This is unheard of, the vintage Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Jumbo, which belonged to French actor Alain Delon, was sold at an auction last week, for an absolute record price of 68,750 Euro!!This price is even more spectacular, when considering Delon’s Royal Oak Jumbo does not have the much desired dial with the AP-logo at 6 o’clock; something the newly released Jumbo does have. Nor did...
An intriguing macro photo of a tourbillon is what triggered me to choose this as Weekly Watch Photo. Not just a normal tourbillon, but one with a entirely different hairspring and one that makes an unusual rotation!The connoisseurs among you already recognized the tourbillon from Jaeger-LeCoultre’s new Duometrea Spherotourbillon that we fully explaned in an extensive article about all its sp...
Last year A. Lange & Sohne restyled the Saxonia collection and introduced the all new Saxonia Thin. The thinnest Lange & Sohne ever, measuring just 5.9 mm in height. This year the pink gold Saxonia Thin gets a white gold sibling.Classic, beautiful and typical Lange & Sohne style, however thin… While Lange & Sohne is well known for their robust movements like those in the Doub...
After seeing Vianney Halter’s magnificent April Fools joke, I just had to share some photos of one of the most beautiful timepieces of all times, the Antiqua Perpetual Calendar.Not only Vianney Halter came up with a April Fools joke, the guys from Watchonista?also created a magnificent April Fools joke for Hublot. But now back to the steam-punk creation of Vianney Halter… the Antiqua! ...
Hublot and National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC) will customize the helipads of Sao Paolo in preparation of the World Cup Sao Paolo.This press release just reached us. Hublot, well-known for their cooperation with football clubs, the FIFA and F1 Racing, just added a new affiliate business. All over the world, helipads are recognizable by the letter “H”, so why not transform this to the...
This is the first of a series of interviews with collectors that I got to know through the years. They all have one thing in common, which is a true passion for watches, mechanical watches that is.Through Facebook I got in touch with Boris, who collects vintage?watches and I asked him about the vintage Omega Speedmaster Professional he?just posted for sale. The reason for this, is that I’m s...
In stead of the usual Weekly Watch Photo I share some photos made by friends. No photos of a watch, but photos of a dinner we enjoyed during Baselworld. A dinner that also?was the award ceremony of the Timezone Watch of the Year 2011.A few weeks ago, during Baselworld 2012, I organized what was supposed to be a small informal dinner for independent watchmakers and online journalists. The responses...
Since a few years, Jaeger-LeCoultre offers, with the Duometre collection, the perfect logical next step in the evolution of mechanical watches with a complication. The idea is as simple as it is ingenious and it accomplishes a much more precise rate for Duometre watches with the so-called Dual-Wing construction.After the?Duometrea Quantieme Lunaire 40.5,?Jaeger-LeCoultre adds a magnificently beaut...
While Baselworld 2012 offered quite some mind-blowing novelties, two new dive watches from Tudor were on everybody’s tongue. The Tudor Heritage Black Bay and the Tudor Pelagos are both loaded with design elements of vintage Tudor Submariner models from the past.The new Heritage Black Bay combines elements of the Tudor Submariner ‘Snow Flake’ ref. 9411 and the Tudor Submariner ...
Remember the Grande Reverso Tribute to 1931 that was released by Jaeger-LeCoultre last year? Our contributor Time2tic put his Reverso Tributo to 1931 to the test… in arctic conditions! Its competitor is a Casio G-Shock Rescue.A mini expedition with an all-time classic – Some weekends are to catch up with friends in a cafe, others for a game of squash or some quality time with the famil...
Because we were talking about watches heavily set with diamonds anyway, why not proceed with more stone-set watches. Luckily Girard-Perregaux knows how to do this in an elegant way. They just released the 1966 Jewellery set with more than 800 diamonds.The Girard-Perregaux 1966 Collection, launched in 2006, has been my favorite GP collection and comprises several magnificent timepieces like the 196...
Do you remember the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Ultra-Thin Tribute to Mad Men' we told you about in January? If you’re familiar with the Mad Men hit series, you already know that the engraving in the Reverso’s case back refers to the advertisement agency Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce.Jaeger-LeCoultre just launched a contest where you can create an original advertising campaign and the winn...
Short before this year’s SIHH we were the first to show you a picture of the new Roger Dubuis Pulsion Flying Tourbillon. During the show Roger Duibuis introduced an entire new Pulsion collection and it looks great. Lots of technicalities and an avant-garde design. My favorite: the Pulsion Chronograph.?The Pulsion collection comprises of sporty high-end watches with very striking details. The...
When Omega introduced the new Seamaster Planet Ocean with the new in-house caliber 9300 last year, this was something that really interested me. Omega was so kind to let me review this dive watch with impressive specifications and impressive dimensions. ?It takes a few days or weeks to get a good idea what a watch is really like and how it’s on the wrist. Is it really that big or heavy, does...
Because of an incredibly busy schedule I didn’t have time to visit Lange und Sohne until the last day of the SIIH 2012. What I got to see wasn’t simply amazing, it was so much more than amazing. For me it was the apotheosis of the fair.The new Lange 1 Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar is a magnificent piece of horology, technically very complex and visually it shows the understated classic...
