While today the world relies mostly on two measurement systems (metric and imperial), things haven’t been always that simple. Each country, each culture, sometimes even each corporation had its own units and ways to measure its commodities or production. And if you're into watchmaking, you might have spotted one of these old units when it comes to measuring a movement, without really knowing...
Seiko’s excellent reputation in the field of dive watches is unquestionable. We’re talking top-tier actor, member of a fine club of influencers that helped shaped what the modern dive watch is today. Yet, on the contrary to some Swiss competitors and their 1953 introductions, Seiko waited for a few more years before taking the plunge. In 1965, the Japanese manufacturer set the tone wit...
After a few months of intense work, discussions, tests and designs, we couldn’t be prouder to present the 2020 version of MONOCHROME. Refreshed, cleaned, more interactive and more dynamic, with new sections and improved navigation, this is the new face of your “Online Magazine Dedicated to Fine Watches”. But no worries, it is still MONOCHROME all the way!What’s new? First o...
When it comes to watches, we can sometimes be a bit posh at MONOCHROME – or, put more elegantly, we can be quite selective and have a soft spot for anything high-end. We love watchmaking in its purest form with complex mechanisms and Haute Horlogerie decoration. We can’t help it. But… We love watches in general and we also genuinely enjoy well-executed accessible watches. And in ...
For seasoned collectors and long-time watch enthusiasts, the name Dr Helmut Crott will certainly sound familiar. But this discreet gentleman is a far cry from your typical flamboyant CEO or industry insider. Understated, humble but extremely knowledgeable. The kind of man that you can learn a lot from; a man with more than half a decade of experience in the watchmaking field, as a collector, an au...
About a week ago, Audemars Piguet introduced a very surprising watch. Designed as the first watch in a new collection inspired by the brand’s rich past, the [Re]master01 watch is a remastering of a beautiful historic model. Based on a 1943 two-tone chronograph with Art Deco design, this rare and handsome watch had a hand-wound movement with “teardrop” lugs. Audemars Piguet’...
There's no denying the current situation and, as a consequence, its effects on the global economy. Certainly, this is nothing compared to health issues caused by Coronavirus, but still far from insignificant. Gross domestic product, employment (and therefore consumption) and financial markets are under severe strain. Key luxury markets around the world are affected, and so are watch brands –...
A new edition of the Monopusher Chronograph in stainless steel with a salmon dial joins Montblanc's highly successful Heritage family. Inspired by historical Minerva wristwatches from the 1940s and 1950s, the Heritage collection can boast true vintage credentials, not faux ones like so many watches spawned during the ongoing fever for retro. This latest combination of a steel case and a salmon dia...
A few days ago we gave a big shout-out to some of our friends who also run online watch magazines. However, the online world for watch shopping offers much more choice! Now that you’re (most likely) in confinement – hopefully well and healthy – you can still buy watches and have them delivered to your door. Besides the friends that we already mentioned in the previous article, it...
The appetite for vintage timepieces has grown at a rapid pace over the past few years. Collecting vintage watches can be a fantastic hobby but there are pitfalls to avoid. The pre-owned and vintage watch market is a jungle. The quality and authenticity of what you are buying are key. Many watches have endured quite some action over their lifetime and there are also many scams. The integrity of tim...
Since its very creation, Bell & Ross has focused on military forces and, as its preferred theme, pilots. From the earliest days, when the watches were manufactured by Sinn to the present collections, pilots have been the central focus of the brand’s core collection. But “pilot” is a wide definition. The needs of a jet fighter officer aren’t the same as an airline captai...
NOTSAG is a unique brand for many reasons. The name itself is an anagram of Gaston, the founder's oldest son with developmental challenges including mitochondrial disease, severe autism and a GABBR2 mutation. Most readers at MONOCHROME are familiar with Only Watch auction, a charity auction held every two years to support research for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. About 50 of the most prestigious w...
For those who are into watchmaking, the name Audemars Piguet might represent some of the finest watches, but also modern and bold designs. Whether it is the iconic Royal Oak, the robust Offshore or the recent Code 11.59, Audemars Piguet rarely looks to the past when it comes to its watches, or at least when to comes to the design of its watches. But this is about to change. Today Audemars Piguet l...
As we explained to you a week ago, weird times call for agility and confinement has forced us to change a bit the way we work and the content we’ll be covering in the coming weeks. Does that mean you won’t see great content on MONOCHROME? Certainly not. In fact, we currently have more time to focus on certain things we tended to forget, and this goes for “The Collector’s Se...
Team MONOCHROME is working from home. This is our regular work mode since we’re spread all over Europe (and one in the US), but the way we work has been heavily affected. The closure of manufactures means less access to new watches to photograph and review.? All my trips to watch events/launches to shoot new videos and all my scheduled meetings have been cancelled. As I said last week, we ha...
