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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. Formidably impressive, this Royal Oak Offshore Grande Complication reference 26582CE, launched in 2018, is one of the stellar models of AP’s Royal Oak Offshore series, entirely encased in black ceramic and with titanium chronograph pushers, it brings together high-tech super-hard materials and some of the finest watchmaking skills in the world. Visible through the transparent sapphire crystal dial, the caliber 2885 movement includes among its numerous functions, a minute repeater, perpetual calendar, split-seconds chronograph and number of the week indication. The present watch is accompanied by the full set of accessories.
AP’s Royal Oak epitomizes the luxury sports wristwatch and continues to captivate watch collectors and aficionados with its undiminished power. From its introduction in 1972 to the present day, the Royal Oak model with its unique octagonal porthole bezel and hexagonal screws whose slots form a perfect circle around the bezel struck a chord with watch lovers, and so began a dynasty of timepieces ranging from basic time and date models all the way to the present model, the Royal Oak Offshore Grande Complication with more than 600 parts and numerous functions.
A ‘Grand Complication’ is considered the pinnacle of traditional horological excellence. The combination of minute repeating, split-seconds chronograph, and a perpetual calendar with moon phases is considered the classic ‘triple crown’ of watchmaking and Audemars Piguet’s executions of these masterpieces of micromechanics are considered to be among the best ever made. Indeed, the company have had an uninterrupted production of Grande Complication watches since 1882. Such are the skills and length of time required to create these masterpieces that the total number of Grande Complication watches produced in the 120 years until 2002 was only 58. The grand complication was, and still remains, the watch of choice for the most discerning and most affluent in the world.
The present timepiece impresses with the following 10 complications, in addition to the essential timekeeping functions such as hours, minutes and seconds which are not considered complications:
1. Minute repeater
2. Perpetual Calendar
3. Days of the month
4. Days of the week
5. Months
6. Moon phases
7. Chronograph
8. Split seconds function
9. Chronograph register
10. Number of the week
With this black ceramic Grande Complication 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.
AP’s Royal Oak epitomizes the luxury sports wristwatch and continues to captivate watch collectors and aficionados with its undiminished power. From its introduction in 1972 to the present day, the Royal Oak model with its unique octagonal porthole bezel and hexagonal screws whose slots form a perfect circle around the bezel struck a chord with watch lovers, and so began a dynasty of timepieces ranging from basic time and date models all the way to the present model, the Royal Oak Offshore Grande Complication with more than 600 parts and numerous functions.
A ‘Grand Complication’ is considered the pinnacle of traditional horological excellence. The combination of minute repeating, split-seconds chronograph, and a perpetual calendar with moon phases is considered the classic ‘triple crown’ of watchmaking and Audemars Piguet’s executions of these masterpieces of micromechanics are considered to be among the best ever made. Indeed, the company have had an uninterrupted production of Grande Complication watches since 1882. Such are the skills and length of time required to create these masterpieces that the total number of Grande Complication watches produced in the 120 years until 2002 was only 58. The grand complication was, and still remains, the watch of choice for the most discerning and most affluent in the world.
The present timepiece impresses with the following 10 complications, in addition to the essential timekeeping functions such as hours, minutes and seconds which are not considered complications:
1. Minute repeater
2. Perpetual Calendar
3. Days of the month
4. Days of the week
5. Months
6. Moon phases
7. Chronograph
8. Split seconds function
9. Chronograph register
10. Number of the week
With this black ceramic Grande Complication 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.