Latest Watch News

Pre-Baselworld 2017 - Frederique Constant Classic Worldtimer Manufacture Brown Dial - Monochrome Watches

We told you several times, the Word-Time complication is certainly the best answer to the issues?of current business habits. Many of us are frequent travelers or work in an international environment, switching timezones (virtually or literally) more often?than we?change shirt. The need for a watch that displays multiple time-zones has never been so high. However, as we’ve seen, World-Time wa...

2017-02-07

BYOW (Build-Your-Own-Watch) - The Revolo Concept, An Affordable Way To Design A Unique Watch - Monochrome Watches

Admit it, most of us (if not ALL of us) have dreamt about it at one point; building your own watch. Whether it's our very own watch brand, or a Piece Unique. Normally, if you call it normal, this will cost you thousands if not hundreds of thousands, especially when you want to turn your concept into an actual brand. There is a solution though, and it goes by the name of Revolo. We take a look at w...

2017-02-03

Video Interview - 5 Questions For Davide Cerrato, Managing Director Of Montblanc Watch Division, About 2017 Collections - Monochrome Watches

At the SIHH 2017, Montblanc launched an entirely?redesigned TimeWalker?collection, transforming these watches from “modern-urban” to real sports timepieces, mainly chronographs and racing-car-oriented stop-watches. This is an extremely important collection for the brand, which was until now rather absent from the critical sports-watch category. That being said, you can imagine how cruc...

2017-02-03

The A. Lange & Sohne Tourbograph Perpetual Pour le Merite

No need to beat around the bush… Some subjects don’t really need to be debated. The new?A. Lange & Sohne Tourbograph Perpetual Pour le Merite is a superlative watch, a proper?masterpiece, mixing all the technical marvels of one of the best manufactures in the world (because for once, it’s outside Switzerland), with a strong respect to traditions and a devotion to what is (to ...

2017-02-02

Business Swatch Group 2016 Results Worse Than Expected / Net Sales Drop Over 10%, Net Income Drops 47% - Monochrome Watches

For more than 2 years now, the watchmaking industry is facing a “crisis” or at least, sales and profits are lower than in the 2000s, the golden era of modern watchmaking. After Richemont announced massive shakeups and rather bad results, it’s now time for Swatch Group to make public the results for the year 2016… and they’re?not good. Sales are decreasing over 10% (co...

2017-02-02

IWC Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar Chronograph Steel 2017 - Review / Price

As we’ve seen yesterday, the story behind the IWC Da Vinci has been eventful and longer than many thought. If the first edition dates back 1969, it’s really in 1985 that the Da Vinci?obtained the recognition we know today, with one iconic version, the Ref. 3750 Perpetual Calendar Chronograph, conceived in the mind of genius Kurt Klaus. For 2017, there’s a new Da Vinci collection,...

2017-02-01

The History Of The IWC Da Vinci - From 1969 to 2017

Over several decades?of existence, the IWC Da Vinci has drastically evolved and has seen dozens of versions and style. Yet, even if this watch is certainly not as popular as the Portugeiser or the Big Pilot’s Watch, it has been a playing?field for multiple innovations and milestones for the brand. Before we go hands-on with the latest version of the Da Vinci, in what we think is the key mode...

2017-01-31

Brice Goulard's Top 10 of the SIHH 2017

First one to pull the trigger was Xavier, with his Top 10 watches of the SIHH 2017. It was not fair to leave that task to him only, so I had to do the job too. Still, picking up my 10 favorite pieces of the Geneva-based fair was not easy. Not that there was not enough material this year – we’ve seen many interesting propositions, both dream-watches or more commercial offers – but...

2017-01-30

SIHH 2017 - Baume & Mercier Clifton Club - Review (Specs & Price)

The SIHH 2017 has seen the debuts of an?entirely?new collection for Baume & Mercier, the Clifton Club, exploring new territories for the brand: sports watches. Indeed, this universe is at first rather far away from what the brand used to do for the last decade. Still, this Clifton Club is an interesting novelty. No marketing artifices?about heritage, vintage-inspiration or an obscure past coll...

2017-01-30

5 Questions for Guillaume Ttu, COO of Ralph Lauren Watches

In 2009, a new brand made its debut to the SIHH, the?Ralph Lauren Watch & Jewelry Co, a joint venture between the iconic lifestyle?brand and the Richemont Group, the watchmaking giant. Yet, the path?has not been simple and after several?unclear collections and hesitations in positioning the brand, the?brand was absent from the SIHH 2016. Though,?this was not the end of the story. New?teams,?re...

