Hamilton Chrono-Matic 50 Auto Chrono - Introducing, Specs & Price
It seems that Hamilton is on fire, with multiple well-received, vintage-inspired releases, such as the Khaki Pilot Pioneer, the Khaki Field Mechanical or the Intra-Matic. As we’re still in 2019 and still celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Chrono-Matic/Calibre 11 movement, the brand introduces another watch modelled on a glorious watch – and this time, it won’t be for the faint-hearted. Meet the new Hamilton Chrono-Matic 50 Auto Chrono “Count-down”.A reissue of the Count-down GMT Chrono-MaticAfter reissuing the Hacked, the H-10 and the Chrono-Matic, ex-American, now Swiss brand Hamilton looks at another of its glorious models, the base for today’s revival watch: the Chronograph-E or Count-down GMT Chrono-Matic. Together with Heuer, Buren and Breitling, helped by Dubois-Depraz, Hamilton was one of the first manufacturers to present an automatic chronograph, a movement named Chrono-Matic or Calibre 11 depending on the brand. This movement is charac

In-Depth - The Merging of Pocket Watches and Wristwatches
Upgrading expensive mechanical devices is a centuries-old concept that prevents premature obsolescence as times change. In the American Wild West of the 19th century, black powder revolvers were commonly converted to shoot modern cartridges, forgoing the need to replace a vital necessity. Cameras are another example, such as early 20th-century screw-mount Leica rangefinders. The original fixed-lens Model A was often converted to interchangeable lens models, such as the I C/O Standard Mount or model IIIa. Products like these were designed to last decades or even a century, so modification at a fraction of the cost of replacement made perfect sense, not to mention the preservation of coveted possessions. The same applies to timepieces and pocket watches that have merged with wristwatches in many interesting ways. Following our previous post, answering the difficult question “Is there still a place for pocket watches in the 21st century?“, we now look at the more modern side o

Christmas Buying Guide - 5 Best Dive / Sports Watches of 2016
Today, our readers on the other side of the Atlantic are celebrating Thanksgiving, and while this day doesn’t make a lot of sense for those in Old Europe or Asia, it however opens the?festive?season. And who says festive season says Christmas and our usual buying guides – and also an overview of the best watches we’ve seen this year. After long debates and fights at?the Monochrome-Watches headquarters (not literally, no worries), here are the?5 Best Dive / Sports Watches of 2016, for all budgets and tastes.Seiko PADI Turtle (or?Prospex SRPA21)Why this?Seiko Prospex SRPA21 PADI Turtle? Well, let me be somehow materialistic here and allow me to talk straight about money, but what you’re looking at is a watch priced at 429 Euros / US$525. Yes, that’s cheap – and I don’t mean affordable or accessible, it is really cheap… that’s the average price of fashion-designer-China-produced-fake-Swiss-made watch you can find in the street. Money i

Vacheron Constantin Overseas Perpetual Calendar Chronograph - Monochrome Watches
Vacheron Constantin released an Overseas Perpetual Calendar Chronograph. This is the first high complications' in the Overseas collection and immediately a superb looking one. Sporty, complicated and sophisticated. The Overseas is Vacheron Constantin's sporty' collection and up till now existed of three versions, the normal' Overseas (time and date), the Overseas Dual Time (well, the name explains the complication) and the Overseas Chronograph featuring a big date. This new Vacheron Constantin combines two complications, a perpetual calendar and a chronograph. Gosh I really like it! Ad - Scroll to continue with article The Overseas Perpetual Calendar Chronograph is exclusively for the Vacheron Constantin boutiques and comes in a steel case with a titanium bezel. Earlier I blogged about the Overseas Steel and Titanium collection.?The Steel and Titanium models wer

Live from SIHH 2017 - The new Girard-Perregaux Laureato collection ticks all boxes - Monochrome Watches
On the opening day of SIHH, last Monday, we had a spectacular start to the show with Vacheron Constantin, where we got to see and enjoy the impressive Atelier Cabinotier Celestia. Later that morning we got a nice surprise at Girard-Perregaux. Last year the brand, which is by the way one of the oldest manufactures in the watch world, launched a renewed Laureato limited edition. This year it further improved many small but very significant details on the watch and now I’m convinced that this is a serious competitor in the field of luxury sports watches, plus its price point is only half of its competitors. Sounds good, doesn’t it??And it is good. We here at Monochrome get to handle quite a few watches, and during fairs like the SIHH we’re in meetings, back to back, to see the brand’s new creations. In all honesty, I was not convinced by last year’s limited edition of the Laureato (or maybe I was hoping too much for something extraordinarily good), so when I