Posts tagged #Royal Oak Offshore 25721

Experience: The Audemars Piguet Museum. An Unforgettable Afternoon in Le Brassus.

A while back, while we were in Switzerland, we had the opportunity to visit the Audemars Piguet Museum in Le Brassus, a lifetime experience for any Audemars Piguet watchlifestyler.

Our appointment at the museum was scheduled for 1:30pm on a gloomy Friday. Considering that we were staying in Zürich and the drive to Le Brassus is almost three hours long, we knew we had to be on the road by 10 o'clock in order to be there on time. Here's a picture while we were getting ready to go pick up our car, right before breakfast time. This classic Hermès belt has been worn along with several Audemars Piguet Jumbos in the collection since the 90s.

Read more …
Posted on August 21, 2014 by Editor & Publisher and filed under Audemars Piguet and tagged Audemars Piguet Museum Royal Oak Jumbo 5402ST Royal Oak Jumbo 5402SA Royal Oak Offshore 25721 Royal Oak 15300ST Royal Oak Concept Le Brassus Audemars Piguet Manufacture Vallée de Joux Lac de Joux Lac Brenet Royal Oak Offshore Diver Lépine Pocket Watch Royal Oak Alinghi America's Cup 2003 Audemars Piguet Rectangular Tourbillon Coin watch Audemars Piguet Annual Calendar Posts 2013 Most Popular.

Rare Bird: An Unmarked Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore ref. 25721ST.OO.1000ST.01 a.k.a 'The Beast'. One Amazing Grail of Only 100 Pieces Without the Offshore Engraving.

Last year almost around this time, we received an email from a friend and watchlifestyler that lives in London asking for our advice on whether he should purchase or not an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore ref. 25721ST.OO.1000ST.01 fitted with the very same blue dial just as the very first original Royal Oak Offshore ever launched.

The seller, a very reputable store in Germany. The watch, in like new condition with box and papers but with no 'Offshore', 'AP' nor 'Automatic' markings on the case back —the last digits on the serials have been blurred for security reasons. Additionally, the No. engraving is missing the underline on the superscript o.

Once we received the pictures of the watch and checked the serial numbers against our early Royal Oak Offshore example—under the 200 serial range—we knew the watch was legit. The D-serial sequence on both watches had the right chronological order. Our watch pictured below —we have also blurred the last digits on the the serial numbers— was the one used for comparison purposes and to authenticate this situation.

However, we will admit that the lack of the 'Offshore', 'AP' and 'Automatic' engravings as well as the difference in the way the No. engraving is presented on the case back were somewhat confusing. Nevertheless, we've heard that the first 50 Offshores ever made, were missing these engravings. Were we looking at one of those collector's pieces? Could this one be one of them?

Based on the pictures we received, we followed our watch collector's instinct and our gut feeling and told our friend and watchlifestyler to move forward with the deal. We are so glad he followed our advice and purchased this rare example.

A few weeks after purchasing the watch, our friend and watchlifestyler reached out to Audemars Piguet, who has confirmed the authenticity of this piece. Additionally, he also reached out directly to Emmanuel Gueit —the creator of the Royal Oak Offshore—in order to confirm the situation regarding the lack of engravings. Based on all accounts previously mentioned, we can now confirm that this is one of the first 100 pieces ever made of the iconic Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore.

Seems that the reason why the first 100 pieces of this reference don't bear the 'Offshore' engraving on it, it's because Audemars Piguet wasn't sure at the time whether this reference should've been called 'Offshore' or not. Interesting enough, the other early example of the Offshore—the one we used for authentication purposes of this 'rare' example—is exactly 115 pieces apart from this 'rarity'. The D-serial and Royal Oak No. consecutive numbers can attest it. 

When it comes to hunting down that one grail piece, sometimes going with your gut feeling is the best way to go. You don't want to end up regretting not getting that one grail you've always wanted.

For more info on Audemars Piguet click here.

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Editor & Publisher and filed under Audemars Piguet and tagged Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Royal Oak Offshore 25721 Unmarked Royal Oak Offshore Unmarked Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Rare Find AP Royal Oak Offshore Unmarked Posts 2013 2013.

Insider: Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore ref. 25721ST.OO.1000ST.01. The Very First One a.k.a 'The Beast' and the Most Beautiful in our Opinion.

In my opinion the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore ref. 25721ST.00.1000ST.01 is the most beautiful sports watch ever made by Audemars Piguet. This timepiece is sporty yet very elegant and classy at the same time. A watch that goes great with a suit or with jeans and a t-shirt. My love for this particular watch dates back to the late 90's when after owning several Audemars Piguet Royal Oaks Jumbos ref. 5402 —three Stainless Steel Jumbos to be precise and several Two-Tones—, I spotted in person what would become one of my true grails and a watch that was an unattainable back then —at least for where I was in my career at 26 years of age. I still remember that very first encounter as if it was today. Back in 1998 during a high level meeting with the CEO of Grupo Televisa —the largest media conglomerate in Latin America— I noticed him wearing what I thought was the nicest AP I had ever seen. I had never seen one in person until then. My 'dream watch' —at the time— was born during that encounter. It was the first Royal Oak Offshore launched back in 1993. That Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore with the blue/grayish unmistakable dial that is now a discontinued model.

Read more …
Posted on April 1, 2013 by Editor & Publisher and filed under Audemars Piguet and tagged Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Royal Oak Offshore 25721 Firt Royal Oak Offshore Audemars Piguet Offshore 25721ST.OO.1000ST.01 Posts 2013 2013.