Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph "Black Themes" Luxury Watch Review

http://www.thewatchbox.com/watches/audemars-piguet Here's a rare beast. While the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph is familiar to luxury watch collectors, the finest of the 120+ variants (really) of this watch amount to perhaps a dozen models. This Royal Oak Offshore measures 42mm in classic stainless steel; it stands among the apex predators of the high horology landscape. And this one, on the rarely seen full "Offshore" integrated bracelet, is a truly rare species. Collectors who love big watches cannot do any better than this. While other brands trade traditional craft content for visual impact and profit margin, Audemars Piguet continues to construct the Royal Oak Offshore using the same old world diligence as its original Gerald Genta Royal Oak. Even better, this example's full stainless steel bracelet restores the "integrated" sports watch aesthetic pioneered by Genta's 1972 original. Genta designed the Royal Oak to flow as a seamless continuity from bezel to clasp, and the Offshore bracelet endows the mightiest "Oak" with the same visual punch. While the Royal Oak Offshore is best known as a strap-slinger, examples on the exquisitely polished bracelet are show-stoppers that stand apart even among their elite leather-clad brethren. Even AP die-hards are inclined to lose composure when one of these monsters breaks cover. This Royal Oak Offshore is graced with an extraordinary all-black dial known to collectors as the “Black Themes.” Applied 18-karat