Czapek Antarctique, The Brands Luxury Sports Watch (Review, Price)
The luxury sports watch is one of the most successful categories, dominated by cult classics such as the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak and the Patek Philippe Nautilus – two timepieces that defined the genre back in the 1970s. Smaller independent watchmakers are now entering the category. Brands like Laurent Ferrier, Urban Jurgensen or H. Moser & Cie. have recently unveiled steel sports watches with an integrated bracelet. It is now Czapek's turn to present its take on the genre with the Antarctique.Czapek is an independent watchmaker with an original business model. The brand was launched a few years ago, reviving the name of an illustrious Czech-born Geneva-based watchmaker. This renaissance was orchestrated through an equity crowdfunding campaign, a unique case in high-end watchmaking, allowing passionate watch lovers to be part of a brand, many of them active in supporting and advising the team. On the manufacturing side, Czapek operates as a horizontal manufacture creating a

Longines DolceVita Sector Dial - Monochrome Watches
In recent times Longines has been on a bit of a roll when it comes to rather cool yet affordable vintage-inspired watches. That's not a real surprise considering the extensive history of the brand. After all, it dates back to 1832 so there's plenty of historically relevant pieces to choose from. And even though the DolceVita has perhaps not been the most popular range in the Longines portfolio, adding a sector dial in the mix seriously ups the cool factor.So far this year we have seen a whole selection of attractive, retro-inspired watches by the winged-hourglass brand. There's several new Longines Legend Diver's available and of course new models in the Spirit collection. Another example is the very handsome Longines Heritage Classic in several color combinations. And of course, we have the Heritage Silver Arrow?and the surprisingly funky Avigation BigEye in titanium with a degrade blue dial. Ad - Scroll to continue with article

Chopard?L.U.C Quattro Spirit 25 Jumping Hour - Hands-On Review, Price
We, at MONOCHROME, see hundreds of watches a year, and I'm no exception to the rule. And of course, we all have our preferences regarding which watches we believe are special. Case in point today, as I had been eager to be able to get my hands on this new L.U.C watch since it was announced during the 2021 edition of Watches & Wonders. The Chopard L.U.C Quattro Spirit 25 was well worth the wait. Standing out with clear graphics and elegant minimalism, the first jumping hour watch within the Chopard collections indicates the hours in digital format via an aperture in its pure white Grand Feu enamel dial. Let's take a closer look.Alongside its impeccable watchmaking credentials, the singularity of the L.U.C collection lies in a distinctive perception of elegance. Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, Co-President of Chopard, has always given the watches of this collection an understated, elegant twist. Released on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Chopard Manufacture, the beautifully ex

SwatchPAY! Will Make Watches Useful Again - Opinion
Here, at MONOCHROME, we adore watches. Mechanical, high-end watches, hand-finished. We're not really the right platform to write about smartwatches, or even quartz watches – this is our editorial choice, and we'll stick to that. But last week, Swatch introduced SwatchPAY!, and that is a big innovation. I actually believe that this new introduction could, in fact, change how a new generation looks at watches. Do you agree?About two and a half years ago, I spoke to Peter Stas, CEO of Frederique Constant. They had just released their Horological Smartwatch and we talked about the usability of smartwatches. I argued that smartwatches needed more functionalities that would make everyday life easier. Like adding an NFC – or Near Field Communication – chip for contactless payments. This chip is about a square millimetre small and is also implemented in your bank card, allowing you to do contactless payments. Stas nodded, and had his answer ready, as he always has: “I k

The GREAT Britain Watch by Roger Smith - Monochrome Watches
The GREAT Britain campaign is the most ambitious international marketing campaign for the United Kingdom ever. GREAT promotes the very best that Britain has to offer in order to encourage the world to visit, invest, do business with and study in the British Isles. Roger Smith, one of the world’s best watchmakers and a Brit, should of course be involved to promote his country. So he created the GREAT Britain watch.Unfortunately, the GREAT Britain watch is a unique piece. Understandable as well, but a shame for all those UK fans that want to own such a rare piece of horological history. Creating and building – entirely by hand of course – costs around 10 months of very skilled labor, which adds up to a price of ¡ê180,000 GBP (equivalent to €220.000 Euro or $300,000 USD). Ad - Scroll to continue with article If you look at the watch from the front,