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 ”.