It's been 22 years since Chanel launched the emblematic J12 sports watch, which featured high tech ceramic and an aesthetic that's become iconic for the brand. The collection comes in multiple sizes, including 38mm and 33mm, and this is the first time the standard 33mm variant gets an automatic calibre (following a limited edition). It's a proprietary engine from Kenissi, a movement manufacturer p...
Guy Bove has been the Creative Director of TAG Heuer for some three years now after working for several brands, including Breitling, the Chopard group and IWC… We took the opportunity of his presence at Watches and Wonders 2022 to sit down with him and learn more about the brand's latest creations.Xavier Markl, MONOCHROME – Guy, thanks for having us. What is the underlying theme for TA...
To celebrate the Chopard manufacture's 20th anniversary in 2016, the brand made its first foray into the complex domain of minute repeaters. Determined not to produce just another' minute repeater, Chopard invested 15,000 hours in the lab surprised us all with its revolutionary use of sapphire crystal gongs that produce a unique crystalline sound. With its bold openworked dial exposing parts of th...
Hublot unveils four main novelties during its first participation at Watches and Wonders Geneva. For starters, the Big Bang Integral Ceramic gets four new colours, and the Big Bang Tourbillon appears in an eye-catching purple sapphire crystal case. There are also new Orlinski models with faceted bracelets reflecting the artist’s style, and last but not least, a novel shaped watch known as th...
Last year Parmigiani entered the hyper-competitive realm of the luxury sports watch with its Tonda PF collection, a move instigated by its new CEO, Guido Terreni. Debuting with an automatic time-and-date (micro-rotor), a chronograph, an annual calendar and an impressive split-seconds chronograph with a gold engine in 2021, Parmigiani unveils a sophisticated flying tourbillon during this 2022 editi...
During Watches and Wonders 2022, TAG Heuer has unveiled its second chronograph stemming from its partnership with Porsche. This partnership between the two brands was announced in 2021 and resulted from an entwined history marked by an obsession with speed and motorsports. Following the first classic stainless steel version, the TAG Heuer Carrera x Porsche is back in a black-and-yellow limited edi...
Montblanc has eyes set on Mount Everest with its latest 1858 Geosphere Chronograph 0 Oxygen LE290. The case is literally void of oxygen to prevent fogging and oxidation in sub-zero temperatures and extreme altitudes. The brand isn't just claiming this but enlisting mountaineer Nimsdai Purja to wear this new chronograph version of the Geosphere watch to the peak of Everest in May 2022. Recommended ...
The Memoris was initially introduced?in 2016 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Ateliers Louis Moinet and the 200th anniversary of the Compteur de Tierces, the innovative stopwatch created by the eponymous watchmaker. Instead of revealing the chronograph movement on the caseback, the Memoris transposes the chronograph mechanism to the dial. During Watches and Wonders 2022, the model returns ...
Live from Watches and Wonders Geneva 2022, we talk to Christian Selmoni, Style and Heritage Director at Vacheron Constantin. And he’ll tell us all about one of the most impressive watches launched at the show, the Vacheron Constantin Historiques 222, a tribute to the brand’s 1977 luxury sports watch with integrated bracelet. Apart from the design evolution and the basics about this new...
Looking at the entire lineage of watches created by A. Lange & Sohne, no other model can beat the Lange 1 in terms of cult status. This watch, which was part of the inaugural collection of watches launched in 1994, is now seen as one of the most iconic watches of our times and an fundamental model for the renaissance of high-end German watchmaking. In 2003, surfing on the vibe for oversized wa...
Launched in 2016, the L.U.C Full Strike was Chopard's first foray into the world of minute repeaters and was a true reimagining of the complication: the watch featured a monobloc sapphire crystal and gong assembly and an independent power source for the striking mechanism, along with a host of safety features preventing the user from accidentally damaging the movement. The Full Strike went on to w...
For Watches and Wonders?Geneva 2022, Piaget unveils a unique piece that pays tribute to the first beats of its Altiplano Ultimate Concept (AUC). After four years of development, the first AUC prototype started ticking on 7 February 2017 at 7:47 am. Presented in 2018, it earned the record for the thinnest watch in the world with its incredibly thin 2mm profile. Just a few days ago, this record was ...
IWC was one of the pioneers in the use of ceramics in watchmaking, relying on this innovative material as early as 1986 with the Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar 3755. The Pilot’s collection, probably the most emblematic range at IWC, is no stranger to ceramics either, which were first used in the 1994 Chronograph 3705 – which has been recently re-issued. The brand even played with colours ...
There is something special about a refined perpetual calendar and chronograph watch. It is a category that houses many timepieces that we dream of owning one of these days. Among these, the Vacheron Constantin Traditionnelle Perpetual Calendar Chronograph is a supremely elegant model powered by one of the best-in-class movements. On the occasion of Watches and Wonders, the brand unveils a platinum...
Jaeger-LeCoultre’s sporty Polaris collection welcomes a new perpetual calendar model, using a movement similar to the one powering the Master Ultra-Thin Perpetual model of 2019. Presented in a 42mm case in stainless steel or pink gold, the Polaris Perpetual Calendar features a gradient dark blue lacquered dial with three sub-dials for the calendar functions and an additional sub-dial for the...
