Although Hublot has become one of the world's most prominent Swiss watchmakers, it remains a relatively young brand. Everything started about 40 years ago with a luxury sports watch with an unprecedented combination of materials, in particular gold and rubber. Hublot brings back this now classic model in three different sizes, each available in three materials. Let's take a closer look at the new ...
Horologically, the new year gets started with the LVMH Watch Week 2023 in Singapore, where Bulgari, TAG Heuer, Hublot and Zenith join forces to present some of their novelties. It was the perfect opportunity for MONOCHROME to interview Antoine Pin, Managing Director of the Bulgari Watch Division, and discover all the new models that the watchmaker/jeweller presented and what to expect for the upco...
Bulgari’s watchmaking renaissance has produced some remarkable watches. While the Octo has asserted itself as a pillar of incontestable elegance and thinness, women around the world have succumbed to the seductive sinuous charms of Bulgari’s snake mascot, the Serpenti. The iconic Roman jeweller, renowned for its exuberant colours, sensual cabochon cuts and design bravura, introduced th...
2023 has kicked off with the LVMH Watch Week 2023 where Bulgari, TAG Heuer, Hublot and Zenith join forces to present some of their novelties in Singapore. As part of the new models presented by Hublot for the beginning of this year, we have a modern take on the Classic Fusion and several new versions of Big Bangs or Spirit of Big Bang models. Here's an overview of everything that has been presente...
Following the Defy Skyline collection launch last year, Zenith returns to the LVMH Watch Week 2023 with a skeletonised proposal, taking the brand's luxury sports watch with an integrated bracelet one step beyond. Beating to an El Primero high-frequency 3-hand movement revealed under symmetrical bridges, the Zenith Defy Skyline Skeleton is also the first skeletonised watch in the world to feature a...
In sports timing, few chronographs have compelling stories like the Heuer Carrera Chronograph. It was created sixty years ago and responded to changing tastes over time with numerous variations. The original Heuer Carrera Reference 2447 from 1963 looks as young as if it was born yesterday. Conceived by Jack Heuer and “designed for legible, accurate reading under any conditions,” produc...
If the model does not have the importance of other icons such as the Carrera, Autavia or Monaco in the TAG Heuer racing chronograph lineage, the Monza has numerous fans amongst the brand's aficionados. On the occasion of the LVMH Watch Week 2023, the model is back, far more modern and bolder than ever, clad in black carbon, with bright colours on its openworked dial. And it is now powered by a COS...
Swiss brand Oris initiates 2023 with glad tidings and announces the advent of its tenth in-house developed movement, writing a new chapter in the life of its iconic Big Crown Pointer Date. The new calibre 473, based on the automatic calibre 400 introduced in 2020, boasts the same performance and resilience but is hand-wound and comes with an extra function. What makes it even better news for fans ...
A diving watch is generally considered to be very robust, has some form of rotating inner or outer bezel, is water-resistant to at least 200 meters and provides excellent legibility. But what if you’re looking for a bit more than just the time and possibly the date? What if you want to time the boiling of an egg, or maybe go a bit nuts, and time your underwater adventure from start to finish...
Despite the fact that mechanical watches today are very much a luxury item and far from a necessity, there was a time when proper timing instrument watches were the difference between life and death. Watches served a true purpose and were used to time extremely important events. This need for precision also arose with the threat of war building in Europe in the 1930s, which lead to the creation of...
It is 2023, and we’re back with a new instalment of the Collector’s Series, a column where we let watch aficionados talk about their passion for a specific watch. Today we’re talking to Tom, also known as Wtt1975 on Instagram. He is a 47-year-old Dutch company owner with a wide range of interests, including a passion for beautiful watches, but not only. The remarkable story of hi...
Perhaps not the first brand you would imagine producing an animal-themed' watch in time for the Chinese Lunar New Year, TAG Heuer is determined to consolidate its presence in this lucrative niche. Representing the fourth animal sign in the Chinese zodiac cycle, the rabbit will rule the roost of 12 zodiac animals starting on the 22nd of January, 2023, until the advent of the next Chinese New Year i...
There is no denying the importance of the microbrand scene in the past couple of years. We’ve seen so many new projects coming on stage and some with a pretty impressive sense of design. Fresh, unique, disruptive or, on the contrary, highly classical, there’s room for many new actors. Well, today we’ll be talking about a trio of watches that such a microbrand could have made̷...
The story of Pasha de Cartier dates back to the 1930s and involves claims that the Pasha of Marrakesh ordered an elegant watch to match his royal status that could also be worn in his swimming pool. Such a Cartier timepiece, according to legend, was created and many decades later served as an inspiration for the Pasha de Cartier collection, unveiled in 1985. Documents have yet to confirm the 1930s...
Valentine's Day is a marketing opportunity for many watch brands and the perfect occasion to launch special editions. Blancpain has been producing Valentine's Day models for more than two decades, with watches decked out in diamonds and red accents, like these Villeret or Ladybird models. This year, Blancpain turns to another collection to celebrate the most romantic day of the year. Marking a fir...
