The new Royal Oak Offshore Buemi watch by Audemars Piguet

Written by Vanessa Formato

Sébastien Buemi, 23, knows all about precision. In his still-young career as a Formula One driver, he has conquered track after track using a combination of technical know-how and heart. This tenacious young man was an obvious choice as a brand ambassador for famed Swiss watch company Audemars Piguet. Now, three years after he joined their team, Audemars Piguet is honoring Buemi with a namesake chronograph in their luxurious yet sporty Royal Oak Offshore collection.

Swiss racer Buemi start on the karting circuit, winning multiple championships before graduating to Formula Three racing. In his subsequent Formula One career, has been a part of the Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso teams, respectively. With Toro Rosso, he has set done some of his finest racing, including placing eighth in Canada. According to Sky Sports, Buemi’s current role in the Red Bull team for 2012 is a crucial one, as it positions the young driver as a potential replacement for Mark Webber in 2013.

When he is off the track, Buemi is not afraid to show his fashion sense through his accessories. He claims to have been a watch enthusiast from an early age. He told Audemars Piguet that when he won his first Swiss Karting Championship, he asked his father for a watch as a congratulatory gift. The rest is history.

Buemi’s watch, the Royal Oak Offshore Sébastien Buemi, is part of a 250-piece limited series and draws significant inspiration from Buemi’s love of cars. Many of the materials used for the watch are also common in motor sports, such as ceramic and titanium. The inclusion of these materials makes the watch quite light and sleek, much like the Formula One cars it invokes.

“The yellow is the main colour on my driver’s helmet, which is why it enjoys pride of place on the dial,” Buemi said in an interview posted on the Audemars Piguet website. The piece is entirely hand-assembled and contains “a remarkable ‘engine’ known for its great precision and exceptional reliability.”

Audemars Piguet is no stranger to teaming up with renowned racecar drivers, leaving Buemi in excellent company. Rubens Barrichello, Juan Pablo Montoya, Jarno Trulli and Michael Schumacher– who gained significant fame outside the racing community for his brief appearance as The Stig on “Top Gear,” one of the most popular car programs worldwide– have all acted as faces for the brand.

Buemi has been a brand ambassador for Audemars Piguet since 2009.