2017-01-30

Richemont's Big Reshuffle - 4 CEOs Leaving (JLC, Vacheron, Piaget, Dunhill)

This was predictable. After the announcement by Richemont of first shakeups, by?abolishing the CEO and CFO roles, by appointing Jer?me Lambert as head of operations, by appointing Georges Kern as head of watchmaking, marketing and digital and already scheduling?several drastic actions for the group, it’s now time for the big reshuffle at the head of?the brands. The CEOs of Jaeger-LeCoultre, ...

2017-01-30

Squale Squalematic 60 Atmos - Dive Watch Review (Specs & Price)

The vintage-inspired trend that overshadows the watch market these past few years is still evolving, with most companies more or less digging in their archives, trying to find vintage designs, to bring them back in life. Although this may show the difficult position of the Swiss watch industry as a whole, it can be argued that it has some benefits. Perhaps the most important one is that the market...

2017-01-27

VIDEO - 5 Questions to Jean-Christophe Babin, CEO of Bulgari

It will be hard to hide the fact that, since a few years, the brand Bulgari has become a major actor in the field of watchmaking. What has long been a superb jeweler and a manufacturer of jewelry-oriented watches is now recognized as a proper innovator and a respected high-end watch brand, showing to the world an great expertise in ultra-thin movements (in-house developed and produced) mixed with ...

2017-01-27

Panerai Luminor Submersible 1950 3 Days Automatic Oro Rosso 42mm PAM00684 - SIHH 2017 (Review / Price)

Panerai watches are great. They look super-cool, they have that unique aura of a robust and vintage dive watch mixed with that Italian je-ne-sais-quoi.?They are icons of watchmaking. Still, there might?be one issue with these watches. Most?are sized for?lumberjacks’ wrists. If the 45mm or 47mm diameters participate to the look (and they are actually easier to wear than what you can expect), ...

2017-01-26

Xavier Markl's Top 10 of the SIHH 2017

The SIHH 2017 was my 19th attendance to the Geneva-based fair. What a pleasure to tour the inescapable Geneva Haute Horlogerie rendez-vous, which has been great vintage indeed! Here's my top ten favorite watches, after over 2,000 pictures shot. These are presented without specific order, focusing on gents watches (no mention therefore of the magnificent jeweled watches from Cartier, Piaget or Van ...

2017-01-25

Piaget Polo S Black ADLC / Rubber SIHH 2017 (Specs & Price)

Launched with great fanfare in the middle of last year – see our introducing article – the Piaget Polo S was both a breath of fresh air for Piaget and, at the same time (and unfortunately) the most controversial watch of the year 2016. This is the sad part of the story. This watch is great… alone. But it lives in a market full of competitors. It seems that Piaget heard the compla...

2017-01-25

Drive de Cartier Extra Flat SIHH 2017 (Specs & Price)

Last year at SIHH 2016, Cartier unveiled a?new men’s?watch, the Drive, which received a lot of?praise?and attention here on Monochrome-Watches (see our?introductory article and review) thanks to?its great elegance and the way it mastered shapes. For us this is what Cartier is all about, a master of shapes and elegance, a brand that can create an unconventional watch that still looks brillian...

2017-01-24

Manufacture Royale 1770 Micromegas Revolution Limited Editions Review

The 1770 Micromegas Revolution is a spectacular launch from the Indie watchmaking brand based in Vallorbe that we have not got a chance to review yet. Clearly, once?you can manage to?a closer look at this watch, you understand that this would have been a pity not to cover it. As the brand is introducing three exclusive limited editions, we take a look at this architectural double tourbillon - and ...

2017-01-23

SIHH 2017 - Ulysse Nardin Marine Annual Calendar Chronometer (Price)

Ulysse Nardin, a new-comer to?SIHH, is well known for its Marine roots, as the manufacture has been active in the field of Marine Chronometers (to be placed on boat decks) since its inception in 1846. You won’t be surprised therefore?to see that one of the main highlights of the 2017 collection is strongly linked to this rich past. Still, Marine is not the only field where Ulysse Nardin is a...

2017-01-20

SIHH 2017 - Ulysse Nardin Marine Tourbillon Grand Feu Enamel (Price)

The marine world has been an integral part of Ulysse Nardin's history since 1846, when a young watchmaker named Ulysse Nardin created the first, highly-coveted marine deck chronometers. These precision navigational instruments – once prized by mariners and navies the world over – are?nowadays still the main source of inspiration for the Ulysse Nardin Marine Collection, arguably the bes...

