Fake Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Crono Michael Schumacher

If you want to add a Royal Oak to your collection, you are a lover of engines, innovators and avant-garde, replica watches uk Audemars Piguet has for some years linked its image to the most exclusive of motorsport: Formula 1. It has done so through its Audemars line. Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Chrono, a sportier version of the time-only watch that has conquered the hearts of Italians since the 1970s (here you can find our article). And he did so by creating limited series dedicated to important names in Formula 1 in recent years, such as Rubens Barrichello and Juan Pablo Montoya, whose very limited series have become real objects of cult and crazy research by collectors from all over the world. . With prices, consequently, stellar. The path of constant growth of the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Crono range found, in our opinion, its peak, when the Le Brassus maison included, in the small circle of its ambassadors, the seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher:

Having entered history by right with his record of seven world titles, 91 victories and 68 pole positions (probably waiting to be overtaken by enfant prodige Sebastian Vettel), Michael Schumacher is in our opinion the definitive ambassador, exceptional driver and charismatic man, the face that can definitively consign the fake Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Chrono to history as an icon of the sports chronograph, giving it that touch of charm that, perhaps, was still missing. For the record, there are three versions, all limited of course, made in honor of the champion: rose gold, platinum, titanium just to use the material used for the case as a reference.

We were able, on a hot (strangely) winter day, to try the rose gold version. “We succeeded” because this model, in all three versions, is really hard to find; very very exclusive; only 500 copies, of the pink gold version, were made.

When you approach a watch like the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Chrono Michael Schumacher, the perspective is completely different, you know that you are not in front of a large production watch, because every little detail of the watch design has been designed with extreme care. The conformation of the winding crown, the workmanship of the case, the oversized chrono pushers, the realization of the bezel (in Cermet) create a whole of extraordinary expressive power: it is strong in size and design, it is very high tech and it is a pure Audemars Piguet. The dial, then, with the 7 stars reminiscent of the world championships won by Michael Schumacher, two with Benetton and five with Ferrari, a treat for fans:

The excellence of the design requires the excellence of the materials: the only steel element are the 8 hexagonal Allen screws, which couple the Cermet bezel to the rose gold case. The winding crown, also in pink gold, is enclosed by two titanium shoulders which are actually the seat of the chrono pushers, also in pink gold, with a ceramic base. An indispensable complement is the “mega-tapisserie” motif dial, part of the Audemars Piguet stylistic vocabulary. Mechanics enthusiasts will be able to enjoy the in-house 13 ¼ line caliber, visible on the back, whose balance wheel oscillates at 3Hz, with bi-directional winding rotor engraved with the Michael Schumacher logo, mounted on ball bearings of ceramic material and 55 hours of power reserve. This is, in our opinion, the definitive Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Chrono, it solves some slight design imbalances of the versions of a few years ago. Finally, we asked ourselves a question: where can this collection go and how will it be renewed over time? We tried to find an answer in the Royal Oak Concept GMT Tourbillon that the maison will present at the next SIHH 2014:

The first version of this concept is actually dated 2002, when Audemars Piguet made it, as a tribute to the 30 years of the Royal Oak and, beyond the technical excellence, what, in our opinion, was evident is that Audemars Piguet was exploring new design directions. Will the current design of the case, developed on a horizontal plane, give way, in the future, to a case developed in a vertical direction? It could be, moreover, the stylistic language of the Concept provides for a prism-shaped case with an octagonal base, accentuating the typical language of the Royal Oak, and its famous bezel screwed to the case, the result of the genius of Gèrald Gènta.