Posts Tagged ‘Royal Oak’
D-Series 25721ST ‘The Beast’ Audemars Piguet Offshore
Often, that which was once violently unpopular has way of eventually coming back to grace with equal fervor: consider Eames chairs, the 993 911, high-waisted shorts, and even Ja Rule (okay, perhaps not that last one just yet). The Royal Oak chronograph’s versatile and anabolic sibling has long taken back seat since introduction in the…
Read More25572BA ‘The Owl’ Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Day Date
Shortly after the 5402 graced the world with its presence, AP experimented with a few variations on the theme. Out of this early/mid 80s era came many of the iconic complicated Royal Oak offerings we revere today. However, the very first complicated offering to feature in AP’s midsized 36mm case was this ref. 25572. Unlike…
Read More14790ST.05 ‘Yves Klein’ Blue Audemars Piguet Royal Oak
We love a Royal Oak around here. However, not all are created equal. In the pantheon of neo-vintage Royal Oaks, a few dials are clear standups. Right up near the very top are the rare electric-blue Yves Klein dials. Klein was a French artist who became known for frequent use of an electric blue hue…
Read More25860ST ‘Kasparov’ Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Chronograph
Given recent world events, the moniker this Royal Oak holds is keenly poignant. Nonetheless, chess grandmaster and political activist Garry Kasparov is proving quite the fountain of insight during troubled times for all. Something of a reminder that many Russians are only hostage to a government operating as a mid-century New York mobster. Topical digression…
Read More6005BA Audemars Piguet Rectangular Royal Oak
‘The further from home one ventures, the more they know themself.’ This was a shower thought that flew through my mind many years ago while living in a foreign country for the first time. I’m not even sure it’s accurate. But the horological equivalent might be, which is to say; the further a collector strays…
Read More25865BC AP Royal Oak Grande Complication
There are not many watches which can be said to truly be daily-wearable grand complications. Fewer still which execute this trick so nonchalantly. Let’s be honest, since ~2018 the Royal Oak has become a category unto itself, one with . . .associations (by which I mean baggage). However, this pinnacle of watchmaking hails from an…
Read MoreOpenworked AP Royal Oak Quantième Perpetual 25829OR
I have heard it said that art may have no other purpose than itself. I find this a useful mnemonic to delineate what I consider artful approaches in our sphere of horology. A 2446 Big Eye Autavia is beautiful, but in this light it is not art. That is a watch which was created to…
Read MoreJohn Mayer’s Actual AP Royal Oak Offshore ‘Volcano’
If you’ve been paying close attention, legendary horological leader and all around good-guy Eric Wind has been slowly ramping up a public-facing inventory over the last few weeks. While undoubtedly one of the world’s preeminent watch dealers of the last decade, most of his sales have previously been amongst friends in the background. Recently, this…
Read More1 of 100 Royal Oak Chronograph Ice Blue LE
Green dial 5711s are one thing. That is watch which says you are either an extremely close client of Patek or a bit of an idiot. And because the two are indistinguishable from a glance, the net effect Patek’s reseller’s are having is that of making their most valued customers look like adolescent hypebeasts. I…
Read MoreTropical AP Royal Oak ‘Kasparov’ Chrono 25860ST
The range of Royal Oak variants on offer today is hard to keep up with. There’s the perpetual, offshore, diver, concept series, and various limited editions. However, before the upsized offshore chrono, there was this: the Kasparov. Making any adjustment to the iconic Royal Oak was always going to be controversial. This was one of…
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