2017-01-19

SIHH 2017 - Vacheron Constantin Traditionnelle Chronograph Perpetual Calendar Pink Gold

Back in September 2016 we told you about the launch of the revamped Vacheron Constantin Traditionnelle Chronograph Perpetual Calendar. An update to one of the brand's more iconic models, the new ref. 5000T boasted a re-designed dial and an improved movement. At the time however it was only available in a platinum case, unlike its predecessor which was also available in rose gold. At SIHH 2017, Vac...

2017-01-19

SIHH 2017 - IWC Da Vinci Automatic 40mm (Specs & Price)

As?Brice has already mentioned in our first Pre-SIHH 2017 coverage introducing the IWC Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar Chronograph, IWC has established a?tradition of?revamping an entire collection each year. We've seen this?practice happening over the past 4 years and this year is no different. It’s time for the Da Vinci collection to get an update, and one of the new models is this IWC Da Vinc...

2017-01-19

Vacheron Constantin Metiers DArts Copernicus Celestial Spheres SIHH 2017

Metiers D'Art are deeply ingrained in Vacheron Constantin's tradition. At SIHH 2017, the Geneva-based Manufacture is introducing a collection in tribute to Nicolaus Copernicus, the Polish mathematician and astronomer who heralded a scientific revolution, putting forward the theory of heliocentrism, overturning all existing beliefs. Three different versions bring different interpretations of the th...

2017-01-19

SIHH 2017 - 5 Questions To Wilhelm Schmid, CEO of A. Lange & Sohne (VIDEO) - Monochrome Watches

Walter Lange, A. Lange & Sohne Honorary Chairman, died on January,17th, 2017, the day right after we recorded this interview. We’d like to dedicate this very modest movie to this great name of the watchmaking industry and a highly respectable person. Bravo! We’ll miss you Mister Lange.As some might say, the show must go on… But?how futile?and material?this would be, the SIHH ...

2017-01-18

SIHH 2017 - A. Lange & Sohne Lange 31 White Gold / Grey Dial (Price)

When it comes to?power reserves, you probably thought that the 7-day IWC’s or the 8-day Panerai’s were already massively powerful – and obviously, they have more power than 99% of the mechanical watches produced. Well, if power is your thing and you simply hate winding your?watch, you might want?to consider the Lange 31.?Keep in mind the ’31’ does not refer to?the dia...

2017-01-18

SIHH 2017 - IWC Da Vinci Chronograph Edition Laureus Sport (Price)

Unless you've been living under a rock for the last few weeks you should already be aware that 2017 is the year of the Da Vinci for IWC. In layman's terms that means that Schaffhausen-based manufacturer has completely overhauled the Da Vinci collection this year, complete with a return to the more traditional (and in my opinion, more attractive) round case. Included within this newly revamped coll...

2017-01-18

Montblanc TimeWalker Chronograph UTC Hands-On - SIHH 2017 (Price)

Montblanc has more or less reinvented itself over the last few years, with innovative complications, well designed watches, new high-tech materials and development of the Minerva manufactured movements alongside the goal of “accessible luxury”. All models are offered at relatively competitive prices, even if we are talking about the incredible Montblanc 1858 Chronograph Tachymeter. Mak...

2017-01-18

Live from SIHH 2017 - The new Girard-Perregaux Laureato collection ticks all boxes - Monochrome Watches

On the opening day of SIHH, last Monday, we had a spectacular start to the show with Vacheron Constantin, where we got to see and enjoy the impressive Atelier Cabinotier Celestia. Later that morning we got a nice surprise at Girard-Perregaux. Last year the brand, which is by the way one of the oldest manufactures in the watch world, launched a renewed Laureato limited edition. This year it further...

2017-01-18

A. Lange & Sohne 1815 Annual Calendar - SIHH 2017 (Specs & Price)

After the massively impressive (yet far from accessible) A. Lange & Sohne Tourbograph Perpetual introduced yesterday, without a doubt?the main highlight of the Saxon manufacture’s SIHH 2017 collection, we return today to?the real world and to more usable and pragmatic watches. Well, sort of, as we’re still talking Lange here. Another of its?novelties this year is a highly interesti...

2017-01-17

SIHH 2017 - A. Lange & Sohne Zeitwerk Decimal Strike (Specs & Price)

At?SIHH 2017, A. Lange & Sohne has revealed a new addition to?the emblematic Zeitwerk collection. This is?not just a new execution of an existing watch however but rather a new type of complication altogether. This watch joins 3 other members in the family: the Zeitwerk, the Zetiwerk Striking Time and the Zeitwerk Minute Repeater (the latter two being chiming watches). For this new kid in the ...

2017-01-17