Originally created as a stopgap solution in 2020 to offer a live watch event in the midst of the pandemic, Geneva Watch Days is coming up for its third edition and the MONOCHROME team is here to cover all the novelties first-hand. One of the founding fathers of GWD is Bulgari and one of the Italian brand’s novelties for 2022 is this dazzling Serpenti Seduttori Tourbillon, a seductive marriag...
Skin divers are always fun as they're generally a more stylish take on pro counterparts (hence the name). There isn't a hard definition, but skin divers are smaller, slimmer versions of bulkier professional divers with depth ratings between 100 and 200 metres. Some folk prefer a vintage-inspired re-edition like the Longines Skin Diver, while others gravitate to modern interpretations like Dietrich...
Mysterious and enticing, the colour black is a much-used element in watchmaking. Sometimes for the sake of contrast and sometimes purely for styling purposes. Black touches on a dial, case or movement can give a new look to a watch, which we regularly see being done. Bvlgari has played around with the achromatic colour on several occasions across all its collections. Now it’s Bvlgari Bvlgari...
If the Black Bay is often seen as the cornerstone model of the brand – which it is in reality – Tudor has more to offer in the field of dive watches. In fact, the real diver in the collection is named Pelagos, a robust 500m titanium watch with a 42mm case and all the necessary equipment for saturation diving. A tool that pro divers have praised for a while already. Recently, Tudor has ...
Back in 2020, Bulgari decided it was time for the return of a late-1990s icon, the Bulgari Aluminium collection. Through a series of regularly available models and special editions, Bulgari has reintroduced this lightweight contemporary sports watch. Instantly recognisable by its Bvlgari Bvlgari signed black rubberised bezel and segmented black rubber bracelet, the Bulgari Aluminium is all about c...
We’re right in the middle of what has become an important watch event of the year, a casual, relaxed fair that takes in the capital of watchmaking: Geneva Watch Days. One of the main actors of this show is Bulgari, and among the novelties of the Italian brand in the Finissimo range, there is a rather impressive 8-day Skeleton Octo Finissimo. So here we are with the new rose gold and brown di...
The Octo Finissimo series is one of the most striking collections of the last decade. With it, Bulgari has secured an impressive series of world records for thinness. But more than anything else, the Octo Finissimo is a style statement. Fabrizio Buonamassa and the?Bulgari team have created a modern icon, whose ultra-thin profile broke into the market in muted monochrome attire. Many iterations of ...
With the Bulgari Octo Finissimo collection celebrating its tenth anniversary earlier this year, one would think everything has been done by now. We’ve had time-only Automatics, GMT Chronographs, Tourbillons, Minute Repeaters, Perpetual Calendars and more, with pretty much every single one setting ultra-thin records. Nevertheless, Bulgari remains diligent in expanding the Octo Finissimo range...
The Oris Divers Sixty-Five is among the brand's most iconic and recognised collections, going back to the original from 1965 (hence the name). There are a handful of distinctive and unique variations, such as this faithful reissue of a classic, but most follow the same general design language. The latest Divers Sixty-Five 12H Calibre 400 brings the in-house calibre 400 to the series in a non-limit...
Watchmaking is very much a trend-driven industry, with, of course, a core selection of models, colours, sizes and materials standing the test of time. Colours come and go, sizes go up and down, and although new materials are regularly experimented with, the vast majority come in steel, with titanium, bronze and gold being the most popular alternatives. When it comes to the size of the watch, this ...
Today The Petrolhead Corner is turning to the virtual automotive world as the origin for real-life, working and driving cars. If you’re anything like me, you would have spent a good amount of time on video game consoles playing driving and racing games such as Driver, Gran Turismo, Need for Speed, Forza or any of the annual F1 racing games. Or, if gaming isn’t your thing, maybe youR...
Longines certainly knows how to bring its historical models back to life. Most of these attractive vintage-inspired models are congregated in the Heritage collection, including the Classic Sector Dial, the Tuxedo Chronograph?and the Legend Diver. Historical designs are not the exclusivity of this collection, however, and the brand with the winged hourglass logo often includes them in its more trad...
In the world of vintage watch collecting, provenance is key in the value attached to a watch. A strong and valuable indication of the early days of a watch is known as the double signature, where the name of a retailer is stamped on the dial. Double-signed watches have been a strong topic of interest recently at auctions, with names like Tiffany, Beyer, Gobbi or Serpico Y Laino multiplying the val...
Mostly known for its connection with the world of motorsport and anything car-related, TAG Heuer also has a rather deep history in the field of dive watches, since the introduction of the 2000-series in the early 1980s. Later rebranded Aquaracer, the collection has since been a solid offering in the market for rugged dive watches. Last year saw the launch of a thoroughly revamped collection, bring...
Probably the most emblematic and distinctive range of watches produced by the Saxon manufacture, the Pano collection has seen many different complications – power reserve, moon phase, retrograde chronograph or inverted movement to name a few – but never before the brand worked on a calendar watch. Things have changed recently, as Glashutte Original released the PanoMaticCalendar. And n...
