Audemars Piguet’s CEO, Georges-Henri Meylan has been known to comment with humorous irony about the unexpected chart smashing success of the Royal Oak Offshore. Before reluctantly going forward with the Offshore in 1991, Audemars Piguet was initially quite skeptical of it, fearing this now famous oversized watch to be a novelty with no legs. Well over a decade later, the Offshore, of course, is Audemars Piguet’s ultimate cult creation.

Keeping up with all of Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak Offshore watch variants can be quite a challenge. However, for 2007, I doubt that many will dispute that the most outstanding from a point of innovation is the radical Royal Oak Offshore Alinghi Team Chronograph. Featuring a groundbreaking case made entirely from forged carbon, wedded to an optimized regatta countdown function with flyback chronograph, this Offshore timepiece has been lusted after by AP cognoscenti from the moment it was announced.

To me, the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Alinghi Team Chronograph is both enticing and controversial at the same time. On the one hand, I love the pure sports-bred look, functions, and design of this timepiece–on the other side of the fence, the forged carbon case, being so extraordinarily light feels somehow “wrong” in such an exquisite and costly luxury item. Still and all, I really admire the audacity of this timepiece–it represents a revolutionary watch design pushed to the extreme.