Latest Watch News

Introducing the Omega Seamster Planet Ocean 43.5mm Master Chronometer in Black and Orange - Monochrome Watches

Most of certainly know the Planet Ocean collection, which in a few years, became a sort of a norm for the Seamaster. This high-performance dive watch is known for its 600m water resistance and helium escape valve but mainly (and that’s what matter for most wearers), it is recognizable because of its rather bulky and masculine design, making it successful for those in a need of sportiness. Fo...

2016-03-16

Patek Philippe 5930g World Time Chronograph - Baselworld 2016 (with Price) - Monochrome Watches

When the concept?of World Time watch comes in a conversation, the name Patek Philippe will immediately be mentioned – and for good reasons. Patel was indeed one the first brands to use an idea of Louis Cottier to build a watch showing, in an easy, practical and legible way the time zones all over the world on the dial of a watch. For Baselworld 2016, this complication (that we think is one o...

2016-03-16

On the Road to BASELWORLD 2016 - Monochrome Watches

Here we are again, the day before?the official opening of the most important week of the watchmaking industry,?Baselworld. The largest watch fair on Earth is about to open. Big watch?brands like , Tudor, Patek Philippe or Omega are ready to show us what they have been working on, and also many small?independent watchmakers and brands worked hard to show us what they are capable of. We will select...

2016-03-15

Tudor Heritage Black Bay Bronze 79250BM, with larger case and manufacture movement for Baselworld 2016 - Specs & Price - Monochrome Watches

Launched in 2012 with a burgundy bezel, then updated with a midnight blue bezel in 2014,?and finally a?black edition followed in 2015, the Tudor Heritage Black Bay is certainly the brand’s biggest success so far. Why? Because of its vintage-inspired look, its superb quality and its reasonable price. Whether you have a small budget, or enough funds to?acquire?a Greubel Forsey every month, the...

2016-03-15

Carl F. Bucherer Manero PowerReserve - Full Review (live Pics, Specs & Price) - Monochrome Watches

Two years ago, in 2013, Carl F. Bucherer launched a new watch, the Manero PowerReserve, housing the in-house CFB A1011 movement. This manufacture movement is based on their highly appreciated and accurate automatic movement, calibre CFB A1000. The CFB A1011 features a date and day indication, an innovative shock absorbing system, a unique automatic winding system something that makes this watch ra...

2016-03-14

All You Need to Know about Moon Phase Watches - Monochrome Watches

Do not swear by the moon, for she changes constantly. Then your love would also change?William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet –?The attraction the moon exerts on our imagination is almost as powerful as its pull on the tides. Beyond the evocation of the utilitarian ties between horology and astronomy, the reproduction of lunar cycles on the dial of watches is poetic and symbolic. Moon phase w...

2016-03-11

Event Report - IWC and Mercedes AMG: a partnership getting ready for Goodwood #74MM (tons of photos & video) - Monochrome Watches

Just in case you don’t know what Goodwood #74MM stands for: no worries. I did not either. It stands for the 74th edition of the Goodwood Member Meeting, an event at Lord March’s Goodwood estate that is not only about racing, but also about heritage and responsibility. The event will be held from March 18th to March 20th. Stay tuned as we will report about the event, including some watc...

2016-03-11

Chopard L.U.C XPS 1860 Limited Edition for the 20th Anniversary of L.U.C Collection (specs & price) - Monochrome Watches

As you may know, at?Chopard, there are two distinct collections of watches, which differentiate regarding the level of finishing and complication of the movements. The first one is the?classical?range, with watches like the Chopard?Mille Miglia, yet with in-house movements but not hand-finished. Then you have the Chopard L.U.C Collection, with high-end watches, superbly finished movement and compl...

2016-03-10

TAG Heuer to reintroduce the Autavia in 2017... And you'll be able to vote to choose which model will be reissued, with the Autavia Cup - Monochrome Watches

A brand that is about to reissue one of its iconic models isn’t a novelty. Vintage is one of the main inspirations of watchmaking since a decade or so. What isn’t really surprising is that?TAG Heuer will reintroduce the Autavia in 2017. What is really new and unique is that you’ll be able to vote to know which Autavia TAG Heuer will make a comeback in 2017. This idea is called th...

2016-03-10

The Collector's Series - Why the Oris Divers Sixty Five is such a cool watch for our Managing Editor? - Monochrome Watches

When I think back to 2015, there were two new watches that seemed to pop up all over the place: the Tudor Black Bay and the Oris Divers Sixty Five. And for good reason. Both models are great looking and both are positioned to be affordable. We covered the Sixty Five in all it's glory here last year. What I was keen to establish was, is it the Sixty Five's rugged, vintage inspired looks or it's ver...

