Listen to me now and hear me later, girly man. Arnold Schwarzenegger the Austrian Oak aka the Governator, is a walking, talking, Predator-dispatching, cigar chomping, Humvee driving embodiment of the American Dream. Having headlined over 40 feature films, been the boss of California, publicly feuded with Donald Trump, married a Kennedy, sired multiple children both in and out of wedlock, at the age of 70 he can still military press you and your hold fah-ma-lee over his head if so inclined. He is single-handedly redefined the late 20th century male physique, introduced weightlifting to the world and inspired one of the all-time most hilarious skits on Saturday Night Live, ‘Pumping Up with Hans and Franz’ responsible for the first line of this story. But it is particularly in his relationship with Audemars Piguet, his penchant for romantic dalliances with his domestic helpers aside, that has yielded his most conspicuously cool issue. Namely a watch called End of Days.

The film from which the watch takes its name is a supernatural thriller. In it Schwarzenegger plays Jericho Caine, ex-NYC police detective dedicated to defeating that ultimate screen villain, Beelzebub himself, or in Arnold-speak, “Say-Tan.” Don’t bother watching it. It is crap. If you’ve a hankering for this genre turn to Rosemary’s Baby or the still genuinely terrifying Exorcist instead. But the watch created for the character is cooler than Johnny Hartman jamming with John Coltrane wearing ice underpants.

The First True BadAss Luxury Watch

Launched in 1993, Audemars Piguet’s original Royal Oak Offshore was a revolution and an assault on conservative values that had patrician boardroom chairmen and ladies running away from it as if it were accompanied by a Mongol army intent on plundering their loot and absconding with their daughters. Yes, it was a luxury watch. Yes, it was extremely refined in finish. But it was also irrefutably badass. If the Offshore were a person, he would have parked his Harley FXR in your rose bush and put his motorcycle boots up on your Bedermier table. And that was the point. In the same way that its predecessor the Royal Oak was a watch that targeted specially at the ‘70s era playboy and his love for all things sports chic, the Offshore was a declaration that you could be rich (enough to afford its price tag) successful (enough to be rich enough to afford its price tag) and also something of a bad mother f***ker.

In 1993 when launched, this watch scared children and old people.

In 1997 AP upped the ruggedness of the Offshore while making it easier to wear by ditching its near half kilo steel bracelet for a double strap, made unbelievably enough from heavy duty ballistic Cordura, Kevlar and aramid, and a Velcro closure. If the aforementioned older generation gentility had revived from their fainting spell, this would send their panic-stricken hearts back into cardiac arrest. Because never in the world of haute de gamme watchmaking — a term often associated with AP, Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin, horology’s “Holy Trinity,” — had so lofty a brand deigned to invoke military codes. It was as shocking as your college daughter returning from her semester studying sculpture in Florence, knocked up and with an Italian husband named Fabrizio. But those who dared strap this divisive animal on their wrist were rewarded with a watch that could fit a much wider variety of wrists and with a fantastic level of comfort.

End of Days Royal Oak Offshore 1999 500 Pieces Limited Edition

The 1999 End of Days took the “Velcro” strapped Offshore as its base but then upped the bad assitude to Spinal Tap Level 11. First of all, the steel watch was entirely coated black, using Physical Vapour Deposition. Now this may not seem radical today, but in this era, only tool type watches, Tag Heuers, Porsche Designs, and Panerai had gone to the dark side. For a rarified brand like AP to do it was, to quote the bald dude in The Princess Bride, “inconceivable.” The blacked-out case was backed up by a blacked-out dial featuring the brand’s signature tappiserie motif, white gold subdial surrounds and shocking high alert signal yellow hands and indexes. The Special Forces meets high luxury allure was cemented with the use of a black Kevlar, aramid, Velcro strap.

When it was launched people lost their minds over the 500-piece limited edition. It was snapped up in a heart beat. For the first time here was a true luxury watch manufacture expressing that it understood what was cool. From a historical perspective the End of Days would forge the aesthetic underpinnings for an entire generation of blacked-out timepieces and it’s fair to say there would be no Hublot All Black and no George Bamford watches without its existence. Prices rapidly shot up to touch $100,000 but in recent years secondary values have come down a lot. Watches today can be bought in the $40,000 dollar range.

The truly desirable watch is housed in a black PVD 42mm case and utilizing the Jaeger-LeCoultre-based Calibre 2226/2840 movement and it features a triple-register chronograph layout with running seconds, 30-minute and 12-hour counters; rounded baton hands, Arabic indices; an outer tachymeter scale; and plenty of lume. Paired to a Kevlar Velcro strap and limited to only 500 pieces as mentioned in the above, it also comes with its inner box, books, certificate of origin and papers, screwdriver, and extra nylon strap.