Bvlgari Octo Roma Monete Skeleton Tourbillon, with 2000-Year-Old Coin (Live Pics) - Monochrome Watches
Last week, during an event on the island of Capri, watchmaker/jeweller Bvlgari unveiled a collection of impressive high-end jewellery watches, including an extraordinary and unique Serpenti Romani secret cuff watch. ?A glamorous exhibition of the brand’s incredible designs and savoir-faire, there were some other watches that caught MONOCHROME’s eye. As part of the “High-End Watches” sub-collection was a pair of Monete men’s watches.?Coin watches…The watch industry is, as you know, quite conservative and traditional. But it also has its quirks, its eccentricities that many don’t understand but which some collectors love. Among them are erotic watches and automata (or both combined in one). And then there are “coin watches”, a niche species that appeals to a niche market, once a speciality of Corum. Bvlgari is no newcomer to “coin” jewellery and Nicola Bvlgari, great-grandson of founder Sotirios Bvlgari, began mounting anc

Hands-On - The New Omega De Ville Tresor Power Reserve (Price)
Omega unveils the first in a line of new De Ville Tresor men's watches for 2021. Previously available in three-hand & date configurations, the new 18k yellow gold Tresor model features a power reserve indicator at noon counterbalanced by a small seconds sub-dial at 6 o'clock. Following in the footsteps of its 1949 ancestor, the guiding light behind the Tresor is the combination of understated elegance with a peerless movement. The latest De Ville Tresor Power Reserve embraces both facets. The subtle vintage vibe and slim profile deliver the understated elegance we associate with the Tresor collection, while the manual-winding Master Chronometer movement guarantees the industry’s highest standard of precision, chronometric performance and magnetic-resistance.not just a pretty faceThe Tresor, launched in 1949, was Omega's proposal of a simple, three-hand watch for men in a slim case with the best-performing movement of its day. Tresor, meaning treasure, did not refer to the pre

The most talked about travel watches presented at Watches & Wonders
Watches & Wonders 2022 saw the MONOCHROME team travelling to Geneva again, which was a real joy to experience. After more than two years of pretty much not being able to go anywhere, it was an absolute pleasure to meet up at the Palexpo in Geneva, visit brands, meet people and just, talk face to face again. Perhaps with this in mind, several brands catered to this very occasion and launched new watches dedicated to travelling across multiple time zones. Here are some of the most talked-about watches we’ve seen presented during Watches & Wonders 2022, from the value-for-money kind, to the ultra-complex kind, and everything in between.Patek Philippe Annual Calendar Travel time 5326GPatek Philippe has gone down the vintage path for the new Annual Calendar Travel Time 5326G, and it looks surprisingly well. The white gold case is decorated with a Clous de Paris pattern on the movement container (yes, it runs the side of the entire caseband). The caseback and lugs are one integ

Introducing: IWC Pilot's Watch Automatic 41 TOP GUN Lake Tahoe
It is widely known that IWC has experience with ceramic watches since it was the first brand to release a timepiece made of zirconium oxide (the real name for ceramic) in 1985 with the Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar. In recent years, the Schaffhausen-based brand has been playing a lot with colours, releasing Top Gun models in black (of course), beige (Mojave), green (Woodland), blue (Oceana) and white, with the Lake Tahoe editions, until now available with a chronograph movement or a perpetual calendar. Now, the concept returns in a simpler, smaller and more accessible watch based on the Mark XX range, with the new Pilot’s Watch Automatic 41 TOP GUN Lake Tahoe IW328104.What we’re looking at here is essentially a “Tahoed” version of the Mark XX, the latest evolution in the classic Mark series of IWC. As such, you won’t be surprised to see that most of the specifications of this new compact Lake Tahoe are shared with the standard steel models, as well as the li

COOL FINDS: 3 vintage chronographs from Airain, Longines and Universal Geneve - Monochrome Watches
Searching for vintage watches is both an exciting odyssey and a dangerous, risky path. We are pretty sure you’ve been in that situation, when?the enthusiasm?of finding the right timepiece is facing the question of authenticity and trust of sellers. As we love all watches here at Monochrome, we wanted to share with you our?interest for iconic, historical, important timepieces, sometimes far from?what you are used to see in famous auctions. Today, let’s?start with 3 vintage chronographs: a underrated aviator Type 20, a 1940s classical watch with a magnificent in-house caliber and a very rare 1970s Daytona’s competitor.Airain Type 20The Type 20 is not specific?to?Breguet. As we explained in extensive oversight of Type 20 chronograph, those watches were made after a special request of?the French Air-Force and ‘Type 20 / 21’ refers to the specifications, not the model itself. Several brands were selected to build?those chronographs: Breguet (definitely the most