Introducing Pascal Brandt, Denis Peshkov and the result of our Habring2 x MONO Charity Auction - Monochrome Watches
Last month Phillips auctioned a unique Doppelchrono a.k.a. Split Second Chronograph a.k.a. Rattrapante. It was the watch that Maria and Richard Habring2 and we, at MONOCHROME, together donated to the Save the Children charity organisation. And there’s more news, as we have two new team members whom I want to introduce!?But first, that stunning and unique Salmon Doppel 38 Habring2 x MONOCHROME that was auctioned last month. The result is that I wired 25,000 CHF (the entire proceeds of this auction) to the Save the Children organisation’s bank account yesterday. Phillips, in association with Bacs & Russo, generously offered to auction this ‘lot’ free of charge, so the full proceeds could be donated to Save the Children. Of course, I’d love to thank Maria and Richard Habring for their incredibly generous donation and Phillips for auctioning our watch free of charge. But most importantly, I’d love to thank the person who bought this lovely salmon-dia

Five independent watchmakers that got rid of the conventional crown
The humble little crown. At first glance, it doesn't look all that impressive. Each watch has one, right? And they all pretty much do the same: wind and set a watch. Sure, it can look a little different from brand to brand and watch to watch but today's crown system remains fairly unchanged for almost 180 years. There are watchmakers, however, who seek to get rid of this protruding little knob that digs into your wrist every now and then, possibly causing you discomfort. With that in mind, we take a look at five watches that offer a different solution to the age-old conventional crown.The history of the crown on today's watches can be traced back to John Arnold, who first developed a crown for winding and setting a watch. Over time this was perfected by illustrious watchmakers like Abraham-Louis Breguet and Louis Audemars. In 1844, Adrien Philippe (one half of Patek Philippe), invented and patented the keyless winding system as we pretty much know it today. This would replace most of a

Co-President of Chopard Karl-Friedrich Scheufele Explains the New L.U.C Quattro - Monochrome Watches
A few days ago, just prior to Baselworld 2018, we introduced to you Chopard’s new take on one of its icons, the L.U.C Quattro, a complex watch with no less than 4 barrels and a 9-day power reserve. Yet, as powerful as this watch is, it remains a true statement of elegance and distinction – as a Chopard should be. To understand more about what this watch really represents for the brand, we asked?Co-President of Chopard Karl-Friedrich Scheufele to explain its history and the reasons behind the creation of this 2018 edition – check the video on top of this article.The L.U.C Quattro is one of the major watches in the L.U.C collection. But not the only one. Indeed, when the Scheufele family decided to relaunch the L.U.C Collection in 1996, they made it with not only a great looking watch but also with a superb movement, the calibre?1.96. This movement featured a bidirectional 22ct-gold micro-rotor and twin stacked barrels giving 65 hours of power reserve, but also a very p

Opinion - A Big Pilot's Fan Take on The New IWC Big Pilots Watch 43
The Big Pilot… If you think about an emblematic, unmistakable watch by IWC, you hardly can do better than this. It is, at least to me, a watch that has defined the brand’s collection for years, a proper statement watch that is, and remains after close to 20 years of production, one of the best known modern watches. Having said that, you’ve probably guessed that I love the IWC Big Pilot… I’m in the fortunate position that I can also say that I own a Big Pilot ref. 5002 (the first-generation model). Thus, when IWC introduced earlier this year the new, smaller, downsized, ‘streamlined’ Big Pilot's Watch 43, it came to me as serious news. There was more than just a new watch to it, but also something to do with the actual name of the watch. Now that I had the chance to have one of these 43mm watches in the office for a review, it’s time to tell you what I, as a Big Pilot fan, think about this new watch.?The history of the IWC Big PilotBefore

Weekly Watch Photo - Vacheron Constantin Wristshots from the Hour Lounge - Monochrome Watches
Another week, another Weekly Watch Photo here at Monochrome. A while ago Alex Ghotbi, community manager of Vacheron Constantin’s “in-house” forum, started the Friday “what’s on your wrist” post by showing the Overseas Chronograph with blue dial (click here for our hands-on report) on his wrist. I liked that photo a lot and yesterday I browsed through the Hour Lounge to search for more beautiful wrist shots of the Overseas Chrono and ended up with some entirely different photos.While I was actually searching for photos of the sporty and casual Overseas, I saw a photo of the Historique American 1921 and I like this model so much. The search went on, but I noticed that my focus was changed and thus I selected other photos, not of the sports watch that the Overseas is, but photos of stylish, refined and even elegant dress watches. No wonder, actually, because that’s exactly what we can expect from Vacheron Constantin. Together with Patek Philippe a