For high-end brands, stainless steel sports watches (or at least steel watches with a sporty style) are also indispensable main products today, because in the era of large sports watches, sometimes the market is not necessarily pursuing the top large watches with very complex functions and gorgeous appearances, but rather appealing to practical, easy-to-wear sports type stainless steel watches have a more popular market advantage, which is reflected in the exaggerated premium market of some well-known popular series of watches.
When it comes to high-end brand stainless steel sports watches, the first benchmark works today are AP's Royal Oak and PP's Golden Eagle, but the sports watches of the two brands are not only these two, and it is also a coincidence that they both have more recently launched and more rugged style of their brothers-including Royal Oak Offshore and Aquanaut, both series are basically masterpieces that have been around for 20 or 30 years, but Aquanaut used to be based on basic functional styles. In recent years, more complex models have been gradually extended; As soon as the Royal Oak Offshore appeared on the stage, it was a work based on the function of a chronograph, and more complex works were added along the way, and the proportion of basic models in the series was less, which made people feel that after Audemars Piguet launched the new stainless steel Royal Oak Offshore Automatic in 2024, it made people feel bright, because the ROO basic model that collectors are eagerly looking forward to (regardless of the diver's watch) is finally available for new works, and it just so happens that this one is also in competition with the most basic three-hand model of the Aquanaut series.
▲Source：Monochrome-watches
AUDEMARS PIGUET皇家橡树离岸型自动表
The previous Royal Oak Offshore series wanted to find the basic function of three hands only from the diver's watch, and it was only after Audemars Piguet developed the "Music Special Edition" a few years ago that this situation changed slightly, but the Music Special Edition and the impression of ROO are more rugged design tonality, and some models even incorporate jewelry inlay elements. As for the Royal Oak Offshore Automatic that will debut in 2024, it is different from the music special edition in the material part, returning to the most basic stainless steel elements, in addition, its appearance looks quite pure, without superfluous decorations, and it is paired with a rubber strap to show the true color of sports watch style.
▲The Royal Oak offshore model adds a three-hand model made of stainless steel and a rubber bezel, showing the basic functions that are rare in the series.
As mentioned earlier, the Royal Oak Offshore Automatic Watch is made of stainless steel, and its 43mm diameter is the mainstream specification of the series, even slightly larger than the series of diver's watches, and the blue-gray bezel of the watch will be thought to be ceramic at first sight, but in fact, the brand uses a rubber coating here, but the side of the crown is not covered with rubber, which is a bit similar to the music special edition, as for the strap of the watch is also a rubber material of the same color as the bezel, From the combination of stainless steel and rubber, it can be seen that the brand still follows the positioning of the series of "enhanced sports watches", and is committed to making the watch more durable and practical to wear, and the reading effect is also clear, not much inferior to that of a diver's watch. Incidentally, the brand has slightly adjusted the crown shoulder guards, which are generally lowered in height and lengthened on the left and right sides to make the lines of the watch smoother and more concise.
▲The oversized check decoration of the dial is interpreted by smoky blue, with the bezel and strap of the same color, and the visual experience is harmonious and pleasant.
Like most of the collection's creations, the hand-dial is adorned with the "Méga Tapisserie" oversized check, which is similar to the check of the Royal Oak Offshore Music Limited Edition or the Royal Oak Offshore diver's watch, which also have three hands, and the checkered dial of this watch is more similar to that of the chronograph creations in the collection. The watch also retains the color of the bezel, adding a smoky blue color to the classic check. The smoked blue dial is complemented by gilded hands and trapezoidal indexes, complemented by a blue scale ring on the periphery of the dial, which allows the wearer to quickly read the time without much effort, and a date display in the 3 o'clock direction of the dial, as in the diver's watches in the collection, which is lacking in the Music Special Edition, thus providing basic but useful information about the time.
▲The 4302 calibre has been adjusted to a sporty style in response to the personality of the Royal Oak Offshore series, and the key is the shape of the rotor and the color change of the plating.
The transparent caseback allows you to admire the sporty 4302 calibre, the new generation of Audemars Piguet AP's basic movement expanded from the CODE 11.59 and Royal Oak series, and now it has also been transplanted to the Royal Oak offshore model, its 22-carat gold skeleton rotor adopts a bold design and black-plated shape to better match the positioning of the watch as a sports watch, but this does not affect the Côtes de Genève, straight and ring finishing, and fish scale pattern of the movement parts under the rotor. In addition to the 4302 calibre, which has a balance frequency of 4 Hz and a power reserve of 70 hours, these key specifications are completely in line with the pace of modernity, providing a solid basis for the practicality of the watch.
