The Watch: Audemars Piguet's partnership with Michael Schumacher produced a series of limited editions throughout the 2000s and 2010s, each one reflecting something of the driver's approach to competition. The 26568IM arrived in 2012 as perhaps the most technically ambitious of the collaboration: a flyback chronograph in a 44mm titanium case, limited to 1,000 pieces.
The flyback function allows the chronograph to be reset and restarted in a single pusher operation, a complication developed for pilots who needed to time consecutive events without losing seconds. Schumacher's application was the racetrack rather than the cockpit, but the utility translates.
Motorsports references abound. Lug-nut inspired bezel bolts, a gear-shaped crown, a spoked caseback cover, and "gas pedal" strap links recall the world's fastest race cars. The grey Méga Tapisserie dial is styled as a dashboard instrument and ringed by an F1-style checkered flag minute track motif. Seven stars at 12 o'clock represent Schumacher's world championship titles. His signature appears on the rotor, visible through the sapphire caseback. AP's caliber 3126/3840 handles the complications, with a column wheel driving the chronograph function.
This 2014 example comes with papers. For the collector who wants Offshore presence with genuine horological substance underneath.