2016-03-08

Hands-on - IWC Pilot's Watch Mark XVIII Top Gun Miramar - SIHH 2016 edition - Live Pics & Price - Monochrome Watches

You know us here, at Monochrome-Watches. We don’t like things when they are too?usual?or?too?classical. We love to look at things differently and to focus on originality. This why, when IWC introduced the new Pilot’s Watch collection at the 2016 edition of the SIHH, we choose to show you?the “Petit Prince” edition of the Big Pilot, rather than to go hands-on with the normal...

2016-03-07

Kees Engelbarts Platinum Tsuba Watch - Piece Unique - Monochrome Watches

When you want a unique watch, a truly unique watch, and I’m not talking about a highly limited edition of a few dozen or even a few hundred pieces, there’s actually not that much choice. Certainly, if?you can spare a few?millions, you can ask one of the oldest watch companies – Vacheron Constantin – to create the most complicated watch in the world. However you can also cho...

2016-03-04

What to know about the Dominique Renaud DR01 Twelve First, a highly innovative concept with brand new escapement - Monochrome Watches

Dominique Renaud might not be the most famous name, at least for a large audience. However, passionate insiders have known him for decades, as being the co-founder of Renaud & Papi (now owned by Audemars Piguet and known as APRP). After almost 15 years of retirement, Dominique Renaud came back last year in the light; announcing he was to be part of HYT, as technical consultant. And now, he's b...

2016-03-02

Throwback - The most accurate type of calendar possible - the Andersen Geneve Perpetuel Secular Calender - Monochrome Watches

Yesterday, on February 29th, we decided to dig deeper into the concept of the perpetual calendar and explain why the leap year exists. It was the perfect occasion for this, since February 29th only occurs once every four years. In order to tell the story properly, we had to dive deeper into astronomy and history, and of course to have the various calendar watches. However one watch had our highest...

2016-03-01

Just because it's February 29th - What to know about a Perpetual Calendar watch? - Monochrome Watches

Well, except if you're living on?different?planet?than us, normal?human beings, you certainly didn't miss out that today is kind of a special day - at least in the countries using the?Gregorian calendar (which represents 95% of?the world). Indeed, today is the day that occurs only once every 4 years and to us, watch lovers; it is a day that immediately refers to a specific features of fine watchma...

2016-02-29

The Evolution of the Escapement and recent innovations - Monochrome Watches

250 years after Thomas Mudge invented the first lever escapement, developing escapements has once again become the new frontier in technological breakthroughs of old-fashioned mechanical watches; a crowning glory for the most innovative, skilful and daring watchmakers. Here's a review of recent prospects and advances concerning what is certainly the most important part of a watch, the escapement.W...

2016-02-26

Pre-Baselworld 2016 - Introducing the Oris Artix Skeleton (specs & price) - Monochrome Watches

Most of you may know Oris for their sports watches, with some robust dive watches (like the Aquis), very cool vintage-inspired pieces (e.g. the Divers Sixty Five), highly functional pilot watches (think?Big Crown ProPilot Altimeter) or race-oriented pieces (the?Audi Sport Limited Editions). However, as we have already showed you, Oris also has some interesting dress watches in the collection, and ...

2016-02-25

The Collector's Series - Our own Koen and his affordable and cool Tissot Heritage Navigator - Monochrome Watches

Sometimes it's doesn’t take much. It could be a friend's recommendation. It could be a brands heritage or even how they finish their movements that draws a collector. It's always fascinating finding out what that tipping point was for a particular collector on a particular occasion. Often we get caught up in the price we are asked to pay for a watch and it is always refreshing to hear a coll...

2016-02-23

Bovet 19Thirty Dimier with blue dial - live pics, specs & price - Monochrome Watches

You know us here at Monochrome-Watches. Apart from the big names, there is something?that we especially love here: independent watchmaking. We do have a special appeal for watches manufactures by independent, smaller and creative watchmakers, not because they are always better executed?than those from the bigger brands, but mainly because they have something extra: a soul, a link to the people beh...

2016-02-18

Hands-on with the new IWC Big Pilots Watch Edition Le Petit Prince ref. IW500916 - Live pics & price - Monochrome Watches

This year, at the SIHH, IWC renewed entirely the Pilot’s Watch collection, including a new edition of the Mark (the Mark XVIII), some vintage-inspired super large editions, a redesigned?chronograph and a brand new watch, the Timezoner. There is?a clear evolution on all the watches, with a coherent design, including more historically relevant?dials. In all these novelties, we must not forget ...

