Life In Colour

A beefy classic gets a fun update.

- Charmian Leong

Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak Offshore design has been popular for so long that we’re sure collectors will appreciate new variations. Well, the brand recently released three boutique-exclusive watches.

Two have been given vibrant bezels, crowns and pushers in blue (above) or green ceramic, with a matching shade applied to a smoky effect on the Mega Tapisserie patterned dial. The colors also continue onto the grooved rubber straps. The third reference has a bezel and push-piece guards crafted in pink gold and is paired with a smoky grey dial and black rubber strap. All have black ceramic cases.

Aside from the burst of colours and smoked dials, these 44mm references are particularly eye-catching for their large, lume-filled Arabic numerals. Previous 44mm versions of the watch typically came with applied baton indices. Arabic numerals were usually reserved for the 42mm models.

However, there are no surprises under the hood. The watches are powered by the familiar calibre 3126/3840, which offers 50 hours of power reserve and runs at 3Hz. While it is an in-house movement, it’s a modular one stacked with a Dubois Depraz chronograph mechanism.