PATEK PHILIPPE Aquanaut 5167A
Dating back to 2007, the 10th year of the collection, the Aquanaut 5167A is a successor to its predecessor, the 5060, with a more restructured design and the foundation for today's Aquanaut collection. So far, no matter whether the Aquanaut series has added more advanced functional pieces and introduced different materials and color matching plates, but as the most entry-level 5167A (detailed model number is 5167A-001), its appearance has always maintained a classic style - a combination of black dial and black rubber strap, 5167A is a bit like the epitome of Patek Philippe's watchmaking philosophy, insisting on simple details to the extreme, and finally promoting this watch to the status of the most popular PP watch in the market.
▲The overall thickness of the Aquanaut 5167A is only 8.1mm, which is relatively comfortable and slim in a sports table.
Like all Aquanaut collections (and even the Nautilus collection), the 5167A features an octagonal bezel, a vertical brushed finish and polished corners on the side of the case. The diameter of the watch is 40.8mm, and the market preference has changed since the 1990s, and today it has become a moderate size for sports watches. Since its inception, the product cycle of the 5167A has exceeded ten years and is moving towards twenty years, Patek Philippe is obviously cautious about the launch of the steel-shelled three-needle Aquanaut, even if only the 5167A is only launched today, the new color facelift is expected to be able to sell well in the market, but the brand did not blindly follow the market preferences, but stepped on its own bottom line, and did not let the continuous expansion of this style may cause the market to lose interest in it. It just so happens that the design of the 5167A is a kind of stable and durable route, and there are not many surprises, but everyone is suitable and recognizable enough to wear it, which is a major point of this watch that can last for a long time.
▲The embossed decoration of the dial, with Arabic numerals and sword-shaped hands, has become the design feature of the Aquanaut series.
The 5167A's three-hand dial is flat and stable, and Patek Philippe has carefully added a guivex pattern like the latitude and longitude of the earth, which contrasts strongly with the white gold Arabic numerals and sword-shaped hands, and the indexes and hands are coated with Superluminova material to ensure that the time can be clearly displayed even in dark environments. Nowadays, Aquanaut's face plate texture has been significantly more constricted than the 5060 period, but it also appears more calm and neat, for example, the date window in the direction of 3 o'clock is not forced to put the Arabic numerals there, Patek Philippe even the date window dial digital font has been redesigned, these changes are equivalent to laying a super solid foundation for the next nearly two decades, the design has been used for so long, but it seems that few people feel tired of looking at 5167A, The forward-thinking thinking of the brand's original design is really loved and admired.
▲The 5167A is equipped with the PP basic main movement 26-330 S C, which has a higher level of performance in terms of workmanship and quality compared with the general three-hand sports watch movement.
Compared with the appearance has not changed much since its debut, the movement carried inside the 5167A is still relatively high, the original watch at the beginning still used the same movement as the 5060, since 2008 it was replaced with the 324 SC automatic movement, the brand later developed the 26-330 automatic movement in 2019, and then gradually extended it to its works, so the core of the current 5167A has been replaced with 26-330 S C. The change of the movement is reflected in the adjustment of the details of the movement, such as the gear shape will be changed with the new model, the rotor axis has more rubies, etc., and the 26-330 S C also has a stop second function so that the watch can adjust the time more accurately, as for the vibration frequency and power reserve between the two generations of movements, the specifications are unchanged (respectively 4HZ and 45 hours more), but PP is through the fine-tuning of various movement structures and components, the performance, quality and stability of the movement are pushed to a higher peak. The continuous improvement of the kernel is also one of the factors that cannot be ignored that the 5167A can be popular all the way to the present.
AUDEMARS PIGUET皇家橡树离岸型自动表
Stainless steel / Automatic 4302 movement / Hours, minutes, seconds, date / Sapphire crystal / Transparent case back / Water resistant to 100 m / Diameter 43mm
PATEK PHILIPPE Aquanaut 5167A
Stainless steel / Automatic 26-330 S C / Hours, minutes, seconds, date / Sapphire crystal, transparent caseback / Water resistant to 30 m / Diameter 40.8mm