Fasten your seatbelt and take a ride with us into the past! In this 3-part story, we will try to show you the most important pieces of the huge?Omega Speedmaster?collection. We had the chance to handle the watches from the Omega Museum (that were presented in the Parisian Boutique during a special event), all fully original or even prototypes of one of the most important chronographs ever made. To...
The introduction of the automatic chronograph movement was a cataclysmic event for the Swiss watch industry. Up to this point there were only two kinds of watches: the self-winding watch, and the chronograph. In 1969 however this discord passed into history. A fusion of these two became a new reality. In this third and final part of the history of the Breitling 765 AVI / Co-Pilot we are going to e...
This year IWC introduced an entirely renewed Aquatimer collection. That literary means that ALL Aquatimer models have been redesigned and now feature the same design cues, and, more importantly, functional feats like the new Dive-Safe system; an externally operational internal dive-time bezel (still with us?) We tried the IWC Aquatimer Chronograph Edition ?Expedition Jacques-Yves Cousteau for some...
Just last week Kering announced that Michele Sofisti, who led Girard-Perregaux and JeanRichard (both part of the Sowind Group, which is owned by the Kering Group), would become the CEO of Gucci Watches and Jewelry (also part of the Kering Group). A new CEO for Girard-Perregaux and JeanRichard was yet to be found. Today the Kering Group announced they acquired Ulysse Nardin.With this latest acquisi...
We, at Monochrome-Watches, love independent watchmaking, very unusual displays and audacity of creation. HYT Watches had always been on our radar because it brings everything a young and ‘unchained’ Manufacture should: innovation, boldness, no compromise, unconventionality and that little slice?of craziness that we love. Until recently our experience with the brands and their timepiece...
“Learn from your mistakes” – and from those made by your competitors –?should have been in Bremont’s handbook. However it wasn’t. Remerber in 2009, TAG Heuer’s Calibre 1887?created?huge discussions after its release. What TAG Heuer claimed to be an in-house movement was in fact based on a Seiko ebauche, that was modified by TAG Heuer. No big deal in terms ...
In the first part of our analysis of?the Breitling 765 Avi, we stopped with the introduction of the panda dial variant in 1963. In the 1960's, Breitling, a company almost exclusively dedicated to chronographs offered the iconic Navitimer and the Avi's as two excellently designed chronographs that were used both in civilian and military applications. These two chronographs were doing extremely well...
For initiates the Atmos clock has no secrets, however for the rest of you the Atmos might seem like a perpetual motion machine. It seems to live on air and actually that’s exactly what is the case (no worries, we’ll explain it.) This year at the SIHH Jaeger-LeCoultre introduced a new pink gold version of the Atmos Classique Phases de Lune and it looks stunning. The Jaeger-LeCoultre Atm...
In the past 24 years, A. Lange & Sohne have grown from the remains of the Eastern Germany era, to become a major watch brand. In just 24 year, actually 20 since the first models were introduced, Lange has become synonym with prestigious Haute Horlogerie, mouth-watering chronographs and of course the iconic Lange 1. Calendar complication have been part of the collection, almost since the beginn...
Longines introduces a new edition in the Heritage line, a vintage and military inspired watch that takes place next to the recently revealed Heritage 1935,?Heritage Diver and?Conquest?Heritage 1954. This collection of watches is certainly the most interesting ?from Longines, with vintage inspired designs and useful complications. And that’s what the Longines Avigation GMT brings:?a robust wa...
Hublot has?grown?tremendously fast in the past few decades and is now recognized as part of the top luxury Swiss manufactures. It has not always been the case?and before the arrival of the famous Jean-Claude Biver in 2004, Hublot’s destiny was rather?uncertain. Nowadays, we all know Hublot for its recognizable port-hole inspired?design, the oversized cases and because they were one of the ma...
That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind. These words from Neil Armstrong still resonate in the heart of everyone on earth, even 45 years after the Apollo 11 team landed on the Moon. Of course, Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins had tons of the best equipment with them but the one that clearly appeals most to us is the small,?rudimentary, basic, old-fashioned mechanical Omega S...
There are few companies in the watch industry that have the impact that Breitling has. It is a known fact among watch collectors, and especially chronograph?aficionados, that the company might be solely responsible for creating the shape and form of the chronograph wristwatch as we know it today. Although the Navitimer is the quintessential Breitling, we will try to shed a light to a rather obscur...
After showing you some highly interesting vintage timepieces?from Heuer and some rare vintage chronographs from Airain or Universal Geneve, we wanted to move on to our favorite subject: independent watchmakers. Those type of watches are always made in very limited editions and finding pre-owned ones is complicated. Here are three rare birds that you might like as much as we do.A classical Speake-M...
When saw the first pre-Baselworld release of the H. Moser Endeavour Perpetual Calendar Black, we were impressed and felt there would be a huge interest in it within the watch-world. Both the photos and technical specifications attracted us. This feeling was confirmed once we get?our hands on with it during Baselworld.?The Endeavour Perpetual Calendar was one of the few watches that created a real ...
