Its a funny thing with brands: we can hardly imagine today that there used to be a time that practically every name of a customer, retailer or group of collectors, could be easily stamped on a dial, movement or case.The now prestigious names of established brands were hidden away, either engraved in the movement, the case-back or even unmentioned. The brand, if watch producers even considered the...
Patek Philippe’s new Ref. 5235 Annual Calendar Regulator embodies a number of novel facets never before featured in the manufacture’s collection. It is the first Patek Philippe wristwatch with a regulator dial!The Patek Philippe Ref. 5235 Annual Calendar Regulator features a dial with an unusual arrangement - large sweep minute hand combined with subsidiary hours at 12 o’clock an...
It is safe to say that in the 1990's the Swiss had the monopoly when it came to high-end sport chronographs with a manufacture movement. However, that was about to change, at least a little bit, when Glashutte Original introduced their Sport Chronograph, proudly made in Germany!Glashutte Original shared much of the same faith as Lange & Sohne and Muhle. After WWII they where hidden from the ey...
The last few years,?vintage?Tudor Submariners are becoming more popular amongst watch collectors. This Submariner ref.7928 is actually one of my favorite vintage dive watches and that’s a good reason to select this gorgeous photo as Monochrome’s Weekly Watch Photo. Bert, a.k.a. De Horlogefotograaf, made the photo below and I’m amazed to see?such a?remarkable composition that some...
Some brands seem to be able to ride the wave of success at the most extraordinary and challenging of times. A great example of this is Ebel. During the quartz-crisis, Pierre-Alain Blum, the grandson of Ebel's founders, was the CEO of the brand. His accomplishments during this time were nothing short of brilliant.What did he do? In the 1970's, Ebel developed their own quartz-movements. Those moveme...
For fans of A. Lange & Sohne watches and the Pour le Merite Collection in particular, there is a new bible. Peter Chong made a book about the Pour le Merite Collection, filled with the most gorgeous photos and explaining much about the brand’s history and technical highlights.?Peter Chong’s photos have already been selected for the Monochrome Weekly Watch Photo and other posts and ...
Con artist make their living with it; the deep, burning human desire to get something for nothing. When dealing with a con artist, you usually end up with nothing for something, but that does not take away from the fact that we all love to get a good deal on something, ending up with a higher value then we actually paid for. Therefore, in this quest we are going to look for the cheapest, high-end ...
End of 2010 URWERK stopped production of the UR-103, their landmark timepiece. Especially for Only Watch 2011 the UR-103 rises from the ashes with the piece unique UR-103?Phoenix.?URWERK’s UR-103 shocked and amazed watch lovers, collectors and aficionados when it was released in 2003. Its design and way to display time wasn’t entirely unique, but the total package was! Old pocket watch...
Some brands seem to be flying under the radar in today's watch landscape. But for at least some brands, that wasn't always the case. Universal Geneve is such a brand, did not only reached fame with its Tri-Compax chronographs, but perhaps even more so with their Polerouter.Today we live in a global village; with the push of a button we can e-mail a message almost instantly to the other side of the...
This week we start with a photo of an IWC Ingenieur Laureus, that was made by Dimer and immediately caught my attention. A good reason to dig a bit deeper in the history of the IWC Ingenieur.The photo shows the IWC Ingenieur Laureus, which is in fact an Ingenieur Automatic from the Vintage Collection with a blue dial and a special engraved case back. This is already?the fifth special edition IWC d...
Jaeger-LeCoultre released a new limited edition of the Grande Reverso with a blue enamel dial, the Grande Reverso Email. It looks gorgeous!After the recent launch of the Grande Reverso Ultra Thin, Jaeger-LeCoultre now released another new model, the Reverso Grande Email. This white gold Reverso with a guilloche dial with blue?enamel finish and white gold applied arabic numbers looks simply gorgeou...
Montblanc’s Vintage Pulsographe is one of the most beautiful new releases of this year. Classic, stylish and with a movement that is so beautiful it makes every watch collector’s heart beat faster. There are not many watches with a movement of this beauty. Of course the Lange und Sohne Datograph and Double Split both have absolutely gorgeous movements, but the Montblanc Vintage Pulsogr...
Another magnificent find is an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Jumbo A-series, that is for auction this Saturday. Although the Antiquorum auction is in Hongkong, you can also bid online! Since this A-series of the Royal Oak Jumbo, the most sought-after of all Royal Oaks, featuring the AP logo just above the 6 o’clock position, in stead of positioned at the 12 o’clock position like later Roya...
Next Saturday Antiquorum will auction a Jaeger LeCoultre Reverso Art Deco, the most beautiful Reverso I’ve ever seen. Why? Just take a look…The Reverso Art Deco was produced by Jaeger LeCoultre in the year 2000 and was the first Reverso with an engraved, skeletonized movement. The caliber is 822AD, a derivative of caliber 822 that is used in many Reverso models. When Jaeger LeCoultre o...
Do you want to have a great party? Do you wanna celebrate with the in-crowd' of the watch industry? Coming Thursday the 23th of June in Gland, Switzerland is the 1st Watchmaker’s Ball.This is the first time that a party brings together everyone in the watch industry, simply to have a great evening, get to know each other, hang out and party! Usually people from the industry meet each other d...
