Watches NEWS
Interview - Jean-Claude Biver Reveals His Plans For JC Biver Watches
The news broke out about a month ago as he was speaking on RTS. Jean-Claude Biver is about to launch his small family brand, for passionate people, and very exclusive watches. The 72 years old man stepped down from the head of the LVMH Watch Division in September 2018. Millions of people look forward to retirement, not Jean-Claude Biver. There is no finish line for people like JCB One of the most prominent figures in the watch industry, his 50-year career brought him from Audemars Piguet to Blancpain, Omega, Hublot and more recently to TAG Heuer and LVMH. The Geneva watch week was the perfect opportunity to meet him and his son Pierre to discuss their plans regarding JC Biver Watches.?Xavier Markl, MONOCHROME Watches – Why are you launching JC Biver Watches, a new high-end independent watchmaking brand?Jean-Claude Biver – Like all projects there is not one single reason why. The first one is that you cannot retire from a passion. To retire at 70 is not possible for me. This
First Look: The New Seiko Prospex Speedtimer Chronograph SRQ051 and SRQ053
Seiko’s involvement in chronographs is far more prominent than many would imagine. While the brand’s significance regarding dive watches is indisputable, Seiko has also left its mark on stopwatches. Remember that in 1969, it was part of a trio that presented the first automatic chronograph movements with a watch named the Speedtimer. Last year, the Japanese watchmaker presented a tribute to this important watch with the Prospex Speedtimer Chronograph SRQ047 and SRQ049. This year, the collection extends with two new models – references SRQ051 and SRQ053 – bearing new dial colours.While we’ve already explored the history of Seiko’s role in chronograph watches when we introduced last year’s Speedtimer models, let’s just recap the most important facts. Seiko released its first chronograph watch and movement in 1964, which coincidentally was the first of its kind for a Japanese manufacturer: the Seiko Crown Chronograph and its calibre 5179. In
Dan Spitz, From Heavy Metal To High-End Watchmaking
I have always been fascinated by people capable of reinventing themselves. Talent can morph into the most unexpected directions. If you are into music, you are probably familiar with Anthrax, one of the most successful groups of the heavy metal scene. The man who has been their lead guitarist for years, Dan Spitz, has decided to undergo a reconversion and He's now a watchmaker! Making the transition from high-voltage rock to indie watchmaking neither happens overnight nor by chance.Spitz originally left Anthrax to become a watchmaker in the 1990s, joining the Bulova school of watchmaking in New York (a 4-year degree) and then the prestigious Wostep in Neuchatel, Switzerland. But he actually started taking apart movements when he was eight years old in his grandfather’s watch and jewellery store. He likes to describe himself as a third-generation watchmaker Spitz is also someone who pushes the limits in everything he undertakes. For what is our main concern, it translated into hig
Introducing: The Patek Philippe Calatrava Pilot Travel Time 5524G is Back with an Ivory Lacquered Dial
Vintage pilot watches have soared in popularity with remakes of legitimate aviator watches by historical brands and look-alikes by countless others. However, when Patek Philippe introduced its Calatrava Pilot Travel Time Ref. 5524 during Baselworld 2015, it caught everybody off guard. Presented in white gold with a blue dial and pushers on the left, the Travel Time, as its name indicates, is fitted with a practical tool for pilots in the form of a sophisticated dual time complication. Discontinued earlier this year, Patek returns with another white gold version with identical specs but flaunting a new ivory lacquered dial, under the reference 5524G-010.The turbulence surrounding the release of Ref. 5524 in 2015 was partly because not many people were aware of Patek’s chapter in pilot watches. While the brand attributes some of the design features of the 5524 to its 1936 hour angle or siderometer watches, these historical models never led to a pilot’s watch collection per se
Introducing: Piaget Polo Emperador Skeleton Tourbillon High Jewellery
Piaget is synonymous with ultra-thin movements and high jewellery watches, areas of expertise the brand started to cultivate in the late 1950s. Not many watch brands excel in both disciplines, and alongside its state-of-the-art watch manufacture outside Geneva and its historic site in La C?te-aux-Fees, Piaget owns the largest jewellery workshop in Geneva. The latest Piaget Polo Emperador is a stunning fusion of Haute Horlogerie and Haute Joaillerie, marrying an ultra-thin gem-set automatic skeletonised flying tourbillon movement to a white gold case dripping with bright green emeralds and fiery white diamonds.Piaget's dominion of ultra-thin movements was consolidated in its La C?te-aux-Fees manufacture with the introduction of the famous manual-winding calibre 9P in 1957, followed by the world's (at that time) thinnest automatic movement, the calibre 12P of 1960. The latest gem-set Polo Emperador perpetuates the brand's tradition of ultra-thin movements and is the extravagant sibling o