Summer ‘time’ gets jazzier

ANTONIO SEWARD of the wristwatch brand Audemars Piguet is the first to admit that some people think a US$30,000 watch in lime green, tangerine orange or bright yellow is just plain crazy.

But “you don’t need to be traditional to wear luxury”, the Swiss firm’s general manager for Southeast Asia points out.

He’s talking about the limited edition Royal Oak Offshore Diver Chronograph, unveiled at the big SIHH timepiece show in Geneva in January and this month drawing admiring looks at a posh “underwater” cocktail party in Bangkok put together by Krist Chatikaratana of Cortina Watch (Thailand).

“It’s a summer watch, something to enjoy that’s casually elegant, and also made with Swiss expertise,” Seward says.

“The Offshore collection is luxurious yet sporty, outdoorsy. It’s something you want to wear with a T-shirt and shorts. We normally use traditional colours, but actually in 1990 we used yellow, green and purple in this same collection.”

Audemars Piguet is touting the 42mm octagonal watch as a “diving-into-fun masterpiece” with its bold colours. The stainless steel case has a sapphire crystal at the back and houses a self-winding Calibre 3124/3841. The dial features a “Mega Tapisserie” pattern, double indices at 12 o’clock and luminescent coating for better visibility in the deep. 

And it goes very deep – it’s water-resistant to 300 metres. Divers will also appreciate the internal rotating bezel that’s colour-blocked with scale and time zone, along with 30-minute counters. 

The hands of blackened white gold and hour-markers offer high contrast as well as those bright hues on the dial – tangerine, lime, citron or blue. The rubber strap’s colour matches the dial of your choice. The power lasts 50 hours.

A deep-blue model has a splash of yellow and only 400 pieces have been made. The vibrant orange and summery yellow models are even rarer, 375 pieces each. 

These editions are available at the Audemars Piguet boutique at Central Embassy for Bt976,000. You have to go to the store in Geneva to get the rarest of them all, the lime green version, of which a mere 50 pieces were made. Best ask about the price once you get there.

The press in Bangkok also got a sneak preview of the firm’s 2016 Stars and Heroes suite. It’s intended to be “disruptive”, in the trendy modern sense of the word, breaking the rules of horology. One piece called Diamond Fury bristles with rebellious attitude – and 4,635 brilliant-cut diamonds. 

Then there are two Millenary watches of equally stunning design. The first, Hypnotic, interleaves diamonds and onyx in dramatic relief. Magnetic Pearls is similar magic done with the oyster’s gem. 

The Royal Oak Watches and Chronographs collection sees a return to yellow gold, the elemental material of luxury watchmaking. The Audemars Piguet Calibre 2385 powers each of these three-counter chronographs bearing the original Gerald Genta design from the early 1970s. 

Facing the 41mm case is a “Grande Tapisserie” dial, either silvery white or a new paler blue, with yellow-gold applied hour-markers and Royal Oak hands with luminescent coating.