Released in 2016 after causing a bit of a storm, the Piaget Polo collection has now become a cornerstone of the brand, representing its sporty-chic offering. Using classic design elements of Piaget and combining them with its thin automatic movements – even with a striking openworked edition – the Piaget Polo is now fairly established in the watchmaker’s landscape, and it’s...
Heuy Lewis & The News sang “It’s Hip To Be Square” in their hit song from 1986 and in watches, you could kind of say the same. Amongst watches, square ones always tend to stand out a bit more, and few have even stood the test of time and earned the status of horological icon. Watches like the TAG Heuer Monaco or Cartier Santos need little introduction, really. But more recent...
The Seiko Group is a typical Japanese conglomerate… Meaning that under the same umbrella (but not under the same brand), you’ll find watches ranging from about EUR 200 to more than half a million euros. Grand Seiko is often seen as the group’s top watchmaker, but we have to keep in mind Credor, an even more confidential and exclusive brand that is capable of creating a grande son...
Explaining that Longines is good at making vintage-inspired watches that are bringing back the flair of some of its greatest hits of the past is like saying that Porsche does good sportscars. It’s almost like repeating yourself. Looking at the brand’s portfolio, and putting apart the recent Spirit collection, watches such as the Legend Diver or the all-new Ultra-Chron High-Frequency?ar...
Anniversaries are to be celebrated. In life, in work, and in watches, as far as I am concerned. MING Watches apparently thinks so too and does so in true MING Style. Five years after the first watch designed by Ming Thein saw the light of day, the MING 37.04 Monopusher continues to celebrate half a decade of watchmaking under this now well-established name. With a unique style that looks little li...
From what used to be a young microbrand launched on Kickstarter, Baltic has now become a far more established brand, creating more mature models with serious design… and often a well-controlled vintage twist. For long, watches by Baltic have been powered by Asian movements (to the exception of the GMT) but now comes something that clearly plays in a different league; a hand-wound chronograph...
The Glashutte region in South-East Germany is home to many very interesting watch manufacturers, ranging from relatively affordable to proper high-end stuff. The region is famous for a very distinct style of watchmaking, which radiates through pretty much any brand currently in operation. Clean, legible, nicely finished and often with clever and practical complications, it seems Germans simply do ...
In Japanese art and culture, few names resonate as much as Katsushika Hokusai. This 19th-century master artist is well-known beyond Japan’s borders as his fame extends into the Western world as well. Hokusai was one of the rare Japanese craftsmen who elevated woodblock printing, considered a simpler form of art at the time, to a high-end artform. His series of 8 woodblock prints created in 1...
Ulysse Nardin has quite a comprehensive portfolio of collections and is primarily known for its background in marine chronometry but is also regarded as one of the most innovative watchmaking companies. With collections like the Marine, the brand’s naval heritage is kept very much alive, paying homage to the precision marine instruments that made the company famous in the second half of the ...
The Pasha de Cartier collection has a wonderful background story involving the fabulously wealthy Pasha El Glaoui of Marrakech and his request to Louis Cartier to produce a gold waterproof watch with enough panache to accompany him on any of his countless social appointments. The only snag with this story is that the alleged 1932 model has never materialised (see below). Be that as it may, the one...
The Portugieser family by IWC needs little to no introduction anymore, being one of the most acclaimed collections of the Schaffhausen-based brand. A nautical-inspired watch born in the 1930s following the request of two Portuguese merchants and sailing enthusiasts, it has become a classic that hardly changed over the years. Today, IWC introduces new versions of the Portugieser Automatic and the P...
The vast majority of wristwatches, mechanical or quartz, offers information on a flat 2D level. Sure, hands can be suspended a little bit above the dial, and you can even include some recessed or elevated indications for a chronograph or calendar complication, but that’s still on a horizontal plane. If you’re looking for a more dramatic and creative display of displaying time or any ad...
Skeleton or openworked watches have always enjoyed certain popularity and range from anything ultra high-end to accessible watches. There’s something specifically appealing in discovering what’s beating inside a watch (even more for newcomers to mechanical watches), yet entirely opened dials can result in cluttered displays. For this reason, there’s a kind of watch that sits righ...
When they were released last year, in the midst of the pandemic, the Oris Divers ve Cotton Candy watches not only came as a surprise, but they also brought a spirit of lightheartedness and fun colours to people yearning to see the end of the pandemic. The timing was just right, and these unconventional pink, light blue and green bronze models became surprisingly successful. This year, the Ho?lstei...
Part of the reason MONOCHROME Watches exists in the first place is a deep-rooted love for independent watchmaking and the wonderful things some of the best watchmakers in the world can come up with. To us, that’s the very fabric of our existence and we try to provide a platform for these true masters of the craft. Even if you think everything has been done by now, there’s always someth...