Squale Squalematic 60 Atmos - Dive Watch Review (Specs & Price)
The vintage-inspired trend that overshadows the watch market these past few years is still evolving, with most companies more or less digging in their archives, trying to find vintage designs, to bring them back in life. Although this may show the difficult position of the Swiss watch industry as a whole, it can be argued that it has some benefits. Perhaps the most important one is that the market is full of great new watches. One of these is arguably the new Squale Squalematic 60 Atmos, a vintage-inspired dive watch that comes from a company with great pedigree. So we placed it under the Monochrome microscope and here are our thoughts.History and Origins of SqualeOutsourcing was a popular practice among Swiss watch brands in the past. The big names in the industry used an extensive network of small companies that were specialized in manufacturing specific components. Movements came from one place, dials and hands from another, cases and crystals from again another. For instance, most

Hands-On - 2021 Longines Silver Arrow (Specs & Price)
This isn’t the first time we’ve said it, but Longines is one of the brands that best knows how to play with its heritage and revive some of its most glorious models. Think about the superb Tuxedo Chronograph, the all-time classic Legend Diver or the oddly cool Avigation A7. And it goes on… This year, Longines is adding several new models to its Heritage collection, such as the titanium BigEye, and most importantly, this new edition of the Silver Arrow. It isn’t the first time that this watch is brought back to life, but it seems that this year’s version has plenty of arguments to become a great watch. Something we’ll verify now with a hands-on session.BackgroundBefore taking a look at the new Silver Arrow, we need to look at the real deal, the original model. The story of the Longines Silver Arrow goes back to 1955 when the brand held an in-house contest to find the name for a new timepiece with an avant-garde design. One name emerged from the 450 pr

Only Watch 2017 - Patek Philippe 5208T (Unique Titanium, Minute Repeater, Chronograph, Perpetual Calendar Watch)
Only Watch 2017, the biennial charity auction, just unveiled its highly?special?pieces… and because we know that many of you will ask for it, here is the big one, the unique, titanium Patek Philippe 5208T, made for the 7th edition of Only Watch.Following on from?the Steel?5016A-010 Minute Repeater Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar made for the 2015 edition, a watch which?became for a year, the highest priced wristwatch of all time (sold for CHF 7.3M, before Phillips Auctions and Aurel Bacs sold the steel Patek 1518 for over CHF 11M), Patek had no option but?to return to this year’s event?with heavy artillery… and they did. Ad - Scroll to continue with article For Only Watch 2017, the Geneva-based brand comes with no less than a real Grand Complication (the combination of a calendar, a timing device and a chiming mechanism), principally?the?Patek Ph

Oris Updates the Classic Date Collection With Slimmer, More Elegant Design - Monochrome Watches
Watches are not always about fancy design, complex movements or stacking dozens of features in a single piece of wrist-accessory. Don’t forget that most customers are looking for THE watch that will be strapped to their wrist on a daily basis, and not the tenth watch in their collection. Sometimes, it’s also good to look at more essential pieces, with a classical, slightly casual look – and yet, with the right dosage of mechanical pleasure. This is exactly what the?Oris Classic Date Collection offers, and this year, this model sees an interesting evolution.What are the essential indications in a daily watch? Time of course, with hours, minutes and seconds (because on an automatic watch, it’s cool to see the second hand sweeping). A date maybe, as when wearing a watch in a business environment, it is a practical feature (maybe not on a vintage-oriented dive watch, but on such a piece which is a daily beater, it makes good sense). What else do you need? In terms o

Dont Keep a Dragon Waiting - Hands on with the Panerai Luminor Sealand Dragon Watch - Monochrome Watches
When I got the call that my local Panerai boutique had a new, ultra-limited edition Year of the Dragon watch for me to inspect I made my way as fast as I could! These dragons will not wait around for long!Panerai and China have a mutual admiration for each other; Chinese consumers love their Panerai watches for their sturdy, over-sized good looks, and their strong statement of individuality! Conversely, Panerai loves their Chinese buyers, and they honor them with China only models.Panerai further honors the Chinese market with yearly pieces commemorating the 12 different zodiac signs of the Chinese astrological calendar: this year's piece is model PAM840 aka the Dragon Watch. The PAM840 is meant to embody the powerful and mercurial emperor of the Chinese zodiac through the mystical and mythical dragon – and his or her equally mythical watch. To keep the mystique, Panerai have limited production to 50 units total. Ad - Scroll to continue with article