New York - New York, the city that never sleeps has a Gotham-esque feel to it. Whether it's a giant Japanese lizard, thousands of aliens, vengeful terrorists; a multitude of foes seem to be out to destroy perhaps the most important city of America. Amidst all of the terror, real or cinematographic, Lady Liberty remains a beacon of hope. RJ-Romain Jerome once again pays homage to the Statue of Libe...
It isn’t that long ago, since bigger watches have become fashionable. On the forefront of that movement, was Panerai with their HUGE 44mm wrist watches and the occasional Special Edition that measured 47mm in diameter. Panerai hasn’t been shy of making even larger watches, which is now-a-days maybe not so exceptional anymore, like the 52mm large Mare Nostrum. The Panerai we’re in...
In case you were wondering what kind of watch Dutch football coach Louis van Gaal was wearing during the FIFA World Cup in Brasil, it’s a Dutch watch, made by none other than Dutch watchmaker Christiaan van der Klaauw. And if that isn’t cool and exclusive enough, Louis Van Gaal’s watch is a limited edition of 25 pieces and we found one for sale.?Maybe you do the same. When someon...
When you look at Vacheron Constantin’s collections, one is clearly apart from the rest, a range of very high end watches that are not showing the horological capacities of the manufacture but some?ornamental skills: the Metiers d’Art. In traditional watchmaking, Metiers d’Art watches (that stands for artistic workmanship) consist in bringing all of the finest aesthetic competenci...
Art and watchmaking are two worlds that have always been closely related. Brands often create events around painting exhibitions or music concerts. Some are even going a step further by integrating art IN the watches, such as Vacheron Constantin with its ‘Metiers d’Arts’ or Laurent Ferrier with painted dials on its Galet Secret. JeanRichard, in a lower price range, just introduce...
In 2009 IWC created the Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month (ref. 3761). It was the first flyback chronograph with a perpetual calendar and digital leap year display as well as a digital display for the month and date with large numerals. This development was a tour de force that has paid off: the result is a very clever way to combine a perpetual calendar and a chronograph, while maint...
Recently, we showed the best of the es that will be auctioned the 28th of July by Boule Monaco.?But is not the only brand that deserves some attention, and while sneaking around the catalogue, we found timepieces to fulfil our love for vintage chronographs: 2 amazing aviator tools from Breguet and 2 highly desirable and uncommon Longines vintage chronographs. We believe that an overview of the ...
The Swatch Sistem51 is certainly the cheapest watch we’ve ever featured on Monochrome-Watches and we are doing it without any shame or regrets. Why? The Sistem51 is clearly one of the most important novelties presented during the last 10 years. As the first Swatch did in 1983, this new automatic watch is a major industrial milestone that COULD (I have to insist on the ‘could’ bec...
We do believe that you, the Monochrome-Watches readers, are facing the same dilemma as us: finding cool, essential, interesting and collectible vintage timepieces. In our last Cool Finds' article, we showed?you 3 unusual and underrated chronographs. Today, we wanted to focus on a single brand, one that we love, and that is growing fast in the heart of collectors: HEUER. Here are 3 vintage Heuer Ch...
The introduction of a new in-house movement does not happen every day and is an important moment for any watch brand. Well, maybe not so much for Jaeger-LeCoultre, who have more then 1,000 calibres on their repertoire. However it definitely is a very important moment for a relatively young watch brand that isn’t even Swiss. British watch brand Christopher Ward introduce their first in-house ...
Earlier this year Omega introduced a new version of a classic and highly collectable variation of the Speedmaster, the Speedmaster Mark II. This very attractive re-issue immediately won the hearts of collectors around the world. Speedmasters and limited editions are a commodity, however today we’re introducing a new (and the first) limited edition Speedmaster Mark II. The Speedmaster Mark II...
When Montblanc unveiled the entirely new Meisterstuck Heritage collection at the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH), in January of this year, everyone – and I mean EVERYONE – from the press, collectors, and even the competitors, was very much impressed and talking about it. Especially the Meisterstuck Heritage Perpetual Calendar, the most affordable perpetual calendar on...
Richard Mille is known for its very high-end and technical watches, but also for the ambassadors that are wearing them. What differentiates RM’s emissaries from those using other brands is how they are involved, and how they are pushing these watches to the limit. A nice example of a Richard Mille ‘action watch’ is this white, skeletonized, lightweight but highly resistant RM 055...
The Girard-Perregaux 1966 blue dial is clearly the quintessential dress watch - so of course, we loved it. This was the case when we saw the?first?preview?before Baselworld?and?the same goes after a few weeks on the wrist. Now that you know our feelings on this blue dial and pink gold edition of the 1966, you have to know?the?reasons that led us to this conclusion, as well as the?strengths and als...
Last weekend Oris introduced the world's first automatic mechanical altimeter wrist watch. When you’re thinking that this sounds like something you’ve heard before, you’re almost right. The Breva Genie 02 was actually the first mechanical watch with an altimeter. However that is a manually wound watch, and the new Oris is indeed the world’s first AUTOMATIC mechanical watch ...