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Lot Essay
Audemars Piguet have always been famed for their mastery of high complications, unrelentingly striving for both excellence and new innovation in watchmaking. This Royal Oak Offshore Tourbillon Chronograph reference 26540OR.OO.A010CA.01 is formidably impressive and extremely rare, unquestionably one of the stellar models of AP’s Royal Oak Offshore series. Made in rose gold and white ceramic, the present model was introduced in 2016 as the boutique edition of the original model that was launched in 2014. Highly impressive and much coveted, it is almost never seen at auction.
This exceptional and attractive horological masterwork brings together two of the greatest watch complications, the tourbillon and the chronograph. The extraordinary automatic calibre 2897 is created entirely in-house using the very latest in horological technology while reflecting centuries of classic watchmaking skills. It consists of 335 parts including a compensation balance for the one-minute tourbillon, column wheel chronograph, and platinum peripheral rotor. It takes a master watchmaker almost three days to assemble the tourbillon carriage, which comprises 85 parts and weighs a mere 0.45 grammes. The stunning rose gold case measures 44mm across and features a white ceramic screw-down crown and matching pushers. The silvered dial with Méga Tapisserie pattern features a cut-away section at 1 and 2 o’clock and a semi-transparent crystal seconds track that reveals the peripheral rotor mechanism in action. The one-minute tourbillon itself is displayed in the aperture at 6 o’clock, it is secured by a black bridge.
With this pink gold and ceramic Royal Oak Offshore, Audemars Piguet collectors and those looking for a supreme example of an AP high complication wristwatch of which few others exist, need not search any further.
The Chronograph
For timing one or more events is the most important and popular wristwatch complication and one which has many practical applications. Patented in 1862, the chronograph has been successfully miniaturized so that wristwatches can be used to time events (or two simultaneous events with a split-seconds chronograph) and times recorded up to 12 hours in some cases. Where a tachymeter scale is present on the dial, calculations of speed over a distance can be made.
The Tourbillon
Invented and patented by the genius Abraham-Louis Breguet in 1801, is one of the most enduring technical improvements to timekeeping precision and has been continually improved to extreme degrees. In a tourbillon, the entire escapement revolves so that any adverse effects on timekeeping caused by the watch’s position – up, down, sideways etc, is equalized. The tourbillon is also a very visually appealing complication and it has become an important feature of many of the great modern complicated wristwatches.
This exceptional and attractive horological masterwork brings together two of the greatest watch complications, the tourbillon and the chronograph. The extraordinary automatic calibre 2897 is created entirely in-house using the very latest in horological technology while reflecting centuries of classic watchmaking skills. It consists of 335 parts including a compensation balance for the one-minute tourbillon, column wheel chronograph, and platinum peripheral rotor. It takes a master watchmaker almost three days to assemble the tourbillon carriage, which comprises 85 parts and weighs a mere 0.45 grammes. The stunning rose gold case measures 44mm across and features a white ceramic screw-down crown and matching pushers. The silvered dial with Méga Tapisserie pattern features a cut-away section at 1 and 2 o’clock and a semi-transparent crystal seconds track that reveals the peripheral rotor mechanism in action. The one-minute tourbillon itself is displayed in the aperture at 6 o’clock, it is secured by a black bridge.
With this pink gold and ceramic Royal Oak Offshore, Audemars Piguet collectors and those looking for a supreme example of an AP high complication wristwatch of which few others exist, need not search any further.
The Chronograph
For timing one or more events is the most important and popular wristwatch complication and one which has many practical applications. Patented in 1862, the chronograph has been successfully miniaturized so that wristwatches can be used to time events (or two simultaneous events with a split-seconds chronograph) and times recorded up to 12 hours in some cases. Where a tachymeter scale is present on the dial, calculations of speed over a distance can be made.
The Tourbillon
Invented and patented by the genius Abraham-Louis Breguet in 1801, is one of the most enduring technical improvements to timekeeping precision and has been continually improved to extreme degrees. In a tourbillon, the entire escapement revolves so that any adverse effects on timekeeping caused by the watch’s position – up, down, sideways etc, is equalized. The tourbillon is also a very visually appealing complication and it has become an important feature of many of the great modern complicated wristwatches.