Audemars Piguet

Good morning,

this is my first post here - so let me introduce myself: My name is Max, I live in Germany and I am working for a big ICT company as key account manager. My grandfather was working for Breguet as watchsmith and loved his work which is the reason for the love for watches in my whole family. Of course, I am no exception

After a Panerai Luminor Logo (005) and a Rolex Sea Dweller (16600) I am now about purchasing my first Audemars Piguet.

It should be a Royal Oak Offshore, of which two models are my favourites:

1. The Silver Themes on leather band: It is sporty and elegant, a real every day watch.

2. The Bumblebee: The combination of forged carbon and ceramic is simply stunning, but I have some doubts that it might be to special for every day use.

To get a better picture of both watches I went to an AD which to my surprise had a Bumblebee available. I compared the Bumblebee to a Safari as he did not have a Silver Themes and I am impressed how light and comfortable the Bumblebee wears compared with a steel ROO.

But somehow I was asking myself if the Bumblebee was thicker than the Safari after I left the shop?!

I had a look at AP's website, where both Silver Themes (which should be the same case as the Safari) and the Bumblebee were stated with 15mm thickness. But on pictures it is visible that the chrono pushers on the steel ROOs cause a little cut out on the top side of the crown guards whereas the Bumblebee has the pushers completely surrounded by the crown guards.

So my questions are:

- Is my impression about the thickness of both watches just a misinterpretation or is the description on AP's homepage not correct?

- Does someone here have both watches to compare them?

Thanks very much for your help, I really appreciate it.

Best Regards, Max

Regarding your question: I have a Bumblebee myself for a while now and must say that I am extremely pleased with the watch. I have worn the Silver Themes a couple of times (I do not own it myself, but a good friend of mine does) and apart from a slightly different feel of material and weight, I did not notice any differences relating to size etc. From that perspective they have the same feel.

Bumblebee is one of my favourite APs of the moment. Interesting mix of materials, colors and appealing price compared to some others.

Given that I have several watches and I rotate, the Bumblebee is not my every day watch. Equally, none of my other watches really are daily watches because of this same reason. Perhaps if anything it would be my 292 which is a very easy going, low key, watch, but even that one I do not wear more than 2 days in a row.

Given you own other watches as well, the Bumblebee will not be your every day watch as well I guess, but I can guarantee you that you will thoroughly enjoy wearing it. With me, every watch that I added to my collection also made me appreciat my older pieces more. I think/hope the Bumblebee will do the same for you. It is a nice diversification of your collection as well imho.

Hi Max,

With regards to dimensions : The construction of the Bumblebee case as compared to the Themes case is not exactly the same because of the manufacturing constraints of the different materials of forged carbon, steel, and ceramic, and their comparative strengths. Hence the small differences as you mentioned. The overall thickness differs by approx 1mm. ie, the Steel ROO is about 14.25mm thick and the Bumblebee about 15.25mm. However the difference is hardly noticable to the eye...

Cheers,

Rob   

If one is thicker than the other, you'll hardly even notice any difference IMO.  They both wear the same size wise, so the only difference would be the weight.  I don't know the weights of both, but I would assume the Bumblebee is slightly lighter but probably not that noticeable since it still has a good heft to it.

Cheers,
Anthony

Hello Guys,

 thanks very much for all your help.

In the meantime I was at the AD at least twice to have a look at the stainless steel Offshore and the Bumblebee again and I think I will order a Silver Themes coming saturday. Its main advantage over the Bumblebee is the more elegant look of the ss Offshore but I have to admit that I already have thoughts of getting the bumblebee in a few months, too

Both are stunning but very different. So it will be a Silver Themes first and the Bumblebee has to follow

Cheers,

Max