Jeweller-watchmaker or watchmaker-jeweller, Cartier excels in both. From this rich tradition, and as evidenced again recently with the introduction of the Drive, the Parisian Maison has drawn an unrivalled legacy in creating fascinating shaped watches. MONOCHROME brings together some of the most iconic Cartier masterpieces born from a unique perception of masculine elegance: sheer dandyism and the...
This year, Montblanc has again been highly productive – and that’s a fact you’ll have to get used to, believe us. They introduced superb watches, including the ExoTourbillon Slim or the?TimeWalker ExoTourbillon Minute Chronograph, both part of the 4810 collection. They also introduced a more traditional watch, a regular chronograph, the?4810 Chronograph. That was not all… B...
We all love to change straps on our watches, especially when it comes to sports or dive watches. Whether you own a Tudor Black Bay, an Oris Divers Sixty Five, a Seiko Prospex, or all?sorts of watches that are cool and slightly rugged, switching straps is just part of the fun. Of course, it allows you to match it with your “environment” (business, casual, seaside…) or even to your...
We continue this week with the seventh instalment of our market finds, in collaboration with auctioneer Catawiki. By now, you already know the story. Uber cool watches that deserve our (and your) interest. This week, we look a bit at the past than previously, with more vintage (but still very cool) watches, as we have an extremely rare and vintage NOS diver from French company LIP, a highly techni...
Over the past weeks we have selected ‘5 Cool Finds‘ from the new offering that is published each week at Catawiki auctioneers. Tomorrow we will have another one, and again, we found some really great watches?for you. Since we’re browsing the web all day long, we are just trying to help you find nice?watches, sometimes very interesting ones, or desirable, or collectable or all off...
As the world of watches is now fairly driven by the internet, you certainly didn’t miss the novelties that?Tudor Watches had for this year 2016. The star of the show was definitely the bronze edition of the Black Bay, followed by a second edition, this time coated with a black PVD treatment, the Black Bay Dark. Both of them are equipped with something Tudor was proud to introduce to the worl...
Right after Baselworld 2016, we shared?with you a video interview, where the CEO of Ulysse Nardin,?Patrik P. Hoffmann, was explaining the importance of the Marine Collection in the brand’s portfolio. Indeed, this collection is the best-seller of the brand and is, this year, celebrating its 20th anniversary. In this video, we already introduced to you the superb and complex commemorative watc...
Team Monochrome has just returned from a week in Switzerland where we visited Omega and MCT Watches. It was a great week, and it’s just awesome to meet old & new friends. The odometer in our cars gained a few thousand kilometers and after the week we had to recharge a bit. Now it’s time for the next sweepstake! This is the first sweepstake with gifts from IWC Schaffhausen and IR...
Let’s rewind the tape… In late 2015, Montblanc introduced to us a watch (a superb, exquisite, fascinating watch… sometimes words are hard to find) that we simply loved: the?Montblanc 1858 Chronograph Tachymeter, with Villeret monopusher movement. Seriously, having a watch of this quality, with a movement comping from?vintage chronographs, with finishing to die for, with such a gr...
If there’s one thing and one thing only to remember about Cartier (among many others of course) is how this Old Maison always mastered shapes, like not other brand achieved and always with a restrained, somehow old-fashioned elegance. Recently, the brand made?incursions in new worlds, like for instance the sporty Calibre de Cartier and its Diver edition. They also introduced a yachting-style...
We continue this week with the sixth instalment of our market finds?“5 Cool Finds”, in collaboration with auctioneer Catawiki. Once again, the story is simple. Instead of focusing exclusively on vintage watches, we prefer to look at what we, here at Monochrome-Watches love and know, and we think will be the coming trend: Youngtimers. Here is our expert Ilias' selection of 5 wristwatche...
In an event that occurred yesterday night in New York City, Piaget, the manufacture?known for ultra-thin watches, introduced a brand new version of its sports watch, the Polo. This new?Piaget Polo S is special in?several aspects, as first of all it shows an entirely new design – previous watches looked like this (click here)?and were still rather consistent since the inception of the model i...
Just like we did a week ago, by showing our selection of the best sports-chic watches for summer, this week we’ll look at colorful watches… Of course, summer is the perfect moment to think?different, to move out from?the black or silver dial comfort zone, to go wild and fun. Well, it’s time to bring joy on your wrist – but don’t forget what magazine you’re readi...
To follow up with the series we started a month ago, with our Cool Finds article, we continue this week with the fifth instalment of our market finds, in collaboration with auctioneer Catawiki. By now, you already know the story. Uber cool watches that deserve our (and your) interest. This week we have two ultra-thin dress watches from Jaeger LeCoultre and – of course – Piaget and two ...
Until recently, the concept?of Hublot was mainly focused on the look and the combination of extreme materials, such as ceramic of course, but also super-resistant gold alloys, carbon fibre printed with motifs?or sapphire. Hublot is first of all a design, a concept, not only?focussed on horology but also on the looks – and?with all respect to the brand, this has been very successful until now...
