LVMH 2017 Annual Results - Double Digit Growth Watch and Jewelry Division
LVMH Mo?t Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the world's leading luxury group, recorded revenues of EUR 42.6 billion in 2017, an increase of 13% over the previous year. The group also shows a sustained growth in organic revenues, with a 12% increase.?The group profit is up 18%, at EUR 8,293 million. All business divisions recorded double-digit organic growth, with the exception of Wines and Spirits. For what is our main concern here, the watchmaking industry, LVMH (owner, among others, of TAG Heuer, Hublot, Zenith and Bulgari) reports an “Excellent year for Bvlgari and good progress at Hublot and TAG Heuer”.The revenues of the Watch and Jewelry Division increased by 10% in 2017 (+12% with comparable structure and exchange rates), from EUR?3,468 million to EUR 3,805 million. A progression of 9% has been recorded over the last quarter. Profitability is also up 12% over the year in this division. The Watch and Jewelry Division is composed of the following brands: TAG Heuer, Hublot, Zenit

Hands-On - Bulgari Octo Retro Maserati GranSport & GranLusso (Specs & Price)
This couldn’t really be more of an Italian affair… Since 2012, the two Italian brands Bulgari and Maserati have worked in partnership for the creation of dedicated watches, inspired by the world of luxury and sports cars. The first two editions, a complex Octo Quadri-Retro in 2012 and a bold?Octo Velocissimo?in 2014, were equipped with chronograph movements. However, for their latest joint creation, the new Bulgari Octo Retro Maserati, we’ll have something completely different in terms of display, but still with the same sports-car inspiration behind.Even if the two Italian brands Bulgari and Maserati have been in union since 2012, it couldn’t be considered a highly prolific partnership. Indeed, in 5 years, only 2 watches have been created. And in fact, knowing how this industry can “milk” some ideas to a point close to annoyance, it seems that having a few, yet well curated dedicated editions, is actually more relevant. In 2012, the first watch crea

Hands-on with the De Bethune DB28GS - De Bethune's Newest Sports Watch - Monochrome Watches
De Bethune is known for its groundbreaking technological innovations – the company holds a number of patents – and also for its quite remarkable design. Both the technical aspects, as wel as the aesthetics, can be seen as an eclectic mix of classic Haute Horlogerie and state-of-art futuristic mechanics. Style-wise they probably lean more towards classic and certainly cannot be called sporty. That is, until now. De Bethune now introduces the DB28GS, the sporty one of the collection.In the world of proper high-end watches, there are simply just a handful of sports watches. The vast majority of real high-end watches are either classic dress watches or feature one, two or more complications. And let us immediately make clear that a Panerai or IWC with an in-house movement is?certainly a beautiful watch, however in our book it’s no ‘haute de gamme’, as the French call it. So what De Bethune introduces here is in more than one way a rare timepiece. A true high-e

A Letter From The Editor - Monochrome Watches
It’s been a pleasure to see the number of readers increase every month and I always enjoy your emails, responses and reactions through all our social media channels. Thank you for that! Since Monochrome has started, back in 2006, it has been a thrill to see Monochrome grow to become one of the defining blogs (or online magazines) about watches. And as you know, we focus mainly on (ultra) Haute Horlogerie and Independent Watchmaking. My latest acquisition perfectly fits the bill. It is a vintage Patek Calatrava ref. 3484 that I bought it for a special occasion. Read on to find out what that special occasion was and to read more news about Monochrome.I have been looking to get a dot.com ever since the beginning, however the owner of monochrome.com didn’t want to relinquish that domain. So the search went on and in a few weeks we’ll be migrating monochrome-watches.com to monochrome-watches.com. And there will be more, like a new video page, a web shop, loads of reviews (

Weekly Watch Photo - Bremont North Sea Supermarine 500 - Monochrome Watches
Bremont has been launching several new limited editions lately, most of them haven’t been announced officially and will probably not be officially announced… except on the Bremont forum ALT1TUDE.?One of these watches is the North Sea SM500, a limited edition, which is by the way the first non-military special project from Bremont.?The North Sea SM500 is variation of the Bremont Supermarine 500 that we reviewed a while ago. A stunning dive watch with impressive specifications! Ad - Scroll to continue with article The North Sea SM500?is exclusively for pre-authorised North Sea Diver personnel only. So there’s no change for us mere mortals to get our hands on one and besides that the North Sea SM500 is sold out already. Maybe the only chance will be the second hand market. The Bremont forum ALT1TUDE has its own sales corner, which is actually quit