In January of this year, we introduced Montblanc’s latest iteration of the Nicolas Rieussec lineage to you;?the new Montblanc Homage to Nicolas Rieussec. It set itself apart from its siblings with a remarkable off-centre hour/minute dial. This dial shows a minute rail-track and the minutes; hours are not visible, until the lights dim and they shine in the dark. This Homage to Nicolas Rieusse...
A. Lange & Sohne’s history can be divided into two, or actually three, eras: one before World War II, one after Germany’s reunification, and the period in between (1945 – 1990), although the latter is actually not that interesting. On 15 November, German auction house Dr. Crott Auctions will be offering a vast number of A. Lange & Sohne watches from the two interesting pe...
IWC comes back with a new limited edition, honoring?one of its favorite ambassadors (unfortunately not with us anymore), Antoine de Saint-Exupery, pilot and writer, and its most famous character, ‘le Petit Prince’. Using the same concept as several other editions of the Pilot collection, it is now the Big Pilot that is paying tribute to one of the most classical books of all time. Plea...
There are only a few real icons in the world of Haute Horlogerie. Think Patek Philippe Calatrava, Submariner, Datejust and Daytona, Cartier Tank, Omega Speedmaster and also?the Breitling Navitimer. All these watches have an impressive history and have been on the market – in a relatively unchanged design – for many decades. Here’s another one that can easily be called an icon, ...
Bell & Ross fighting against Audemars-Piguet and Hublot? That’s exactly what Carlos Rosillo, one of the two founders of the brand, wants to achieve. While Bell & Ross was used to produce multiple editions of a same concept for years (countless versions of the BR-01), they are now coming with more complicated watches, with quite a strong design. After the B-Rocket presented in Baselwo...
The Omega Speedmaster is getting more and more under?the scope of collectors. For a few years now, some of the rare editions have been?able to reach 40,000Eur or more. This is all due to a long and rich history, to a continuous production since 1957 and to the Space and Moon exploration. At Monochrome-Watches, the ‘Speedy‘ has always been one of our favorites, as we’ve been the v...
To celebrate its 175th Anniversary, Patek Philippe chose to release a pure demonstration of it watchmaking capacities, with certainly one of the most complicated wristwatches ever seen (alongside the Franck Muller Aeternitas Mega 4), the already iconic and controversial?Grandmaster Chime. This watch?is made only to dream. However the 175th Anniversary?collection also has?more reasonably priced but...
Patek Philippe is celebrating their 175th anniversary, and Thierry Stern chose to celebrate this landmark during the entire year starting from the beginning of Baselworld 2014 to the end of Baselworld 2015. This week Patek?launched a number of limited editions, commemorative pieces, to celebrate their anniversary. Most insiders expected an even more complicated pocket watch than the calibre 89, th...
The Jackson 5, ABBA and Queen. The Godfather, Bruce Lee and Star Wars. Platform shoes, sideburns and bell-bottomed pants. The Royal Oak, Nautilus and Ingenieur. All of them first saw the day of light during the seventies, and in the watch?industry, this era seems to be making a comeback when it comes to design. The original Hamilton Pan Europ was introduced in 1971 and in recent years they've brou...
Patek Philippe…?The most conservative, traditional and however desirable manufacture?is celebrating its 175th anniversary October?13th, 2014. Meaning that a very special collection will be introduced. Alongside this event, we have to remind Patek’s enormous history, with so many great watches manufactured. As a tribute, Christie’s will be holding one of the best auctions ever see...
IWC prolongs their partnership with the Volvo Ocean Race and emphasizes this by introducing a new special edition, the Portuguese Yacht Club Chronograph Ocean Racer. For the second time IWC will be the Official Timekeeper and sponsor of the IWC 24 hour Speed Record Challenge. While the previous edition for the Volvo Ocean Race sported a technical style and was executed in titanium, the new Portugu...
Ultra-thin timepieces and the name Piaget have gone hand-in-hand for many decades. So it will not come as a shock that Piaget introduced a number of?varieties on the?ultra-thin skeletonized calibre 1200S. That’s the movement of the Piaget Altiplano 1200, which is the world’s thinnest automatic skeletonized watch. As if that wasn’t enough Piaget now adds engravings, diamonds and e...
There were times, not so long ago, when Audemars Piguet, Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin were THE three Grande Dames of Haute Horlogerie. In the last twenty years there have been some changes, and without jumping to the conclusion that one of the aforementioned threesome should make place for another brand, we can at least say that there's a new kid in town. And that new kid plays the same ...
Another novelty from Watch &?Wonders 2014. And a pretty interesting one too. To celebrate its 185th anniversary, Baume & Mercier will please the collectors with a refined and elegant watch. You’ll argue that the brand is already used to create such watches. Yes, it is true. But this one plays?into another mechanical level, as it comes with a large, complicated IWC movement. Here is t...
Patek Philippe and the perpetual calendar are no strangers. We’ve already extensively covered some of these impressive watches, including?the honey-brown?Patek Philippe 5496P-014 Perpetual Calendar Retrograde?and the superb?Patek Philippe 5270 Perpetual Calendar Chronograph Blue. These?two are certainly among the?classical watches – we’re talking about Patek Philippe, a brand whe...
