Trends are cyclical. I am stating the obvious, but bear with me because it’s an important framework for understanding the rise and fall of the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore. Fashion trends come, and they go, and then they swing back around again. This rudimentary formula has since evolved into a more complicated beast thanks to social media and influencer culture. But the Offshore was born in the early 1990s and came to prominence in the early 2000s, back when the playing field was more evenly paced and trends were given a little more breathing room, so to speak.
Let’s start with the basics. When a trend is “trending” your average consumer is likely to subscribe to said trend (some may call this herd mentality; I say it’s par for the course as humans are particularly adept at outfitting and adorning themselves for social survival/status). When a trend has run its course, the item in question becomes stale and is likely to cause a strong reaction of disapproval, a turning up of the nose – a public burn. Take skinny jeans for instance. It was a sunny climb to the top in the early-to-mid-aughts and a colossally dark fall to the bottom by the late 2010s. Don’t worry (or maybe do panic), skinny jeans will be back.
Items that are “on trend” are, more often than not, a product of the zeitgeist. They reflect a contemporary discourse. Now, that discourse may be a regurgitation of a previous decade’s discourse done in a modern way (like flared jeans or camp-collar shirts) but my point is that trends are the opposite of classics: camel-colored cashmere coats or silk bias-cut dresses or merino wool V-neck sweaters for example. Classics are mild-mannered, they are timid. Trends are splashy; in theory, they change and mold and mutilate the existing fashion vernacular. And when you have a REALLY good trend, sometimes it pierces through the trend bubble and becomes a classic, like Art Deco jewelry or double denim.
The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore was conceived in 1993, rose to popularity in the early 2000s and then exploded in relevancy thanks to countless LEs and celebrity collaborations, and then slowly and solemnly fell under the shadow of the Royal Oak (which rose up from its own grave of irrelevance in the 2010s).
In order to understand the rise and fall of the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore we must first understand its role in the wider cultural narrative. All watches are fundamentally expressions of culture; they act, as clothing does, as a reflection of pop culture, technology, and fashion. The Offshore landed as a bold turning point, initiating a radical transformation of the watch industry and establishing the trend for oversized watches.
The original Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore, nicknamed the “Beast” (ref. 25721ST) was a hefty 42mm stainless steel chronograph with exposed rubber gasket and rubber on the crown and pushers. A souped-up version of its Royal Oak predecessor. It was controversial. Gérald Genta’s vocal disapproval was echoed by classicists – and remains so today.
But the size wasn’t so radical when set in relation to the wider cultural landscape. In the ’90s the entire fashion dialogue was a theme of oversized, and this theme cut across cultures and ages. The Offshore’s rubber accents and almost comically oversized case echoed the rise of extreme sports (the X Games, after all, were born just two years later). The 1990s gave rise to skate culture and huge baggy jeans – it was boom times for youth culture, and emblems were supersized – from grunge fans in huge flannel shirts to punk disciples augmenting their ears with giant plug earrings all the way through to backpackers and their larger-than-ever-before barbwire tattoos. The Offshore, while very much in its own sector, and own space of high-end watchmaking, was a part of the broader dialogue of people accepting the cultural push towards these more extreme measurements across all lines of personal expression.
Innovation is hard to stomach at first, it can feel like an affront to our carefully considered material identity. But change in fashion happens all the time. John Galliano’s FW 1999 Christian Dior couture show at the Orangery in Versailles shocked every couture customer in the audience with its explicit sexual nature and deconstruction of the traditional couture concept. As time elapsed it became a milestone show in fashion history and is continually referenced as a turning point for the fashion zeitgeist. The same can be said of Martin Margiela and his Tabis – an “invisible” shoe whose form separates the big toe from the rest of the foot. Shocking at first, Tabis are now commercially indestructible. Big ideas and radical design are what push the conversation forward.
The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore was born as a youthful counterpart to its more classic-looking predecessor – let’s not forget that the Royal Oak was radical for 1972. It faced a myriad of criticisms during its unveiling. Now look at her riding high! She too has come and gone and then swung back around again. Because trends are cyclical! Back to Offshore, which was purposefully designed as a reinterpretation of the Royal Oak, not a reissue. Audemars Piguet therefore had the ability to use the Offshore as a springboard without “stepping on history.” This in turn meant AP had an artistic license to use the watch as a platform for LEs and as a canvas for material innovation.
