In the collection of A. Lange and Sohne, there are two classical, understated, elegant dress-watches. If the Saxonia is the entry-level and simple offering (no offense here, it is a really great deal), the 1815 is the traditionalist one, the conservative side of?A. Lange and?Sohne. After a first edition in platinum with a black dial, the brand continues to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Ferdin...
One of the most enduring traits in the watch industry in recent years is the New-retro design. This principle is the tendency to create something new that is not exactly new but rather follows the past. This industrial/marketing strategy balances in most cases innovation and tradition. The historical heritage of a product is fused with new materials and modern construction in order to create somet...
For Watches & Wonders 2015, A. Lange and Sohne adds two new models to their entry level watch, the Saxonia. This watch, even if not the hottest?of the collection (compared to the Datograph or the Zeitwerk) remains one of the best deals possible when it comes to elegant, discreet, dress-watches – even more since the new design introduced at the SIHH 2015. Previsouly available only with a ...
Most of you probably know Bell & Ross… Indeed, with their square-shaped cases and a?design inspired by jet-fighters?instruments, Bell & Ross watches are?easily?recognisable?among other?timepieces.?However, just when you thought the design (that you can see here) was in danger of becoming ubiquitous,?Bell & Ross release their?latest collections (including this Tourbillon Chronogra...
Last year Jaeger-LeCoultre introduced the Geophysic 1958 in three limited editions, and today the Maison returns?with four new models of the Geophysic collection. The limited editions of last year have all been sold out (rather quick!) and while nobody had foreseen that JLC would turn the Geophysic into a new collection, that’s exactly what they did. And they added some interesting horologic...
When it comes to Panerai watches, there are a few distinct features that might create the enthusiasm of?Paneristi (Panerai collectors): an iconic dial is a first one. A limited edition is something desirable too. For Watches &?Wonders 2015, both qualities are reunited in 2 new timepieces, with a limited production of 300 pieces each. Here are the?Panerai Luminor 1950 3 Days Titanio DLC PAM0061...
In the rush of Watches & Wonders 2015 (the Hong-Kong watch fair), it’s now IWC’s turn to come with a novelty: the?IWC Portofino Hand-Wound Day?&?Date. We’ve recently covered various iterations of IWC’s Portofino models, like the recent Monopusher Chronograph,?the Pure Classic edition?and the one that featured in The Collector’s Series.?The new Portofino Day &a...
At the 2014 Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) Montblanc surprised us all with the introduction of a perpetual calendar that was priced rather?competitively. With perfect classical design,?it looked just like a million bucks, while its price starts at around 10,000 Euro for the stainless steel version. With that price tag it was simply the most affordable perpetual calendar on the...
Creating a piece unique usually means changing colours or materials of the case and dial, or having a new shape. That’s the case with almost all the unique watches made for Only Watch 2015. With the?Maitre Cabinotier Perpetual Calendar Regulator, Vacheron Constantin goes one step further (in fact, dozens of step further). With this kind of watch, VC?shows its?expertise in creating exclusive ...
When it comes to limited edition watches, I usually don’t really care much about the partnership or the?purpose of them. In today’s hands-on review, we give you an Audemars Piguet, a watch made in collaboration?with?The Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) for the 17th Audemars Piguet Queen Elizabeth II (QEII) Cup. Thus, something that I really don’t care about. However, what tickles my ...
When it comes to buy a serious dress watch, what will be your expectations? Whatever the money?you’re ready to spend into this so-desired watch, you’ll probably want it to look classy, to have an interesting movement, to be featured with some complications and to be naturally elegant. Having a manufacture movement would of course be a welcomed extra… Which often means that this w...
The Porsche Design Studio in Zell-am-See, Austria, is identified with clear, timeless, and unmistakable design that is the trademark of all Porsche Design Group products. One of the most important and influential series of products born there are the timepieces. Traditionally, creations that originated from this studio encompassed a clear vision of how to create a pure and timeless precision instr...
Montblanc had been quite active these past years, surprising watch-lovers with complicated timepieces priced to?highly competitive price levels. It had been the case first with a perpetual calendar costing less than 10.000 Euros but also with all sorts of complications, like a complete calendar, an annual calendar or a world-timer, making these interesting complications?accessible to collectors wi...
It is with great pleasure we welcome Koen?as a contributor?to the Monochrome-Watches team he is extremely active on the IWC forum and a truly passionate watch geek. When we first sat down on the Collector Series with Koen,?we discussed his stunning Vintage IWC Portofino. On this occasion, in a rather overcast London (no surprise there), his second instalment of the series, we discussed how his pas...
It’s tough to think of a collector who?hasn’t?dreamt of ultra-high-end watches such as F.P. Journe, Kari Voutilainen, Laurent Ferrier or Philippe Dufour? These dream-watches are however, for almost all of us, unreachable objects, with prices starting at 50k (and with no limits). Miguel, the founder of Ophion?Watches, also harbors ambitions of owning such watches… but he know̵...