After Watches & Wonders (ex-SIHH) and Baselworld announced the cancellation of their 2020 editions amid fears of a possible COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic, a group of brands decided that they could react to this situation and offer, through agility and ingenuity, a different approach to the presentation of new watches. With these lost opportunities to meet retailers and the press, watch brands ...
It’s no secret that the current situation with COVID-19 has had dramatic effects on the consumption of luxury goods, including watches. Manufactures are closed ( , Patek, AP, TAG Heuer and many more have ceased operations for a couple of weeks), and even though shops might be opened in certain regions, the mood isn’t ripe for spending USD 10,000 on a luxury watch, simply because no one...
If chronographs are a hot complication today, chronographs in a vintage package are even hotter, and if they happen to be fitted with a classic Minerva movement, we're talking coveted collector's piece here. Despite the cancellation of all the major watch fairs, we were able to spend some time and take photographs of the latest Montblanc Heritage Manufacture Pulsograph model, a limited edition of ...
No need to remind you about the current situation and the gloomy atmosphere.? So how about cheering yourself up by treating yourself to a little something to fulfil your love for watches in these sad moments? And because you’re probably in the same confinement situation as we are (most of the MONO’ team is…), let’s do it online. Technology can be helpful and here are a sele...
The Calibre 11, or Chrono-Matic (depending on the brand using it) needs no introduction anymore. It is, with its two competitors, the Seiko 6139 and Zenith El Primero, amongst the most important movements ever created. Why? Because it was part of the earliest automatic chronograph movements launched in 1969 and celebrating its 50th-anniversary last year. Surprisingly, people often think about Heue...
The FHS, the Swiss Watch Federation, just released its export statistics for the month of February 2020, and, as you might expect, these are down. The value of exports contracted by 9.2% to CHF 1.6 billion. But, this does not even reflect the severe and jittery situation on the market provoked by the Coronavirus Pandemic. If exports were down 51% to China and down 42% to Hong Kong, shipments to th...
Hamilton is no stranger to the instrument watch. In fact, the brand owns multiple collections designed to remind its glorious past as one of the major providers of timepieces for military forces and watches for a specific purpose. This is true, for instance, with the military-inspired Khaki Field watches, a tribute to its?mid-20thcentury archives (the Hamilton Hacked). Hamilton is no stranger to t...
Minimalistic but detailed, designed with true ergonomics in mind, as precisely built as the cars that share their name with this watch… Porsche Design watches are unique, in the best sense of this word. But they aren’t just an exercise in style; what you get with Porsche Design watches goes well beyond just a pretty face. We’ve seen this in the past already and it is still presen...
As the trend for vintage-inspired watches consolidates, brands continue to dig into their archives to find inspiration and breathe new life into past models. Milus, a brand with over 100 years of history and recently revived has some rich background in field watches and divers’ instruments. Following the Snow Star, the brand also reissues one of its most famous models, the 1970s Super Compre...
The 1970s was a decade of revolutions. The world made huge strides creating some of the most impactful inventions coupled with striking designs. Well, if you are 1970s-ready and seeking a healthy dose of nostalgia, Hamilton celebrates the 50th anniversary of the world's first digital watch, the Pulsar. And it does it by re-editing this model in a very faithful way. Meet the brand new Hamilton PSR ...
Back in January 2020, as the first watch presented by the brand in this new year, TAG Heuer introduced a pretty big watch… Really, the kind of watch that, at first sight, has all the elements to become a classic. Certainly, this wasn’t the most adventurous of TAG’s creation, but let’s be real, it simply looked good – at least, in the press photos. To make up our mind,...
America’s answer to restrictions on Swiss watch imports… This could be the best way to explain what the Wakmann Watch Company really is. The relationship between the large US consumer market and other countries wishing to export products is a complicated one. Wanting to be as modern a society as possible, allowing your citizens a wide choice of products while making sure to protect the...
Instead of unveiling a brand new 2020 model hot off the production line, today is all about indulgence as we revisit a timeless beauty: the Breguet Classique Hand-Wound 5287 chronograph. Although it was originally introduced in 2013 and still available in some boutiques, it is no longer being produced. This probably means that the Classique 5287 will join the circuit of coveted collector's pieces ...
Today, TAG Heuer launches a new Connected watch and we sat down with Frederic Arnault, TAG Heuer's Chief Strategy and Digital Officer, to talk about the new Connected Watch. How does it fit in the entire TAG Heuer line-up and what are the possibilities? One thing seems clear, TAG Heuer is able to use its 160 years of watchmaking experience to create a well-designed, ergonomic and good-looking wris...
It is often said that in watchmaking the entry-level complication – understand here any additional indication that isn’t the hours, minutes or seconds – is the date function. While this is true for most of the watches, when it comes to a masterpiece of engineering such as the A. Lange & Sohne Zeitwerk, adding a date was a veritable technical challenge. Because of the ultra-co...