Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Survivor – 26165IO.OO.A002CA.01

When Gerald Genta designed the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak in the 1970s, he created a look that would define luxury sports watches for a very long time indeed. But even this mastermind of a designer could not have envisaged the direction Audemars Piguet would take with the Royal Oak Offshore Survivor.
Weighing in at a pretty conservative 44 mm, the Royal Oak Offshore Survivor (AP ref 26165IO.OO.A002CA.01) looks like something The Predator would wear on its wrist, possibly to activate a thermonuclear device. Or the kind of machine you'd find in Max Rockatansky's glovebox. It's the Audemars Piguet model for a post-apocalyptic world. And it is, in many ways, the ultimate expression of the Offshore spirit.
Audemars Piguet's website states that the Offshore is 'the dynamically daring version of the iconic luxury sports watch …giving an ever more sporty, masculine and powerful take on the iconic Royal Oak and its aesthetic codes.” In other words, it's bat-guano crazy. It's a Royal Oak, but not as we know it.
The Royal Oak Offshore Survivor is demonstrably sporty (it's a chronograph), undeniably masculine, and definitively powerful. In both the figurative and literal senses. This jet-black, futuristic badass of a luxury watch has a 60-hour power reserve and a super-complex 59-jewel automatic movement. The chronograph registers on two beautifully-crafted subdials, at 6 and 9 o'clock, as well as the central chrono hand, while the seconds sweep on a silvered subdial at 12 o'clock. 3 o'clock is reserved for the date window, which, while unnecessary after an extinction-level event, will certainly give the survivalists something to remember the old world by.
Beneath the sapphire crystal (which includes a magnifying window for viewing the date clearly, presumably in the haze of a nuclear dust cloud), the Royal Oak Offshore Survivor does retain some of its original Audemars Piguet design language. The dial, which is laid out in a clean, clear, hyper-technical way (again befitting the 'survival instrument' aesthetic of the watch), has the mega-tapisserie pattern common to Offshores. And of course the ceramic bezel, while grooved and cut almost beyond recognition, retains the iconic octagonal shape and revealed screws.
Ceramic chrono pushers are protected by ultra-light, super-strong titanium trigger guards. The screw-down crown is fitted with an oversized sleeve, perforated to keep the watch as weightless as possible, which brings its edge to the edge of the trigger guards. This stripped-down feel is echoed in the blackened titanium middle element of the case 'sandwich', from which holes have been cut. Even the hour and minute hands are perforated. And these details are not merely for style. On the wrist, the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Survivor is as light as a feather.
Behind that heavy-looking, light-feeling case, you'll find a titanium caseback. No viewing window here: it would be nice to see the 3126/3840 movement in action, but I guess in the apocalypse you don't have time to show off the quality of your in-house calibre.
The bracelet is rubber, and incredibly flexible and comfortable it is too. The buckle is in the same blackened titanium as the caseband. Hands are lumed, as are the indexes. The case is water resistant to 100 m.
Of course, such an outlandish watch attracts the attention of celebrity fans. Top of the list for the Royal Oak Offshore Survivor is Arnie, who doesn't have an official ambassadorship position with Audemars Piguet, but who has worked with the brand on multiple models. He didn't have any input on the Survivor, but he does love his Audemars Piguet. And if anyone's got the right to wear this luxury watch with pride, it's the man who killed The Predator.
Arnie isn't the only famous name associated with Audemars Piguet. On the ambassadorial front, there's a Royal Oak Offshore LeBron James. And in the world of music superfans, yes, Ed Sheeran, the world's unlikeliest watch geek, has been spotted with an Offshore on his wrist.
If you want to find a celeb wearing a Royal Oak Offshore Survivor, though, you have to look on the wrist of football legend Thierry Henry: he's got one of just 1,000 models that were made. The rest are long gone, but occasionally, one pops up on the collector's market. If you see it, grab it. Before the world ends.
You can view our latest Audemars Piguet watches as well as the newest additions to our collection of luxury watches currently in stock here .
Image Credit – officialwatches.com vedere di piu orologi e Rolex Datejust II