Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Ceramic – 26405CE.OO.A002CA.01

Jay-Z wears an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore. And while I can't establish for sure if it's the one in this article (the Offshore Ceramic, AP ref 26405CE.OO.A002CA.01), it sure looks like it in the photos. To be honest, if it's not then it ought to be. Because Shawn Corey Carter is the king of cool, and luxury watches don't come much cooler than the Royal Oak Offshore Ceramic.
Here's the thing about the Offshore. You know what you're getting. A bigger, badder, more eye-catching version of the Royal Oak, with a mega-tapisserie dial and the chops to perform as a 'real' sports watch: ie one that can actually function in a proper sporting environment. What tends to differentiate each Offshore model from all the rest is its overall aesthetic (crazy-bright diver, subdued chrono, etc) and its use or lack of complications. You either have a date window or you don't, and your watch is either a chronograph, or it isn't.
If the question is how to choose one Royal Oak Offshore over the others, your answer is likely to be based on looks. Because—and this is the irony, as well as the beauty, of luxury watches like the Offshore—while it can function in a sports setting, the likelihood of you ever wanting it to is very slim. In other words: on an Offshore, chrono capabilities are as much for show as they are for operation. You're more likely to use the cam-actuated chronograph mechanism to time a boiling egg than laps of a racing circuit. Or maybe to measure the minutes and seconds of your latest platinum-selling record.
Jay-Z, in addition to having one of the largest bank balances in hip-hop, has some of the biggest hands I've ever seen. He also has slim wrists. And that makes the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Ceramic sit loud and proud at the end of his sleeve. The 44 mm case, which is done entirely in black ceramic, is made even bigger by the hefty housing of the chrono pushers and screw-down crown. This is a watch that stands out—which is exactly what you want it to do if you're a hip-hop megastar.
Come to think of it, Jay-Z and the Offshore have plenty in common. The rapper is famed for his technical abilities, and his name is one of contemporary music's most enduring brands. The Offshore, which first hit the streets in 1992, is a heavily technical update of the legendary Genta-designed Royal Oak—another name that has become a brand in its own right. And both watch and man are masterclasses in the art of attending to detail. Shawn Carter, who built a business empire from the trunk of his car, and whose joints appear three times in Rolling Stone's '500 Greatest Albums of All Time' list, knows all about dotting the i's and crossing the t's. And Audemars Piguet is a brand for which craftsmanship is the cornerstone of everything it does. This is nowhere more evident than in the finish on the ceramic case and bezel.
Every element of the watch is made at AP's HQ in Le Brassus, by extremely skilled technicians. The ceramic is beautifully and evenly lined, with a blasted effect on the front of the bezel and the top of the case, and a glorious shine on the side of the bezel. The tiny, sweeping edge where the lugs bevel into the caseband is also highly polished, making, with the play of light on the raised and embossed surfaces of the tapisserie dial, a spectacular composition. Audemars Piguet's Royal Oak Offshore has always been about contrasts in tone and texture, and the Offshore Ceramic doesn't stray from that tradition.
The movement is AP's in-house calibre 3126 / 3840: a bidirectional automatic movement with chronograph, minutes, hours, small seconds, and date. The hour markers are applied, as are the sharply-edged Royal Oak hands. The dial is grey, surrounded by a tachymetric scale on the sloped inner bezel. Grey titanium guards prevent the chrono pushers from damage or accidental operation, and the screw-down crown is tipped with titanium. The clasp is also in titanium, and the bracelet is in black rubber.
The movement can be seen through an exhibition caseback, with a nice design touch: the rotor is in white gold, with a silvered appearance that fits with the overall character of the watch.
Gerald Genta designed the Royal Oak overnight. Jay-Z reportedly wrote the lyrics for his legendary album The Blueprint in just two days, and cut the record in two weeks. Others may try to emulate this kind of artistry, but only the very few have the ability to truly pull it off. So Mr Shawn Carter, if that wasn't a Royal Oak Offshore Ceramic I saw you wearing, perhaps it should be. You guys were made for each other.
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