What didn’t we like about the previous Royal Oak Offshores? the rubber accents on the watch and also the lack of caseback to admire the beautiful movement. AP certainly listened to our prayers and resolved those two issues with their new 2014 Royal Oak Offshores.

Six new models have been released and we’re so happy to see them.  Four in stainless steel

1. navy and white
2. black and red
3. grey on grey (our favourite)
4. and the “Safari” dial

and two in rose gold, one with a solid rose gold bracelet and the other one on a leather strap. Unfortunately what they removed from the new leather strapped models are the deployant clasps. Instead these now come with standard tang buckles. Not too big of a deal as a tang buckle is a clean, comfortable and secure mechanism for a leather strap.

 

A selection of the 2014 ROO’s

Live wrist shot of the grey and grey dial (pics courtesy of Hodinkee)

Nonetheless we are really liking these watches. They have a much more refined touch to them, as much as a Royal Oak Offshore can though given that they are quite machismo watches. The biggest gain in the 2014 line of ROO’s is really the sapphire caseback displaying the gorgeous Caliber 3126 and its beautifully crafted 22ct gold rotor. You’ll notice the chrono pushers are a little slimmer. They are also made of ceramic, a wise choice over the old rubber pushers. Looking closer, the chronograph sub-dials are some light circular graining on them in order to add a little more refinement in the dial.

Ceramic pushers (pics courtesy of Hodinkee)

Circular graining on the sub-dials (pics courtesy of Hodinkee)

Looking forward to checking these out when they arrive later in the year in Australia.