Hands-On: Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Watch replicas

This time-merely model has proven to be quite successful, and I later experienced several “in-the-wild” wearing with the Royal Oak Offshore Diver here. Since its initial release, the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Diver has come in a range of versions, with cases in Forged Carbon and Ceramic (both in black and white).

Sure, whether you would want to wear a bright yellow (or green, or orange, or blue) watch or not is surely down to your personal preference, however, to suddenly find a brand to be “controversial” or “polarizing” for its use of colors on a sporty collection may be one unnecessary step too far in watch-snobbery. I can’t help however feel inclined to point to the numerous, considerably more pressing industry issues, that we covered at length here – things that should arguably come sooner than being afraid of a brand “losing it” just because it debuted a few colorful swiss replica watches.
When approached with a more open mind, the new Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Diver Chronograph may just surprise you with its blend of popping bright colors and AP-standard craftsmanship – I could feel its genuinely fun vibe get to me even in snowy-foggy Geneva in the middle of January. In 2019, the luxury watch industry (and several of its peers) are still in a phase where renowned manufacture to dehowever colorful new pieces can be widely considered a “controversial move.”

At a time when such an overwhelmingly big number of high-end brands dedicate almost all their attention to “heritage,” “tribute,” “anniversary,” and “vintage,” to see several things as fun, unapologetic, and bold as the new ROO Diver Chronograph, was a truly refreshing experience… even if, technically, it is based on a 1972 design. The ROO strikes a fascinating balance, looking like the love child of weapon-grade equipment and fine jewelry.
Just look at that profile shot two above: it is chunky, block, and yet in several weirdly cool ways, justifiably over the top. This new chronograph version brings that modern approach to the next level as, at the time of release, there actually are no truly conservative color options for the new Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Diver Chronograph: you can have it in bright yellow, vibrant orange, deep blue (with a splash of yellow). The Royal Oak Offshore case is as impressive as ever, too: built like a tank, crafted from stunningly machined and polished steel in a size of 42 millimeters wide and 14.75 millimeters thick. Or in-your-face green (facts: that latter one is not an official color code, and it is being reserved for the Geneva boutique merely – seriously). While the deemed success or failure of color schemes may very well be down to personal taste, I can merely applaud it when brands leave behind they’re usual – and not very fascinating – black-silver-white colorways and dare think out of the box a bit.

The inner rotating flange ring that can be adjusted via the ceramic crown at the 10 o’clock position is still present, and thus is Audemars Piguet’s trademark “Mega Tapisserie” dial pattern with those chunky, well-defined blocks that, to this day, still work thus well with the overall theme and looks of the watch. The new Diver Chronograph retains several of the original Diver’s trademark design elements. The massive hour and minute hands remain, and thus do the applied indices with the faceted edges – upon a closer look, you will find numerous high-end details to keep the new Diver in line with what you would expect from AP when it comes to the quality of execution.
My favorite model is the reference 26703ST.OO.A051CA.01 Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Diver Chronograph in yellow – because I have never been shy about my love of black and yellow “bumblebee” Audemars Piguet replica watches. As you can see, the brand has chosen to dehowever the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Diver Collection with a “splash” in four notably bold color schemes.