The first AP Royal Oak was made in 1972 and was designed by Gerald Genta Who also designed the Patek Philippe Nautilus.
The Royal Oak was the first 'expensive' steel sportswatch on the market.
In 1993 they made the first Offhore.
The case is 46 mm in diameter and 14 mm high, the entire watch weighs 240 gram. Today those messures do not seem to be too big but in '93 it was a monster.
The movement is the 2226/2840 (JLC base)
Basically it's a JLC 889/1 running at 21'600 A/h instead of 28'800. It's automatic, 26 mm in diameter, 3.25 mm high, has 33 jewels and a power reserve of 45 hours
Case, bracelet, dial, just everything is the best you can get.
I don't know other sportswatches that are finished as good as those AP's.
AP made around 250 offshores in 1993 but today they make around 3500 offshores per year. (Total AP production is about 21.000)
So 3500 pce is nothing compared to the Rolex submariner production but it's 1400% more than the first production year.
The last years those watches are real hot. I personally know a few Panerai collectors who sold a few Panerai's to buy a ROO.
This watch is imo the best sportswatch you can get !
I had several watches in the last 10 years. Probably every sports rolex, Some Breitling, Omega. Vacheron's Offshore.
Tried others like Breguet XXI and some JLC for a few weeks
But I get the most pleasure from the Audemars Piguet Offshore.
Some More pics
