Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Off-Shore Diver Blue Dial Ref. 15720ST

In the nineties and the noughties the Royal Oak Offshore was the biggest, baddest luxury watch on the market, continuing to grow in size as the years progressed. But in the following decade tastes had begun to change slightly and downsizing began to occur. While the 44mm ROO was still a staple of the range, a new kid was about to scoot his way onto the block… That kid was the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Diver.

The watch’s 42mm case diameter is very comfortable on the wrist, as is the pliable rubber strap. The visual aesthetics is typical Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore. Big, bold, audacious, and yet refined and a relaxed air about it. The watch has great wrist presence, and other people take notice as one enters the room with the ROO Diver on the wrist. The coloured dial with matching strap makes it even more outstanding.

The dial features an inner bezel which is sloped and marked with Arabic numerals for the tens of minutes and bars for the odd 5 minute intervals. The first 15 minutes of the inner bezel is also marked in a different colour from the rest, a useful feature for divers. For the Khaki model, this is in beige, to match the beige print and the rose gold hands and index appliqués. For the other two models, this is in white to match the white print and the white gold hands and indices. This bezel can be operated, uni-directionally with the crown at 10 o’clock, and can be used to indicate remaining time of a dive, or a parking coupon, or similar.