Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore LadyCat – Just a few people are lucky enough to attend an Audemars Piguet event, but fewer are those who can actually touch a boutique edition of a Royal Oak, Le Brassus’s manufacture icon. What is a “boutique edition”? It is a timepiece made in a very limited edition and sold only in Audemars Piguet boutiques all over the world. Let’s take a step back: Via Montenapoleone, needless to mention the city, hosts one of the most beautiful boutiques of the brand, located just a few steps away from one of the most prestigious Italian historical coffee shops, the Caffè Cova.
It is a small shop, but only in terms of size, because it safeguards some of the rarest Audemars Piguet timepieces ever made: you can see it by just taking a look at its shop window for a whole week. Among these timepieces one really stands out: its name is Royal Oak Offshore LadyCat. A model which, to be honest, I’ve never heard anything about until now. You all know by now why I haven’t been writing for a while; I was looking for something truly special, let’s say unique. The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore LadyCat is made in steel or white gold, in just 150 and 10 pieces respectively.
This timepiece is named after LadyCat, which is the catamaran driven by Dona Bertarelli, sister of well-known Ernesto Bertarelli (Alinghi). She is a successful sports and business woman who, supported by a mostly ladies’ team named Spindrift Racing, won the 2013 Fastnet, and broke the record for the America Discovery Route, a modern re-edition of Columbus’s original route to America. And this is the way Audemars Piguet is celebrating women and sailing, a sport the maison has been consistently sponsoring since 1985.
The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore LadyCat of this article is the most prestigious, made in white gold, and it is number 2 out of 10: a Royal Oak that deserves the highest bid at an auction. It recalls the LadyCat’s brand colors: black, gold, and green. They are visible, possibly, just on the stainless steel model, as the white gold LadyCat is fully covered (buckle included) by a set of 323 diamonds, brilliant cut, 5,82 carats each. Except for the case back where the boat logo is engraved and eight screws secure the movement to the case.
The three chrono counters are made out of mother-of-pearl, the dial has the classic, unmistakable Audemars Piguet’s mega tapisserie motif. Indexes and hands are made out of rose gold treated with luminous material. Even as a piece of jewelry, it is a pure 100% Royal Oak.
An elegant piece of jewelry but also a watch. Because the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore LadyCat is a mechanical automatic chrono (caliber 2385), with the balance wheel vibrating at 3Hz and at least 40 hours of power reserve. I couldn’t imagine a better way to enrich our column dedicated to women readers (Watches for Her), and to conclude a week which will be long remembered as the one dedicated to haute horlogerie, for him and her.
(Photo credit: Google; Horbiter®’s proprietary photo-shooting)
Mariarosaria A. @Horbiter®
