The Collector's Series - Charles and his fascinating Gronefeld Parallax Tourbillon... In Titanium - Monochrome-Watches
Earlier this week I had the pleasure of sitting down with?distinguished?collector and?contributor to the Deployant Blog,?Charles Sutanto.?As an engineer, Charles tells me it was really a?fascination?with mechanics that drew him to watches. ?His horological journey started approximately 15 years ago with the purchase of Jaeger LeCoultre Master?Memovox. In his early days of collecting he?found himself appreciating?creations?from the likes?of both?Audemars Piguet and Panerai. It is fair to say that as time went on, during?2007 and the Tempus, Charles went through somewhat of a transition in his collecting focus. This was the period in which he was introduced to the world of independents and haute haute horology. Voutilainen, De Bethune and other independents became the core of Charles' focus. With this in mind, I?thoroughly?enjoyed discussing a watch you rarely see in the wild…a Gronefeld Parallax Tourbillon (in titanium).When did you first get into watches?I guess what ignite my in

The Collector's Series: Up Close and Personal with the URWERK UR-103
Readers of The Collector's Series and the Collector's Corner know that I sometimes contribute to the column - writing articles for the series is just one more way for me to get excited about vintage watches. I read a little about a specific watch, go deeper down the rabbit hole, and before I know it, I'm looking for listings on Chrono24. Sometimes, I write weird, off-kilter posts like that time in October 2022 when I visited Ond?ej Berkus' atelier (and also a couple of weeks ago) and spent the day talking about watches and life with him. For this artistic freedom, I thank the team at MONOCHROME! This piece falls in that same vein. Call it my way of becoming better acquainted with a piece I own; call it the ramblings of someone who has now well and truly lost all his marbles. In any case, I hope you enjoy the ride. Because the story of this Urwerk UR-103 is quite a complex one.Editor’s Note: @aaaaaaaaaarian should be credited for some of the photos found in this article (images wi

Hands-On Grand Seiko Heritage Shunbun Spring Drive Pink Dial SBGA413
The highlight of 2021 for Grand Seiko has been, without a doubt, the White Birch Hi-Beat SLGH005, a watch that came on the market with a stunning silvery-white textured dial, a relatively new case design (sharper and slimmer) and an impressive movement with multiple mechanical innovations, including the Dual Impulse escapement. For a couple of years now, Grand Seiko is definitely hot and its watches are becoming highly sought-after. Now that the year 2021 has ended, it seems that another watch is slowly taking the White Birch’s place on the throne, a watch that isn’t new as it came on the market in June 2019… But for the US only. We’re talking about the Grand Seiko “Shunbun” SBGA413 and its surprising pink dial. And since it will soon be available worldwide, alongside 3 other Season editions, it might well be on its way to becoming the new hottest GS on the market.?The trend for coloured dials…For long, luxury watches have mostly been available

Buying Guide: Seven Appealing Watches, Each With a Different Winding System
When it comes to mechanical watchmaking, it’s common practice to split it down to the middle and group together manual winding watches on one end, and automatic ones on the other. But, as we will showcase in this Buying Guide, there’s a whole range of systems developed to provide energy to a watch. Sure, manual winding is the most historic way to do things, but over time some pretty interesting solutions have been introduced. So with that in mind, the Buying Guide goes technical again and looks at several different ways to wind your watch!Manual winding – grand seiko elegance sbgw301Manual wound watches are very common, but we have noticed that it’s becoming more of a “bragging right” for brands. One of the finest examples in recent months comes from Grand Seiko which is known as the Elegance Hand-Wound SBGW301. This dashing 37mm wide steel dress watch houses a manual wound movement, where rotating the crown transfers energy through the keyless works

TAG Heuer Carrera Porsche Chronograph - Review, Specs & Price
The alliance between TAG Heuer and Porsche is the culmination of a fascinating and entwined history marked by an obsession with speed and motorsports. Envisioned as a collaboration ranging from competition to product development, the partnership between the two powerhouses is celebrated with a 44mm TAG Heuer Carrera Porsche Chronograph. For many, this partnership is a match made in heaven. Marrying the Swiss watchmaking brand with the strongest ties to motorsports to the legendary German sports car brand makes a lot of sense, especially since both brands happen to have products with the name Carrera. The name Carrera for watchmaking fans is the soul of TAG Heuer incarnated by Jack Heuer's 1963 chronograph, at Porsche, the name Carrera is synonymous with the carmaker's most powerful engines. Let's take a closer look at the remarkable histories of both brands and how an open-road race in Mexico inspired their most emblematic products.Obsessed with speedBorn just 35 years apart, I very mu