SIHH 2015 - Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Diver ref. 15710 - hands-on with live photos, specs & price - Monochrome-Watches
The Royal Oak, Audemars Piguet’s best seller, is used (and abused for some watch lovers) for?many editions, going from the classical and faithful Ultra-Thin 15202ST, to bulky chronographs or a sumptuous Grande Complication. It’s even the base used by AP for their R&D watches, as the Acoustic Research Concept proves it. We told you: use and abuse. It is thus totally understandable that the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak comes also in a diving edition. For this 2015 edition of the SIHH, the brand updated it with new features and colors. Here is the?Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Diver ref. 15710.Already introduced in several materials – white ceramic, forged carbon?or?stainless steel – the?Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Diver is very well known from the AP collectors. As the base recipe was?not that bad, AP chose to only?update one of its best-seller, just like they did in 2014 with the Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph. Using?the touch, instead of completel

Collector's Series - Fran?ois-Xavier Overstake's URWERK UR103.08 TiAlN
Today I’m talking with long-time friend Fran?ois-Xavier Overstake, aka @equationdutemps. This is not just his Instagram handle, but also the name of his blog about watches, which is probably one of the most important French publications on watches. Besides running his own blog, Francois-Xavier is a moderator on Watchprosite, a large watch forum. At 51 he has a day time job in the compliance department of a big insurance company and his leasure time is devoted to the beauty of mechanical timepieces. We’re talking about his stunning URWERK UR103.08 TiAlN.Frank Geelen, MONOCHROME – Do you remember when you first laid eyes on Urwerk as a brand?Fran?ois-Xavier Overstake – Urwerk is a recent brand compared to long-established companies; it was founded in 1997. But at the same time, it has also been a long time player in the independent watchmaking segment. Actually, thanks to its style and its focus on a specific time display (wandering hours), Urwerk managed to build

The Omega Seamaster Automatic 120m Chronograph (Ref.176.004) a.k.a. the Big Blue - Monochrome Watches
In this article we will examine an instrument that is so important that the life of its operator depends on it. The operator in question is a diver, submerging in a hostile environment either to make a living, or to hunt fish. No, it is not a big dive computer with a huge lcd screen that performs countless calculations per milisecond based on complex algorithms. This is Monochrome, so we are going to investigate a very unique instrument which is strictly mechanical: a watch. A diver’s chronograph watch to be more precise – the Omega Seamaster Automatic 120m Chronograph a.k.a. Big Blue.History of the Diving WatchThe history of the diving watch is intimately coupled, right from the start, with the human attempts to master and understand life underwater. Either in war or for recreational diving, whether in spearfishing or servicing oil rigs in the North Sea, the diving watch has been a timekeeping apparatus of utmost importance to the life of the diver in question. The first e

HYT H1 Red2 - Full REVIEW (live photos, specs, price) - Monochrome-Watches
We, at Monochrome-Watches, love independent watchmaking, very unusual displays and audacity of creation. HYT Watches had always been on our radar because it brings everything a young and ‘unchained’ Manufacture should: innovation, boldness, no compromise, unconventionality and that little slice?of craziness that we love. Until recently our experience with the brands and their timepieces were based on?(too) fast hands-on reviews during?exhibitions such as Baselworld?and the likes. It is now time to feel the experience of having an HYT H1 Red2 strapped on the wrist on a daily basis.What is HYT Watches?Although the introduction of the HYT H1 is quite recent (during Baselworld 2012), the idea of?a “water watch” was on Lucien Vouillamoz’ mind since 2002. After a few attempts and more researches, the idea had proved to be utopia, because of?a missing technology. A?few years after,?Lucien Vouillamoz, a former?nuclear engineer with a degree in thermodynamics, deci

We found the original of Vacheron Constantin's new Historique American 1921 Boutique New York - Monochrome Watches
Vacheron Constantin releases three special edition to celebrate their first boutique in the US. One the three is a New York Limited Edition of the Historiques American 1921… and we found the original version of this gorgeous re-edition!Earlier Vacheron Constantin already launched the Overseas Perpetual Calendar Chronograph, exclusively for boutiques. Yesterday we received news they launch three limited editions, exclusively for the new Vacheron Constantin Boutique in New York, located on the corner of Madison and 64th Street.?The Historiques American 1921 Boutique New York model is limited to… you already guesed it, 64 pieces. Ad - Scroll to continue with article We already wrote extensively about the first re-issue of the Historique American 1921 that was released in 2008?and one of the original 12 pieces of the Historique American 1921? that one of