2016-02-17

Tudor Baselworld 2016 - Our predictions for the new Tudor watches (including a Pelagos GMT and a North Flag Chronograph) - Monochrome Watches

We did it for? this year, we also did it for?Tudor last year, and we are doing?it again now. Just because we love to play with your nerves and because we also think Tudor watches are kind of cool, here are our predictions for the Tudor Baselworld 2016 Novelties. Time prove us we were not that?bad in predicting: we imagined?the Tudor Pelagos Blue AND the Tudor Black Bay Black two years ago already...

2016-02-17

Yellow Gold comes back - Hands-on with the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Chronograph 26320 Yellow Gold (live pics & price) - Monochrome Watches

Associating gold to an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak has always been kind of strange to us, as, when launched in 1972, this luxury sports watch was only available in stainless steel (and this choice of material was clearly part of the base concept). However, with the demand for gold in certain regions and for specific clients, the Royal Oak has been updated with the precious material in almost all its...

2016-02-16

The Collector's Series - a Londoner Gentleman and his Breitling Transocean Chronograph - Monochrome Watches

The Breitling Transocean was originally released in 1958. We are familiar with its current form. A fresh, contemporary take on the classic chronographs of the 1950s and 1960s. So, let's say you're a suave gent, city dweller maybe…why (other than seeing David Beckham wearing one in their ads) would you buy one? We found out this week on the Collector’s Series, by sitting down with one o...

2016-02-16

Hands-on with the 2016 edition of the A. Lange & Sohne Saxonia Thin, with new face (live pics, specs & price) - Monochrome Watches

This 2016 edition of the SIHH has been very productive for A. Lange & Sohne (again…). We’ve seen the stunning (yes, that’s an understatement) Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon, the poetical and kind of magical Grand Lange 1 Moon Phase Lumen, the very elegant and balanced Saxonia Moon Phase or the highly technical Richard Lange Jumping Seconds. Clearly, the Saxonian Manufacture d...

2016-02-15

Introducing the Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra Pyeongchang 2018 Limited Edition (specs & price) - Monochrome Watches

The association of Omega Watches with?the Olympic Games is a long, very long story. Since 1932, Omega is the official timekeeper of the Games. Besides the technical aspect of this?partnership, Omega also celebrates this association via several limited editions dedicated to the aficionados, like the?Speedmaster Mark II Rio 2016, the?Seamaster Planet Ocean Sochi 2014 or the?Seamaster Bullhead Chrono...

2016-02-15

Hands-on The New Seiko Prospex SRP series - ref. SRP773K1, SRP775K1, SRP777K1 & SRP779K1 (live photos, specs & price) - Monochrome Watches

A friend of mine who is an underwater photographer, fisherman, diver, and a watch lover once tried to explain me why he loves dive-watches. Surprisingly, he referred only very briefly to the heavyweights ( , Omega, etc.) and instead he focused mainly on Seiko. He told me that you must be nuts or very rich in order to dive for a specific job (hunt fish for instance) wearing your expensive dive watc...

2016-02-12

Vacheron Constantin Overseas Chronograph 5500V with Calibre 5200 - Review, live photos & price - Monochrome Watches

Well, trying to hide the actual?fact that we literally felt in love with the new Vacheron Constantin Overseas collection, introduced during the SIHH 2016, will be rather difficult. We already showed you the?classical?edition, the?Vacheron Constantin Overseas Automatic 4500V – the sort of entry-level edition – and we continued our journey with the ultra-luxurious but really desirable on...

2016-02-11

The Collector's Series - Diving deep with Mark's Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Chronographe Flyback Quantieme Complet - Monochrome Watches

When you think iconic dive watches', what comes to mind?… Submariner? Sea-Dweller? Omega Seamaster? Panerai Radiomir?… Well, the good news is you would be absolutely correct. However, you would have overlooked one heavy hitter of the watch world: the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, a watch seen by many hard-core divers as an essential tool in their armoury and by many collectors as their ...

2016-02-09

Christie's James Bond Spectre Auction - Including a prototype of Omega Seamaster 300 Spectre worn by Craig and one of 10 Aston Martin DB10 - Monochrome Watches

Who never had the dream of driving James Bond’s own car or to play with his own watch (and the related gadgets…)? Honestly, most of us all had this feeling at least once – and we even (try to…) do it ourselves recently. And it will now be fully possible, as Christie’s, the famous auction house, is about to sell several items used in?the latest installment of James Bon...

2016-02-08

F.H. Bennahmias, CEO of Audemars Piguet, about coming classical collection and integrated chronograph - Exclusive video interview for Monochrome - Monochrome Watches

When it comes to interview CEOs of brands, usually, we end up with a lot of nice words and some marketing speeches. Telling the truth and giving proper insights on the state of the watchmaking industry or on what a brand is about to launch, what are the coming developments, is not the rule. However, the interview?you’re about to look at is slightly different. One thing is sure; Fran?ois-Henr...

2016-02-04