This year, at Baselworld 2016, you won’t be surprised to know that the attention was again mainly focused on the Group booth ( and Tudor Watches). Of course, the Daytona Ceramic Bezel was on?everyone’s?lips (well, it’s a and it’s a Daytona, that’s no?surprise) but the other big eye catcher there was on the other side?of the booth, in the black?and red rooms of Tu...
Vacheron Constantin, a manufacture nearly as old as the concept of Swiss watchmaking (260 years of continuous activity… no less), is also a sort of father for?the?barrel-shaped watches known as tonneau cases, a now popular shape that they introduced first in their collection in 1912. This style, strongly inspired by?Art-Deco spirit, is both extremely traditional?and far from the classical ro...
Believe it or not (some of us in Europe still don’t believe in it… US seem better though) but summer is coming. For this reason, you’ll soon have to decide what watch to?bring in your luggage?for holidays (as you probably won’t bring your entire collection). Tough time, probably as difficult for you than it is difficult for your wife to decide what pair of shoes to bring. A...
Today is the 4th of July, an important day for US Citizens and US-related people. Not that the watch we’re about to show you has been especially developed for this reason, but it has just been introduced and it is a limited edition for North America only. Indeed, we thought it could be a nice gift for our US readers, and we know they are?numerous. So for you, here is the new?Vacheron Constan...
Back in 2015, A. Lange & Sohne introduced a brand new Saxonia collection, revamping all the editions, with new dials and new sizes, while keeping the same concept: clean, elegant and restrained dress watches. In the tradition of the Saxonian Manufacture, these watches were all available in white gold or pink gold case, but only?with a white dial – to the exception of a special Boutique e...
The IWC Portugieser is probably, as you might all be aware of, the most iconic piece of the Schaffhausen-based manufacture. One edition however has a special status in our heart, mainly because of its complicated split-seconds movement (we love split-seconds here…) and because of the man behind the development of the movement and the module,?Richard Habring. This watch was unfortunately out ...
In a previous article, we covered the present state of affairs at Omega, which also gave us a glimpse of what the future holds for the company and for us, journalists and you, potential consumers. Now it is time to rewind the tape of the Omega story and to discover more in details how the company reached this point in its history, by showing you a complete visit of its museum. So, sit back, relax ...
After a spectacular (in terms of execution and visual aspect) watch introduced a few days ago, the?RM 68-01 Tourbillon decorated by street-artist Cyril Kongo, Richard Mille goes back to more fundamental inspirations, with a new limited edition of its Dual Time Zone?chronograph dedicated to classic cars and racing, the?Richard Mille RM 11-02 Le Mans Classic. A partner of the event since its incepti...
We’re still celebrating our 10th anniversary, and thus it’s time for the next sweepstake! We just ended the Patek Philippe sweepstake and will get in touch with the winner today, and now you can win goodie sets with Baume & Mercier, Nomos and Panerai goodies, all donated by our local authorised retailer Steltman Watches. So scroll down, have a look at what we have for you, and let ...
If there’s one word?to keep in mind with Ochs Und Junior, it’s simplicity. Usually, simplicity in things?means less attraction (we all love complexity). in watchmaking especially, we want complications. But with Ochs Und Junior, we’re talk about?Ludwig Oechslin, so-to-say the pope of simplicity?in?complications. In fact, simplifying a complication is not a draw. It’s even m...
Recently we co-hosted an evening together with Montblanc, and our readers got to see, touch, and try on the wrist, the latest SIHH 2016 Montblanc timepieces. The Montblanc Black & White Week event, as it is dubbed, was held in the esteemed hotel New York, in Rotterdam, Netherlands. A century ago, this was the place where passengers embarked on a journey to the new world, in an era when many pe...
We here at Monochrome get quite a few press releases every day, and sometimes, just sometimes, there’s one that just makes your jaw drop and hit the table. My first thought when this came in, is whether mr. Richard Mille had been smoking something or eating the wrong mushrooms on his Spaghetti con Funghi. After a closer observation -and reading the press release- it becomes clear that this i...
Two weeks ago, we started a new series of article, a series focusing on relatively recent watches for sale that we believe to be highly interesting, the 5 Cool Finds?articles. This week, we continue with the third instalment of our market finds, in collaboration with auctioneer?Catawiki. Once again, the story is simple. Three?watches that we believe to have something special, something unique and ...
COSC, Geneva Seal, Fleurier Quality Foundation, ISO standards Watchmakers endorse their products with various certification marks to demonstrate their commitment to quality. These certifications address to multiple aspects of quality, relating to criteria as different as precision, durability, robustness, aesthetic or even provenance. This installment of A Technical Perspective provides a guide to...
What happens when you put 28 watch-nuts in a room? Indeed, the restaurant staff gets crazy. Last Friday, 28 IWC collectors and aficionados from various countries gathered in Amsterdam to chat, do some activities in the city and spend the evening together in the Okura restaurant. During dinner, IWC surprised its fanbase by showing all three models of the new IWC Ingenieur Chronograph Classic with c...