Hands-On Review - Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph 37MM
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Here's my hands-on review of the steel and diamond Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph 37mm.
This was a fun one!
https://www.luxurybazaar.com/grey-market/audemars-piguet-royal-oak-offshore-37mm-review/
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Celine
I've worked in different areas of the watch industry over the last 15 years. Now, I'm a freelance luxury watch writer. Instagram @luxwatchwriter. Champion of #ladieswhocrunch.
Laguna Beach, CA, USA
Member since
Last active: 7 hrs ago
Very nice watch!
Great review again. Personally not a fan of AP but you make it rock! 😎
Very nice watch!
It really is!
Great review again. Personally not a fan of AP but you make it rock! 😎
Thank you! ✨
Loved the review. You rock it well.
A couple weeks ago, I abandoned my long standing AP RO prejudice to go and try a friend's 15510.
I've come to realize that it's largely a watch that doesn't appeal to me, because it's a watch that is fundamentally meant to impress other people. It's not a particularly competent sports watch, it's not comfortable on my wrist, the movement is fine, but certainly nowhere near justifying the asking price.
And while I know that most watch purchases are fundamentally just an exercise in trying to impress others, I do need a bit of capability to feel like they're actually useful objects. T
And that's the problem with AP ROs...they strip away entirely too much of the suspension of disbelief for me.
Loved the review. You rock it well.
A couple weeks ago, I abandoned my long standing AP RO prejudice to go and try a friend's 15510.
I've come to realize that it's largely a watch that doesn't appeal to me, because it's a watch that is fundamentally meant to impress other people. It's not a particularly competent sports watch, it's not comfortable on my wrist, the movement is fine, but certainly nowhere near justifying the asking price.
And while I know that most watch purchases are fundamentally just an exercise in trying to impress others, I do need a bit of capability to feel like they're actually useful objects. T
And that's the problem with AP ROs...they strip away entirely too much of the suspension of disbelief for me.
Thank you for reading; I really loved wearing this one!
I come at it from a different perspective - I don't fault the watch for being exceedingly popular and used by others to impress. Stripping all the hype away, at the end of the day, the design speaks to me. Also, since it's so different from the watches I wear on the regular, it feels like something special when I put it on.
I can nerd out about movements all day long but more as an intellectual exercise. In real life, I'm not that picky about them at all - quartz, automatic, manual, ebauche, modular, in-house, Swiss, Japanese, German -- they all fundamentally have the same goal and it's never the first thing I think about when considering a watch (gasp, I know).
Design is my priority. And then, price because I unfortunately don't have a bottomless pit of money 😂
The first time that I saw an AP Royal Oak was sometime in the late 80s on the wrist of the Swiss gent who was agent for the brand here in Canada, I did not like the design but he assured me that the look would grow on me. I trusted his knowledge and insights enough to purchase a gold perpetual calendar moonphase, never really connected with the watch but kept it because of the wholesale price that I had paid for it. I was just establishing my own architect practice during those years, set aside my hobby for a period until one afternoon when I was lunching with my wife, noticed two well dressed fellas at another table checking each other’s watches, first time that I spotted the Off Shore. They were not friends not even acquaintances but they must have trusted my wife’s honest face because they agreeably passed both watches over for me to examine. I felt that the new robust size and heft suited the design better than the older quite dressy models that I was familiar with. By that time watches of that calibre and pricing were not realistic for a struggling professional, haha.
Thx for the review, still can’t get used to diamonds on watches for guys or gals. I am grateful that my wife is not into watches, she would definitely embrace this AP.
The first time that I saw an AP Royal Oak was sometime in the late 80s on the wrist of the Swiss gent who was agent for the brand here in Canada, I did not like the design but he assured me that the look would grow on me. I trusted his knowledge and insights enough to purchase a gold perpetual calendar moonphase, never really connected with the watch but kept it because of the wholesale price that I had paid for it. I was just establishing my own architect practice during those years, set aside my hobby for a period until one afternoon when I was lunching with my wife, noticed two well dressed fellas at another table checking each other’s watches, first time that I spotted the Off Shore. They were not friends not even acquaintances but they must have trusted my wife’s honest face because they agreeably passed both watches over for me to examine. I felt that the new robust size and heft suited the design better than the older quite dressy models that I was familiar with. By that time watches of that calibre and pricing were not realistic for a struggling professional, haha.
Thx for the review, still can’t get used to diamonds on watches for guys or gals. I am grateful that my wife is not into watches, she would definitely embrace this AP.
Thanks for reading and sharing your story!
Funny how AP's designs (whether Royal Oak, Offshore, or Code 11.59) are commonly met with disdain from the industry/community at first, then eventually, as the Swiss agent said, the design grows on people.
Jury is still out on the Code 11.59, but that one might find its footing too.
Awesome write up! Unfortunately, I tried hard to like the AP. It just seems and looks like it's trying so HARD to be cool...LOL 😂
Awesome write up! Unfortunately, I tried hard to like the AP. It just seems and looks like it's trying so HARD to be cool...LOL 😂
hahaha, maybe I'm the one trying so hard to be cool 😂
Thank you for reading!
hahaha, maybe I'm the one trying so hard to be cool 😂
Thank you for reading!
Lol OH Hell to the NO! You're good! 🤙🏽
Great review! But, even so, I just can't get over the negative connotations, given how over-exposed the RO line is. I mean, I'm sitting on the couch, watching a post-fight interview of some UFC fighter, who's entire body is one giant tat, his eyes black and blue, his command of English is maybe passable, even though English is his native tongue, and there, on his wrist... a Royal Oak.
Somehow, that over-exposure makes the watch anti-aspirational in my eyes!
Great review! But, even so, I just can't get over the negative connotations, given how over-exposed the RO line is. I mean, I'm sitting on the couch, watching a post-fight interview of some UFC fighter, who's entire body is one giant tat, his eyes black and blue, his command of English is maybe passable, even though English is his native tongue, and there, on his wrist... a Royal Oak.
Somehow, that over-exposure makes the watch anti-aspirational in my eyes!
Thank you!
I get it; there's so much RO fatigue going around.
If I were to buy an AP, this is probably the direction I would go. Smaller size, sporty, but bulky- with heft Diamonds not needed but some extra pop! Great watch!
Big fan of diamond bezels on women’s wrists.
I can’t share any photos until watches & wonders, but the new novelties from Piaget do this very very well 👀