Your mechanical watch? Obsolete, thing of the past, just trade it in for a nice new quartz watch and you will always be on time! Right now this sounds like an absurd proposition, especially to most watch collectors and connoisseurs, but in the early 1970's it was reality.Although Seiko was the first company to introduce a commercially produced quartz wristwatch on the market, the battle was still ...
The new Seamaster Planet Ocean Chronograph is equipped with a brand new in-house calibre 9300, the first chronograph in Omega’s family of in-house Co-Axial movements.This is the first co-axial chronograph movement that comes from Omega and they used the Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean for its launch. With this new in-house chronograph caliber I think Omega created an absolutely great movement w...
Vintage Panerai's are already exciting, big, bold, unique and rare. Amongst them the Mare Nostrum is perhaps the most mystical, since it was Panerai's only vintage chronograph. Although the re-make is not as big as the original one, the one offered for auction by Christie's can for sure be called exciting, bold, unique and rare.In 1943 Panerai developed the Mare Nostrum for deck officers and it wa...
An unusual watch with an unusual time display made by an unusual watchmaker in a, for him, unusual case is coming up for auction?at Christie's upcoming New York auction on June 15th. This is the F.P.Journe Vagabondage I.With the stunning F.P. Journe Vagabondage II you would almost forget that there also was a Vagabondage I. This model was introduced in 2004 for the 30th birthday of auction house A...
Hublot has yet to make its first ordinary watch. When introduced to the world in 1980 by creator and founder Carlo Crocco it might as well had come from a different planet.A golden watch with a unusual yet distinctive port hole design on a vanilla scented rubber strap. As hot as this combo is nowadays, so not it was in the early 1980's. But this creation was not lost for the world because it was e...
Vacheron Constantin released an Overseas Perpetual Calendar Chronograph. This is the first high complications' in the Overseas collection and immediately a superb looking one. Sporty, complicated and sophisticated. The Overseas is Vacheron Constantin's sporty' collection and up till now existed of three versions, the normal' Overseas (time and date), the Overseas Dual Time (well, the name explains...
Catch the bug after a decade – a Patek Philippe Millennium (ref.5032J) will be auctioned at the upcoming Antiquorum auction in New York. It is almost unbelievable but it has already been more than a decade ago since the world entered the new millennium. Despite this unique and joyful event, there was the dark shadow of the famous Y2K bug that promised black outs, meltdowns, total mayhem and,...
The upcoming Antiquorum auction in New York offers once again an interesting array of watches, including stunning pieces like the Audemars Piguet – Maserati Anniversary Millenary MC12 with toubillon and chronograph, a vintage with full calendar (ref. 6062), a Vacheron Constantin Grande Complication and a Festina! Yes, you are reading this correctly, a Festina. A very unusual brand to be au...
A Weekly Watch Photo that is perfect in every way.?A beautiful watch, a beautiful photo, all in monochrome colors and at the right moment. Why? Well, Audemars Piguet just announced a?special Royal Oak Jumbo to celebrate 10th anniversary of the Purists Pro watch forum. The photo below shows the ‘real deal’, the ‘real McCoy’, a watch that’s high on the wish-list of many...
It is called IGOTT-2 or International Gathering of the Tribe 2 and this gathering is in celebration of the 10th anniversary of watch forum PuristSPro. Starting on Monday May 30th in… Las Vegas! A three day horological feast with numerous special limited editions. Gatherings, get-togethers, meetings, collectors dinners, these kind of events are being organized by watch lovers and aficionados ...
This is a watch I don’t come across very often but when I do I just have to take a close look. It is a Richard Mille RM10 in red gold. Visually and technically an extraordinary watch. During Baselworld I got the chance to try one on my wrist and wearing it for a mere 15 minutes was all it took to be convinced. Very comfortable on the wrist and always a pleasure to look at the time or just ho...
The big WOW factor hit me when I saw this photo. Made by Cartier connoisseur (and ambassador) GEO of the Cartier Santos 100 Carbon Watch. In 1904, Alberto Santos Dumont, a Brazilian aviation pioneer, asked his friend Louis Cartier to design a timepiece that would be handier than a pocket watch during his flights.?This is how the Cartier Santos wristwatch was created and it made the Cartier Santos ...
Vacheron Constantin's Atelier Cabinotiers is a special workshop dedicated to custom builing bespoke timepieces. Recently this Atelier delivered two of such unique and very complicated timepieces. In 2006 Vacheron Constantin started a special workshop, entirely dedicated to fine watchmaking and creating bespoke timepieces, Atelier Cabinotiers. Just recently they finished two bespoke timepieces and ...
The Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso is a perfect watch for personalizations and now you can create your personal design on the Jaeger-LeCoultre website and Facebook page. The Reverso offers an excellent opportunity for personalization, because of the reversible case. As long as the Reverso exists, owners have been doing this for different reason. Many examples can be found in the Reverso virtual musuem.?...
Again a photo made by GEO, although this time no Cartier. Audemars Piguet made this rare Millenary Star Wheel for the 125th anniversary of the brand and in my opinion one of the most beautiful of this manufacture. It’s almost refreshing to see another timepieces from Audemars Piguet, than the Royal Oak or Royal Oak Offshore collections. Like the Millenary collection, Audemars Piguet does hav...