Audemars Piguet’s best selling Royal Oaks (Offshore or otherwise) have been through more variants than any of us remember, occasionally rather vividly so. It is therefore somewhat comforting to see a new model that is sedate and more flexible in its ‘wearability’ – meet the latest Royal Oak Offshore Diver Ref. 15710 in the comfortably sized 42mm with a thickness of 13.90mm.

Launched at SIHH 2015, this new iteration is the same size as its older siblings, but now in a white or black dial ‘Mega Tapisserie’ and see-though case back combination. The case is vertically brushed stainless steel and it comes on a black rubber strap. There is a similarly dialled watch already in the Royal Oak Offshore collection, but it has a white ceramic case and bezel (15707CB.OO.A010CA.01). The hour markers are applied white gold and the hands lumed of course.

Water resistance is 300m, and it has the diving time in a white and black rotating inner bezel which is operated by the crown at 10 o’clock, which is probably a bit more fiddly than an external diver’s bezel. The first fifteen minutes of the sixty-minute scale are highlighted in black for the silvery-white model and silver for the black dialled model. The white/ black combination is a lot easier to read than the silver/ black one.

So what is there to say about a new variation on an existing watch that has a few tweaks? Well it’s all about options, isn’t it? For those who  have wanted an AP diver and not liked any of the existing case/ dial combinations but wanted something more ‘classic’ looking, then this just might tick all your boxes.

Categories: Audemars Piguet, Divers watches, Hands-on, SIHH 2015, Switzerland, Watch Profile, watches