Last week, we’ve introduced you the new Panerai Radiomir 1940 3-Days Automatic with Panerai's First Micro-Rotor Movement. During Watch and Wonders 2014, Panerai also came with something less mainstream, more complicated, more limited. But something that some of us can dream of: a Radiomir 1940 equipped with the P2005 movement, meaning a tourbillon with a second time-zone and 6 days of power ...
Watch and Wonders is very productive this year. We’ve already introduced you the Panerai?Radiomir 1940 3-Days Automatic with Panerai's first micro-rotor movement and the Richard Mille?RM 57-01 Tourbillon Phoenix and Dragon. Now, it’s the turn of another highly interesting manufacture, Roger Dubuis, to come with a stunning watch, bringing a minute repeater and a flying tourbillon, with ...
Introducing a new brand is always a very special moment. Only a few who tried, have actually succeeded in?this long and difficult endeavour. Some, however, started with a lead, and that helps in the difficult world of Haute Horlogerie. In the case of Alexandre Meerson, let’s say that he has the background, the knowledge of the industry and the sense of style. And looking at his recently reve...
Although it's best known for its sport models, Omega has always produced a large variety of timepieces that could be worn in almost any circumstance. During a visit at an?Omega Boutique, I was surprised to find that my attention wasn't focused on the timepieces I'm usually most impressed with. Yes, I saw the new Seamaster 300 in all its glory, I worshipped the Speedmaster once more, I was just tor...
Alongside the traditional (well, if we use the denomination ‘traditional’ for RM) Richard Mille?watches, all inspired by racing and using some crazy materials – remember the nano-tubes used for the dial of the RM 022 – or amazing complications – see the G-sensor of the RM 36-01 – the brand also has a more distinguished collection, inspired by jewelry and the art...
Off all things we could expect, this was certainly not on our short list. Panerai just introduced their first in-house movement with a micro-rotor. The new P.4000 movement will be officially launched at the Watches & Wonders fair (yes, it’s that season again) in the 45mm large Panerai Radiomir 1940 3-Days Automatic that will be available in stainless steel (Accacio) or rose gold (Oro Ros...
The history of the manufacture Jaeger-LeCoultre is long and rich. The first model you might think about when looking at vintage collections will certainly be the Reverso. It is clearly the most long-lasting?and deepest collection. But that would?highly reductive considering all the other interesting watches that JLC had created. One had been under the scope of the brand for a few years and is now ...
Today, at the Watches & Wonders fair in Hong Kong, A. Lange & Sohne have just introduced five different Lange 1 20th Anniversary sets. These?commemorative sets, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the A. Lange & Sohne Lange 1, comprise a Lange 1 and a Little Lange 1, each with a gorgeous hand-crafted guilloche dial. COLLECTORS, PAY ATTENTION : there are just 20 sets in each colour!The...
At the Watches & Wonders fair that starts today in Hong Kong, IWC adds no less than 20 new models to the Portofino collection. There are seventeen new midsize models, all adorned with diamonds, and three new version of the 40mm Portofino Automatic, now in new 18K red or white gold and 72 diamonds set on the bezel. Most models come on beautiful hand-made leather Santoni straps, and two come on ...
Auctions are always offering superb opportunities to find cool watches, but (unfortunately) mainly vintage es and Pateks. Not that we have a problem here, at Monochrome-Watches, with these two brands, but we also love the exclusivity and originality of understated watches. Tomorrow (Tuesday, September 30th, 2014), the famous auction house Antiquorum will host a huge sale, full of interesting watc...
Four years ago Montblanc brought automaton-like functions to the wrist with the Metamorphosis, which was the world’s first wrist watch that comprised two different dials, and corresponding functions, in one wrist watch. To be clear, we’re talking mechanical watches here, no smart watches, no LCD screens. Upon pushing a minute-repeater-like slide, a genuine metamorphosis takes place, an...
The Richard Lange Collection by A. Lange & Sohne represents some of the most complicated watches from the brand. Well, you’ll say the rest of the collection is quite far from being simple, considering the Langematik Perpetual?we just introduced to you or the Datograph Up/Down we recently?reviewed. But when you add the words ‘Pour le Merite’ to the equation, you have quite an ...
White gold and black dial: a classical combination of the watch industry, even for A. Lange & Sohne. It reminds you, without a doubt, about the magnificent Datograph Up/Down we reviewed a few weeks ago (and, to be true, that we really enjoyed). Now, the white gold –?black?dial combo is also available in the A. Lange & Sohne Langematik Perpetual, the perpetual calendar watch with auto...
We got it! The real story about how the Omega Speedmaster became the Moonwatch and all references of the watches worn by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin during Apollo 11 Mission. Until now there has never been complete, nor fully confirmed information about these matters. Together with the Omega Museum, Monochrome brings for the first time ever the full story, and sheds light on what has been hidde...
At the Monochrome desks we see many impressive timepieces, and we even have the good fortune to get to wear many of them for some weeks. Each and every of them excels in its own field, however if we don’t like it, we don’t write about it. That’s our our own rule. When we had the chance to review the Lange & Sohne Datograph and Double Split or the JLC Master Ultra-Thin there w...