Audemars Piguet Brings Back The “End Of Days” ROO Chronograph

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Royal Oak Offshore a.k.a. The Beast, and we have already seen several new models launched by the brand from Le Brassus to celebrate the event, like the ROO Chronograph 43mm Black Ceramic and Yellow Gold, or the stunning Black Ceramic Beast. The latest edition of the ROO is based on this recent one but is dressed differently as it takes you back to the 1990s and the End of Days, the reference 25770SN. The new model highlights the importance of that limited edition watch released in 1999 in collaboration with Arnold Schwarzenegger, as the legendary timepiece inspires its attire.

End of Days is not a film you should have spent your time watching back in 1999, and it certainly is not worth it now. The leading role that Arnold Schwarzenegger was cast for is said to have been written for Tom Cruise, who went on to work on Magnolia instead (good for you, Tom!). Liv Tyler and Kate Winslet rejected offers as Arnie’s female counterpart. Sam Raimi and Guillermo del Toro turned down contracts to direct the movie, so it ended up with Peter Hyams. If you are as old as I am, perhaps you’ll remember his Capricorn One, Outland and Presidio, the last two with Sean Connery as a lead. These were Hyams’ best, with many failures before and after. But I digress.

“The watch is to be black, and I want yellow numbers“. According to AP’s CEO François-Henry Bennahmias, this is how Arnold Schwarzenegger outlined the specification for the Offshore that he agreed to wear in the End of Days. The Offshore, designed with input from Schwarzenegger, appears only briefly in a close-up when Arnold is hanging from a balcony in one of the action-horror-movie scenes, again to quote François-Henry Bennahmias. Don’t waste your time watching the movie expecting to see the watch here, there and everywhere. It is not the film that made the watch famous but what happened later. 

Audemars Piguet introduced a limited edition of 500 individually numbered pieces of Royal Oak Offshore “End of Days” the same year. This special-ops-like blackened Offshore model (first ever AP with a PVD coating) with yellow neon luminescent Arabic numerals may very well be the first – or one of the very first – watches created in collaboration with a celebrity, something that is hard to believe now that all kinds of collabs seem to have flooded the watch market since long ago. An immediate success, the “End of Days” started a series of successful partnerships for Audemars Piguet, resulting in multiple Offshore limited editions endorsed by influential figures from sports and entertainment that shot Offshore to stardom – still, the Royal Oak Offshore End of Days 25770SN will get my vote over many others if you ask me. 

Now that the importance of the original that inspired the new Royal Oak Offshore Selfwinding Chronograph 26420CE is established let us see what AP offers. The new timepiece comes in a 43mm black ceramic case with titanium elements, is 14.4mm thick and weighs only 103 grams. The characteristic octagonal black ceramic bezel is attached to the case by eight steel screws; the push-pieces and the screw-locked crown are black ceramic, and the crown guards and caseback are crafted from titanium. Despite the hardness of ceramic that makes any work on the case a challenge, Audemars Piguet skillfully continues to impress with how cases are finished in line with the brand’s usual alternating polished and satinée surfaces. 

The glare-proof sapphire glass tops the black dial made with the new Mega Tapisserie pattern introduced to the Offshore collection in 2021, with yellow accents to celebrate the 1999 edition. The tachymeter scale is printed yellow on the black inner bezel above the white minute track. The white gold applied hour indices and hands are black nickel coated and filled with yellow luminescent material. The subdials are black, with white markings and hands; the date window at 4:30 reveals the black disc with a contrasting white digit. The overall impression is of a contemporary luxury timepiece, more suitable to be worn on a megayacht than to fight the Devil himself, as Arnold Schwarzenegger did in End of Days. 

The new Offshore is powered by calibre 4401, a self-winding flyback chronograph with integrated construction and a column wheel for smooth operation. The movement, visible through the caseback, is finely decorated, with Côtes de Genève, circular graining, sunray and circular satin finishings and polished bevels. The rotor is made from pink gold but appears anthracite grey as it was coloured using a special process.

The watch is offered on a black calfskin strap with a textile effect and yellow stitching, with an additional yellow calfskin strap with black stitching. The straps can be switched easily via the interchangeable system, a standard feature on the latest-generation Offshore models.

As expected, the new Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph End of Days Revival 26420CE is a limited edition. The titanium caseback is engraved accordingly so that there is no doubt, and the price is “on request” according to the AP’s website, but we are told it is USD 60,300. For more information, please visit www.audemarspiguet.com.