Earlier this week I had the pleasure of sitting down with?distinguished?collector and?contributor to the Deployant Blog,?Charles Sutanto.?As an engineer, Charles tells me it was really a?fascination?with mechanics that drew him to watches. ?His horological journey started approximately 15 years ago with the purchase of Jaeger LeCoultre Master?Memovox. In his early days of collecting he?found himse...
How would you define a classical, dress watch? Sit down for a minute and ask the question to yourself and to people next to you… The definition will certainly evolve?around a rather small, elegantly shaped, most probably slim and in gold watch. Then, what complication do you want to see on the dial? A chronograph or a rotating bezel? Certainly not. What about a moon-phases indication? And wh...
Vacheron Constantin celebrates their 260th anniversary and for this occasion, they created the most complicated watch in the world (say that out loud like Jeremy Clarkson would do). With no less than 57 complications (that’s no typo, it is indeed fifty-seven!) it outpaces?crushes the former most complicated watch, Patek Philippe’s Calibre 89 that features 33 complications. The list of ...
I’ve noticed, its not necessarily the ‘big names’ that get a collector’s juices flowing. It often happens to be the more unusual, niche creations. I guess it come down to the desire to own a unique piece of art. This is certainly the case with our Editor in Chief Frank Geelen. Last time we sat down to discuss his collection we covered his beautiful Sarpaneve Korona K1 (one ...
Ulysse Nardin, ostensibly a name synonymous with sailing, creates a limited edition Marine Diver to commemorate its partnership with Artemis racing. The previous America's Cup race had the growing pains of transitioning from the diminutive-by-comparison AC45 yachts to the staggering AC72 yachts (we featured the changes with Corum). The America's Cup 72 foot speed machine, which seems a misnomer to...
The Collector Series moves to Amsterdam this week and?interviews?Dale Vito. Dale currently work’s as eCommerce manager at Amsterdam-based?Ace Jewelers. He has been collecting for 10 years and founded Dezinvanluxe.nl?in 2005, which at its height was the biggest watch board in the Netherlands. He sold it a few years later and he tells me that the money generated from the sale was soon invested...
Omega has quite a lot of vintage-inspired watches in their collection, like for instance the Omega Seamaster 300 Master Co-Axial or the Omega Speedmaster?57 Co-Axial revisited with Broad Arrow Hands (a recall of the very first Speedmaster CK2915). In 2012, they also introduced a quite?interesting edition of the Speedy that was a tribute to astronaut Wally Schirra and the watch that was strapped on...
For once, allow me to quote a press release (something that we usually never do, considering the insane amount of self-love brands can and usually put in their press releases). However, this one was quite appropriate: “Like a good movie, this watch doesn't have to rely on special effects“. Indeed, the?IWC Portugieser Hand-Wound Eight Days is visually flying under the radar and all the ...
When you think “Nomos Glashutte“, what you probably have in your mind are rather small, clean watches inspired by Bauhaus (a German school of art, mixing modernism and simplicity) like the Nomos Ahoi?and the Nomos Tangente. Recently, the brand gained even more affection from us with the introduction of both complicated watches (see the Nomos Zurich Weltzeit) and fully in-house movement...
As watchmaking goes, there are only a select group of watches that fall into the Iconic' category. The omega Speedmaster is certainly one of them. The Speedmaster’s history goes back to 1957 with the reference CK 2915 (known as the “Broad Arrow”). It was designed by a Swiss gentleman by the name of Claude Baillod. The watch featured the triple-register chronograph layout, the hig...
The?A. Lange & Sohne 1815 Chronograph is the entry-level chronograph of the Saxonian Manufacture… and what an entry-level watch! This visually simple timepiece shares its base movement (just a tiny bit modified to remove the Date and the power reserve) with the iconic Dufour-Graph, the A. Lange & Sohne Datograph?– quite a pedigree,?you’ll admit. Today, there is a new edit...
Discussing watches with collectors never fails to amaze and inspire me. I tend to find it is the stories behind the watches themselves that evokes the emotion within a collector. As the great marketing guru Simon Sinek always says, it is not the what' but the why' which counts. I am also of the belief watch collecting should be something that has less to do with social significance and more about ...
If there’s a watch in this crowded industry that best represents aviation and jet fighters, it is?probably the IWC Big Pilot – so to say, a pure icon. Alongside the classical edition with a stainless steel case and a black dial, IWC also plays a lot with this timepiece to create limited editions but still keeping true to the classic icon, like for instance the ‘Le Petit Prince...
On this leg of the Collector’s Series, we find ourselves in Poland. We sit down with one of the country’s foremost watch experts, Lukasz Doskocz (from chronos24.pl), to find out why he fell for an uber cool Tudor. Lukasz describes himself as a yet-to-be developed' collector with interests in unusual, avant-garde creations as well as classic, timeless icons, like the Tudor Heritage Chro...
Recently, IWC introduced a unique edition of the Portofino launched at the occasion of the?Tribeca Film Festival 2015, a watch that later had been auctioned by Christie’s. Surprisingly, this unique timepiece came with a brand new movement,?never seen before in?the rest of the Portofino collection: a hand-wound mono-pusher chronograph. However, we knew?this was?not just a unique attempt, this...