AP, why you gotta make so many different sizes of a Royal Oak? I'm going to help you sort them out
when you call us here at SwissWatchExpo, we'll be able to make a good recommendation for you.
Fresh from the Showcase at SwissWatchExpo. I guess I'll cut AP a little bit of slack here. This is a
watch they've been making since 1972, almost 50 years of this watch. And so of course, there's
been some variations made over the years. They've changed the sizes. They've changed the thicknesses
they've changed the movements. I get that. And so part of the confusion people have when they
call in here to SwissWatchExpo, and they're saying, 'Hey, I want to AP Royal Oak.' I mean, who
doesn't? Everybody wants a Royal Oak. Everybody ought to own a Royal Oak. Everybody. Every one
of you deserves to own a Royal Oak, but the question becomes, 'Which one should I get?' And
I really can't answer that question for you. I can only answer it for myself because there
are so many different variations, but I'm going to help you make a little bit of sense of it.
In fact, there so many variations on this one watch. If you were to go to the AP website
right now in 2021, there are 142 different Royal Oaks, not even the Offshore. If we
exclude the Offshore and just look at Royal Oak, 142 variations just for this year,
that doesn't even count all the ones that were pre-2012 and the other variations that we've got.
So I understand why it would be so confusing, but we're going to make it more clear.
What they've done is over the years and this watch they've, we've talked about before,
the things that make this watch great. It has this octagonal bezel
that is beautifully finished. There are videos out there from AP that show how they assemble the
watch that, as Jonathan points out, are definitely worth watching. They have a, a piece of diamond
sandpaper that they hand take this bezel and slide it along to do the vertical brushed finish.
And the bezel. They have the eight screws that are hexagon
shaped each one hand polished. They have a middle case that is just beautiful. The way it's finished
with the chamfered edge, that's high polished the brushed on the sides. This is not the Royal Oak
Offshore, the Big Boys that Mitch calls them. This is the Royal Oak. So this is the thinner
one. This is the one that really fits better on the wrist for most people than the Offshore,
but it still has those design cues where the bracelet tapers in, and it has the chamfered edges
and the beautiful polishing between the links that really catches the light when you move your wrist.
So each one of these has just phenomenal movements, the tesserae dials that
are hand cut with the pantograph type tool. And so they're all great. I mean,
there's not a one of them that would be a mistake tone, but there's so many different sizes.
I just want to give you a quick tour around and show them to you. So in each of these sizes,
there are a couple of different reference numbers because they have revamped the line at different
points. Like in the 41 millimeter, they did it in 2012, they changed the reference number
to accommodate the new movement. The case is slightly thicker on the newer one,
but as far as the diameter goes and the way it sits on the wrist, it's not going to make
a huge difference. So we're really only going to talk about the case width here. So starting off
with the little one, this is a 33 millimeter and my wrist is about seven inches or so,
but I'll show you what it looks like on me. I probably would not recommend this for anyone
who does not have either a fairly small wrist, but I think of this as a great watch for a woman.
It's more of a mid size watch that would look great on a gal. But if you had a smaller wrist and
you like a smaller watch, the 33 certainly would work. It's within the realm of possibilities for
you. And that is of course, an automatic winding mechanical movement. There is a quartz version
that is even smaller that you could get for the ladies. They've just come out with this
one. This is their first 34 millimeter. Yes, you caught that, right. There's a 33 and a 34. So this
is what I'm talking about when I say 'AP, why you got to do that to us?' But the 34 is really cool.
It's got the exhibition case back. This one that we have is steel and rose gold,
and you can see it definitely is thicker. It sits a little bigger on the wrist,
and it's still a great choice for men, but also for women.
In fact, this one's already sold and I'm just kind of borrowing it before it goes to the
shipping department, because it is going to go to a woman in Chicago is going to be wearing that
before, you know it, and then next up, this one is a 37. So just to compare for you,
the 34 to the 37 side-by-side, you can see how that looks, the 37 I'll also try on, and
it has the exhibition case back as well. And you might argue that that's the right size for me.
37 looks really good. I mean, that's, I would not look at this watch and think, 'Man, I wish that
was a little bit bigger.' It's it could be a great size. I wouldn't automatically gravitate to 37,
but that's a great pick. Now here's 39 and I'll just show you the 37 and the 39 side-by-side.
So you can see how much bigger it is. The 39 is the one that was called jumbo. And
that's a funny name for it now because it's not the biggest one that they make.
And for most people, if you read the forums and you like what they have to say, the thought out
there seems to be that the 39 jumbo is the best size for most people, that this is the kind of
Goldilocks size. It's not too big, not too small, but just right. It's still a big watch. I mean,
when you look at it, there's a reason that they called it Jumbo. When it first came out,
it's a big imposing watch. And 39 is a little deceptive because we're used to watches now
that are 42, 44, 46. But because of the way, it's not only the width, it's the lug to lug length.
And on this watch because of the bracelet is a little stiff
beyond the legs. It's really from here to here is the part that's more rigid.
So it's a big presence on the wrist. If you look at how much of the wrist bone it covers.
So that's the 37, I'm sorry, 39. And then here we have the current big one, which is the 41.
And again, there's a couple of different versions of the 41. The younger one has a thicker case
to accommodate the newer movement, but for the diameter, it's still the same and 41. Here's
how that one looks on my wrist. And now we're kind of getting into really big watch territory,
even the 41. Again, it's deceptive because it really wears from here to here. We're really
getting into kind of Panerai territory at this point the way it looks overall on the wrist.
So if what you want is a really big imposing masculine watch that's not as thick as the
Offshore, then the 41 is going to be the way to go. I hope this helps.
If you want to give us a call, we're happy to go further into the differences based on
generational changes, movement changes, case thickness, but just on the, on the diameters,
hopefully this helps with you seeing what it would look like on your wrist. Give us a call here at
SwissWatchExpo. It's not often that we would have all five sizes in stock, but we do right
now. So we thought we'd take the advantage of the moment to make this video, but this is one of the
most highly coveted most sought after watches. You can't just walk into an AP boutique and buy one,
but we have them in stock ready to go, ready to ship today at SwissWatchExpo.