to commemorate, and will be exclusively available at, AP’s recently opened New York flagship store that was opened late 2009. 

While some will clamor to get this watch, well as for me…..what can I say – I’m less than impressed.  What’s up with that color scheme? The stitching on the strap doesn’t even appear to match the “peachy” looking color on the dial.  I guess I am just getting tired….yawn….with AP’s “SKU proliferation” (c’mon let’s face it – Audemars Piguet has way, way too many variations on its famous Royal Oak Offshore line).  Do we really need a Montauk Highway ROO and a 57th Street ROO?  I’m not even going to comment on the diamond bezeled version.

Maybe I’ll post some more details / specs later, but for now here’s the watch (and a nice exterior pic of AP’s 57th St Boutique):

Night View of the Entrance to the Audemars Piguet Boutique – 65 East 57th Street, New York, NY

Another new one from Audemars Piguet – the Millenary Chronograph.  To be honest (I’m always honest here!) The design of this watch is one that I have not and still do not like.  Is this a dress watch?  Or a sport watch?  Now we seem to see a combination of both with the addition of chronograph counters, one of which is larger than the other two.  There are way too many circles on this dial for me.  In other words, the addition of a chronograph to this watch design seems awkward to me.  Because there is so much more to like from AP this year, on this one I’ll pass, thanks.  If you are interested in the specs on this watch, check it out over on the SIHH forum.

Watch fans – your enthusiasm can continue to run on high, because there are still new watches being “revealed” at SIHH 2010 in Geneva!  And of course as your loyal editor here at First In Watches, I remain vigilant and at the ready to share with you some of the most interesting ones here on this blog…..but of course if you want to see them ALL, just check out Perpetuelle.com’s official SIHH 2010 forum! 

So here’s a new one from Audemars Piguet that will no doubt be pleasing to many.  The Audemars Piguet Jules Audemars Perpetual Calendar with Caliber 2120.  The watch comes in 2 variations, both pictured – Case in 18-carat pink gold, silvered dial and (26390OR.OO.D093CR.01) case in 18-carat pink gold, brown dial (26390OR.OO.D088CR.02):

Well watch fans this is it!  Just a quick note to tell you that all the action for the next few days will be over on Pereptuelle.com’s Official SIHH 2010 Forum.  The best thing for you to do is check in and check back often because these pages are being updated CONSTANTLY over the next few days.

Quick tips:

1) in any given thread, the newest watches posted will always be at the top.

2) EVEN BETTER – If you sign up / register with Perpetuelle.com, the threads are actually marked so that you can see which brands have new watches since you last viewed/checked in.  Makes it much easier to browse the forum!

Quick word – Don’t be surprised if you see just an image or two – we have so many watches and specs to post but sometimes the image is worth a thousand words!!  But don’t worry for all you detail-oriented  guys – we’ll be back around to fill in the specs or other interesting details as soon as we can!

For now, here’s just a few that caught my eye:

IWC Da Vinci Ceramic

Jaeger-leCoultre Extreme Labs

Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Grand Prix