Most of you are well aware that the Royal Oak, Audemars Piguet’s emblematic and (probably) most crucial watch ever, celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2022. An array of new models were launched for the occasion, with the star of the show being the new Jumbo Extra-Thin 16202ST. Another watch, launched a couple of months later, didn’t really get the attention it deserved… Maybe it ...
If you were to ask anyone to describe a typical Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, you would most likely hear elements like the octagonal case/bezel, integrated bracelet, and a blue Tapisserie dial. And they’d be right, of course, but the APRO can be much more than that. Signified as the granddaddy of the luxury sports watch, penned by industry legend Gerald Genta, the Royal Oak is one of the most p...
This isn’t the first time that luxury menswear outlet MR PORTER is partnering with watch brands to create special editions. In fact, it isn’t even the first time it has done it with IWC Schaffhausen. It makes sense since the same conglomerate, Richemont, owns both entities. Nevertheless, it can result in pretty cool models, and their latest collaboration certainly has some appeal. Meet...
Welcome to a new year. Welcome to 2023. If there’s one thing that watch brands love, it’s celebrating their heritage. Vintage has been one of the main inspirations for the past 10 to 15 years, and we’ve seen plenty of commemorative models released in 2022 – think about the 50-year Royal Oak. Why should 2023 be any different? There are important anniversaries coming up this ...
Renowned as the blueprint for modern dive watches, Blancpain's archetypal Fifty Fathoms of 1953 is coming up for its grand 70th birthday. As an essential player in the development of scuba diving and the watch chosen by elite diving corps worldwide, the heyday of the Fifty Fathoms spanned from the mid-1950s to the early 1980s. Following a period of dormancy, Marc A. Hayek, Blancpain's CEO, decided...
The small Scottish brand known as anOrdain has made quite a name for itself over the past five years, mainly through its traditionally crafted vitreous enamel dials. Usually reserved for watches at a much higher price point, anOrdain has found a way to make them in-house, at a competitive level. After our recent trip to Glasgow, visiting anOrdain’s atelier in an old carpet factory, we learne...
Instead of looking at a TV screen, a gigantic clock or some type of countdown timer to usher in the new year, some mechanical watch fans might have gazed down at their watch to watch the indications jump from 2022 to 2023. Hardcore watch enthusiasts and collectors might have even strapped on an annual or perpetual calendar to see how all the indications interact simultaneously at that precise mome...
Few names get car people going as much as Alfa Romeo. The Italian carmaker has a storied history and has created some of the most advanced and amazing machines ever conceived. Cars like the legendary Alfa Romeo 6C and 8C, the beautiful Giulia and Giulietta, the wild Bertone B.A.T. cars… the list is truly endless. Relying on prolific design ateliers such as Bertone, Giugiaro and Pininfarina, ...
If you’re reading this article, we have nothing to teach you about our extensive written content. As we explained in our previous retrospective with our most-read articles of 2022, we’ve published close to 1,200 articles this year. But MONOCHROME is just about text and photos… It’s also about videos and?a Youtube channel that is packed with great content. This year, we̵...
The fifth generation of the Laureato, the Girard-Perregaux's take on the luxury sports watch with an integrated bracelet, was launched in 2017 as a permanent collection, following a limited edition model presented in 2016. This modern evolution of the model has turned the Laureato into the brand's best-selling collection. We are taking a closer look at one of the most luxurious iterations of the m...
The end of the year 2022 is nigh. And once again, at MONOCHROME, we’ve seen a lot of new watches (in all fairness, it was more evolutionary than revolutionary), and we reviewed more models than ever before. We’ve also published an incredible amount of articles – close to 1,200 this year, a record that will be hard to beat, but we’ll keep on trying. It is now time to look at...
Fusing two of the brand’s fortes - a popular vintage dive watch design and innovative high-tech ceramic - Rado has come up with a winner. The latest edition of the Captain Cook flaunts a sleek matte black ceramic case, and for the first time, even the bezel and crown are crafted in ceramic. The watch is also equipped with a new movement with an airy openworked design that can be seen from th...
At MONOCHROME, we love watches, watchmaking and the watchmaking industry as a whole. However, we can’t hide our passion for watches manufactured by small ateliers by watchmakers who create watches with their hands and soul. Known as “independent watchmaking“, these creative hubs provide a breath of fresh air to established brands. We continue our recap of the best watches launche...
Our weekly episodic column known as the Petrolhead Corner started from the shared passion between several members of the MONOCHROME editorial team for all things car- and bike-related. We wanted to offer something else during the weekend, as a bit of a break from watches. This can be anything from classic cars and motorcycles to iconic drivers, restomods, or modern sports- and supercars. And with ...
As many of you should be able to spend some quiet time with family and beloved ones, it is a moment of the year when it’s also good to look back at what happened over the past 12 months. And it’s also the right moment to relax and take the time for longer reads. Here at MONOCHROME, we always try to bring you the most complete explanations possible when it comes to watchmaking and techn...