Thirty years old – and looking as contemporary as ever

Time travel may not yet be a possibility but certain artists and visionaries seem to have a portal to the future. How else to explain Audemars Piguet’s then co-CEO Stephen Urquhart registering the name “Offshore” for a new luxury timepiece in 1989, well before a single horological feature was determined or one of the brand’s signature hexagonal screws placed?

According to company lore, the name evolved from a conversation between Urquhart and his German agent Dierk Wettengel, a visionary in his own right, who foresaw that the brand should be refreshed for the 1990s via a connection with adrenaline-charged adventure sports. Chief among them, Wettengel noted, was the new high-speed super yachts that were transforming the world’s coastlines into a heart-pounding adventure wonderland.

The goal, Wettengel and Urquhart mused, would be to capture the harder-better-faster-stronger ethos of adventure sports and distil it into a timepiece that could not only withstand the high-stakes energy of the open seas; it would also remind its wearer of their fast-living alter ego when they were engaged in more pedestrian pursuits. It would be a watch that, in today’s parlance, “activated beast mode”. Fitting then, that when the model finally came to fruition as the Royal Oak Offshore in 1993, it was nicknamed “The Beast”.

Charting a new course

Admittedly, Audemars Piguet had form in the field. In 1972, the Royal Oak broke all moulds by offering a seemingly dichotomous proposition: a true luxury sports watch made from hand-finished steel, not gold, and boasting the most mesmerising mechanicals. It would prove to be a game-changer and played an integral role to returning Swiss-made mechanical watches to pole position, despite the quartz crisis of the 1970s.

In the 50-plus years since the Royal Oak was unveiled, the collection has swelled to include hundreds of iterations, in an array of materials and gemstones. Each one bears the signatures of the original model designed by Gérald Genta, including the octagonal-shaped bezel secured with eight hexagonal screws; the integrated bracelet; and, perhaps most strikingly, the guilloché pattern of the “Tapisserie” dial.

However, Offshore stands out as a model even more audacious than the original Royal Oak. With a 42mm diameter and 14.05mm thickness, it’s oversized and confident, a timepiece that commands absolute attention. As the Offshore designer Emmanuel Guiet once explained: “I enlarged the Royal Oak, magnified the details and made it ultra-virile.”

The approach worked and the Offshore quickly broadened its circle of admirers to include a new generation of high-profile and powerful athletes and personalities, including Shaquille O’Neal and Serena Williams. A Royal Oak Offshore End of Days model, released in 1999 in partnership with Arnold Schwarzenegger, cemented the timepiece’s image as one synonymous with sheer muscular energy.