Audemars Piguet

The Royal Oak arrived in 1972, widely credited as the first luxury sports watch in steel, drawn by Gérald Genta around an octagonal bezel held down by eight visible screws. Everything else follows from that: the bracelet integrated into the case and tapering to the clasp, the Tapisserie dial on most references, the hand-finished play of brushed tops against polished bevels. The line now runs from simple time and date up to perpetual calendars and open-worked pieces.

See the Royal Oak pieces

The Offshore arrived in 1993, designed by Emmanuel Gueit on a brief to make the Royal Oak bigger and sportier for a younger buyer. The case is thicker, a rubber gasket sits exposed between bezel and case, the dial carries the bigger Méga Tapisserie pattern, and the crown and pushers are usually rubber or ceramic clad. Chronographs dominate the collection, and case materials run from steel, titanium and ceramic to forged carbon, gold and platinum.

See the Royal Oak Offshore pieces

CODE 11.59 launched in 2019, the first wholly new collection the house had introduced since 1993, and round where the Royal Oak is octagonal. Seen face-on, it reads as a plain round watch, but from the side the bezel sits on an octagonal middle case, and the hollowed, open-worked lugs attach to the bezel alone, floating clear of the case with a visible gap beneath them. The double-curved sapphire crystal is the other tell.

See the Code 11.59 pieces