Yes it’s that time again, we can vote for the TimeZone Watch of the Year! Every member of watch forum TimeZone can vote for one of the six preselected finalists.?Last year the Jaeger-LeCoultre?Duometrea Quantieme Lunaire was elected as TimeZone Watch of the Year 2011. The line-up is mighty impressive again this year and we’re very curious to find out who will win.?The finalist that rec...
By now it should be no secret anymore that Audemars Piguet revamped the Royal Oak collection and I’ve already shared my enthusiasm about the Royal Oak Jumbo. Another one that, in my humble opinion,?looks absolutely superb, is the new Royal Oak Chronograph.?The new Royal Oak Chronograph is 2 mm larger than its predecessor, that measured 39 mm in diameter.?While I usually cheer for downsizing,...
Something completely new from Hublot: an extra-thin skeleton watch. Hublot created a model in the Classic Fusion collection by adding a skeletonized dial and a brand new in-house extra-thin movement.?At Monochrome we already asked ourselves if Piaget was going to set a trend and judging on the recent developments, like the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak?Openworked Extra-Thin, we guess guess they did. A...
It’s probably no surprise that the brands exposing at the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie, or short SIHH, are competitors. What is maybe not as well-known is that during this show the biggest competition is not about watches. It’s about the booth! In 1986, a movie turned a famous actor into a worldwide super star. Tom Cruise was playing the role of a young and talented fight...
Unusual… that’s probably the best word for a watch with a red dial. In this case however it’s not only unusual, but also very cool! The new Jaeger-LeCoultre Grande Reverso 1931 Rouge looks cool and sophisticated.?I have to admit that I’m kind of conservative when choosing a watch for my own wrist. The Hautlence HL Ti 02?is an exception, although its design looks kind of fut...
Three years after Omega launched the Seamaster Aqua Terra Co-Axial GMT Chronograph, Omega now launches the Seamaster Aqua Terra GMT. Visually many similarities, however without the chronograph and now with Omega’s proprietary co-axial caliber 8605/8615 GMT movement.?In terms of function it still does the same as any movement based on an ETA 2893; hour, minutes, seconds, date and a central 24...
During the fair in Geneva, we got hands on time with the new Montblanc TimeWalker TwinFly GreyTech. This is a new ‘Monochrome’ version of the ‘normal’ TimeWalker TwinFly that?Montblanc introduced last year.?The TimeWalker TwinFly features the impressive in-house movement, caliber MB LL100. Like the first caliber-family, which is used in the?Nicolas Rieussec Chronograph, it ...
This year is Audemars Piguet celebrates the 40th anniversary of the Royal Oak. The timepiece Gerald Genta design and that was launched in 1972, became a true classic and an icon in the horological history.?For this celebration they release many new Royal Oak models and among them a new Royal Oak Jumbo, a new Royal Oak Automatic and a Royal Chronograph. My personal preference is the new Royal Oak J...
The biggest novelty of Montblanc this year is the new Timewriter II. A bi-annual project that resulted in the Timewriter I, Metamorphosis, two years ago. This year it’s a chronograph again, but now one that can measure up to 1/1000th of ?a second.?The ‘Timewriter project’ is something Institut Minerva does together with a young watchmaker who does not have the opportunity to crea...
IWC focusses heavily on the Pilot’s Watch collection and there are many new models and many old models have been re-designed. One of the re-designed models is the IWC Mark XVII, the follow-up of the Mark XVI.?The biggest change in?comparison?to the Mark XVI, is the increased diameter. While the Mark XVI was 39 mm in diameter, the new Mark XVII is 41 mm. Compared to its ‘ancient’ ...
Montblanc releases a new version of the Nicolas Rieussec Automatic Chronograph, after the different versions with manual wound movement were released in previous years. Let us introduce you to the new Nicolas Rieussec Open Hometime.?As announced earlier today, we present you a review of the new Rieussec Open Hometime. This is the new version of the Nicolas Rieussec Automatic Chronograph, which we ...
This year, like last year, we will be bringing the latest news of the SIHH live from the Montblanc booth. Montblanc was so kind to invite us to report about the launch of the novelties.?Every day we’ll bring you reviews of the newest watches and we can already say that Montblanc’s novelties look extremely promising! Not only in the Ultra Haute Horlogerie category, but over the whole ra...
Roger Dubuis is?lining?up for the launch of another new collection. After last years introduction of the all new La Monegasque collection, this will be the year of the Pulsion collection.?They came up with four lifestyles for each of the three collections and now one for the new fourth collection. The Excalibur collection represents ‘The Warrior’ and the ladies collection is of course ...
During last year’s SIHH Roger Dubuis launched the all new La Monegasque collection. Among the collection was the La Monegasque Flying Tourbillon in platinum. This year they release this model in pink gold… and it looks stunning!We are very please with the recent developments that took place at Roger Dubuis. This is something that reflects in the launch of the new La Monegasque collecti...
Do you want to win a Montblanc Nicolas Rieussec Chronograph? Sure you do! If you enter the Montblanc ‘The Beauty of a Second’ contest you can win that gorgeous watch and a trip to the Berlin.Your challenge is to create the most beautiful one-second video or create the winning playlist! You can upload up to 10 one-second videos before January 20th. The other option is to create the winn...