While most of the watches produced by Montblanc fall into the accessible luxury category, there’s one line that talks explicitly to us here, at MONOCHROME, and these are the Minerva-branded models. Often powered by historical hand-wound chronograph movements finished to high-end standards, they combine fine watchmaking with a desirable vintage 1920s and 1930s look – a combination that ...
The Pasha de Cartier collection was launched in 1985 following a design by Gerald Genta that captured the hedonistic rush of the 1980s. The exotic name of the collection was taken from the equally extravagant Pasha Thami El Glaoui of Marrakesh, a loyal customer of the brand and keen collector between 1920-1950. Responding to Cartier’s penchant for unusual shapes, the Pasha was conceived arou...
In 2019, Chopard entered the crowded field of integrated sports watches with the Alpine Eagle. The Alpine Eagle drew inspiration from the St. Moritz of 1980, Chopard's first integrated bracelet watch. The time-and-date Alpine Eagle was followed up with the sporty Alpine Eagle XL Chrono in 2020 and the limited-edition high-frequency Alpine Eagle Cadence 8HF in 2021. The collection now welcomes the ...
One of the new models launched during Watches & Wonders Geneva 2022 is a watch that is a true blend of emblematic features. Not only is it one of the most iconic models in the history of TAG Heuer, with a connection to motorsports and one of the most legendary cars ever, but its colour scheme will immediately talk to all petrolheads. Today, TAG Heuer brings back the Monaco in Gulf livery. And ...
With a history spanning over 80 years (and the famous Cottier watches), Worldtimers?are among?Patek Philippe's most popular complications. Patek was the brand to bring back this type of watches in 2000 with the launch of the 5110. The 5110 was replaced in 2006 by the 5130, itself replaced by the 5230 in 2016. On the occasion of Watches and Wonders 2022, the travel watch collection welcomes three n...
Jaeger-LeCoultre has long invested in highly complicated celestial complications. Over the years, we’ve seen many extremely appealing, complex and rather artistic expressions of watches displaying sideral time or star maps. Today, as part of the collection presented for Watches & Wonders Geneva 2022, the brand reinterprets one of its most fascinating movements, the Calibre 945, a minute ...
Dive watches don’t really come to mind when thinking about Montblanc, but the brand has a trio of new divers with a classic overall design. Bright, modern dials in blue and green keep things fresh and eye-catching, while a black dial offers a more traditional aesthetic (not featured in this article). Inspiration came from the freezing glacial lakes of the Mont-Blanc Massif, and textures from...
Oris has a long history in the field of pilot’s watches, starting with the Oris Big Crown, introduced in 1938. Even today, Oris produces classically styled pilot’s watches based on the original Big Crown, and more modern interpretations in the Big Crown ProPilot collection. We’ve seen a myriad of these robust, highly legible watches introduced in the ProPilot line, including the ...
On the occasion of Watches & Wonders 2022, Panerai introduces a new case size to its Submersible collection. As its name suggests, the Submersible QuarantaQuattro will now be available in a 44mm diameter that joins the existing 47mm and 42mm sizes. The new Submersible model retains all the characteristics of the collection, which is based on the emblematic Luminor case with its distinctive sha...
The rebirth of the Overseas' emblematic ancestor, the 1970s reference 222, will probably be the centre of attention for Vacheron Constantin during Watches & Wonders. Still, a new skeletonized tourbillon joins the Overseas collection and it really deserves a closer look. Presented in titanium and in pink gold, the new Vacheron Constantin Overseas Tourbillon Skeleton houses the calibre 2160, bea...
The minute repeater, often regarded as one of the most challenging complications to master, returns to A. Lange & Sohne. Unlike earlier models, such as the uber-complex 2013 Grand Complication or the Zeitwerk Minute Repeater that combine chiming mechanisms with other complications, the Richard Lange Minute Repeater goes solo. Shining a light on a new and improved chiming mechanism, the austere...
The announcement in late 2019 of the A. Lange & Sohne Odysseus somehow came as a surprise. First, it was the German brand’s first-ever sports watch, while the competition was already well active in this field. Second, it was a rather unexpected watch, as many hope for a watch like the competition, but it wasn’t… In short, it is the A. Lange & Sohne you can wear on a daily...
Let’s go straight to the point and not turn around the topic; in 2022, as part of the collection presented at Watches and Wonders Geneva,?Vacheron Constantin is reissuing its emblematic luxury sports watch launched in 1977 for the 222nd anniversary of the brand; the 222. The third member of the iconic Holy Trinity of luxury sports watches (next to the Royal Oak and the Nautilus, all three sh...
The Black Bay has been an immense success for Tudor, with countless iterations since it was first launched in 2012. What started as a handsome retro-diver morphed into much, much more. We now have multiple complications, Master Chronometer certification and a range of different materials to choose from. Tudor now moves the Black Bay more in the direction of a professional tool watch with its new B...
Cartier has always had a knack for creating evocative, expressive watches riddled with innovation. Its portfolio is filled with fascinating pieces like the Tank Asymetrique, Crash Skeleton, Cloche de Cartier and Rotonde de Cartier. Throughout the years Cartier manages to walk the fine line between refined elegance, traditional craftsmanship and an unbridled push for creativity and modernity. Perha...