The Auction Hammer - The start of a new season - Monochrome Watches
Auction seasons has begun again after a brief summer recess. On September 14 Antiquorum auctions off 319 items in their New York auction. While going through their catalogue one cannot do anything else then to be surprised and wonder.for a wide variety of reasons.Take for example lot 13.?This features an IWC Aquatimer 2000 (ref. 3568) that was originally sold on May 20th?2011… One wonders how a watch that is less than 6 months old can be on auction so soon? Since Antiquorum rates the watch as very good' one can expect that it is slightly worn. With an estimate off? $2,000 - $3,000 USD this might be a nice opportunity to get this very young divers watch out of Schaffhausen for a sharp price. Ad - Scroll to continue with article Talking about estimates, sometimes utterly astonishment is an understatement when it comes to this topic. Lot 260 features a 2002 B

Introducing: IWC Launches a Big Pilot Shock Absorber XPL for AMG's Toto Wolff
As we’re gearing up for the 2025 Formula One season, which has recently changed its official timekeeper, we’ve started to see some F1-dedicated watches being launched. IWC, the partner of Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team, already warmed us up with a colourful take on its simplest Pilot’s Watch, the Mark XX AMG Team watch. Now, the brand looks at the opposite side of the spectrum with a Mercedes-AMG-themed version of its experimental Big Pilot, the Shock Absorber XPL reference IW356201 made with team principal Toto Wolff.?Before we dive into the topic of today’s limited edition watch, let’s quickly talk about the Big Pilot Shock Absorber XPL, as it is something special, which has been the topic of a great story on MONOCHROME. First presented in 2021 under the reference IW357201, the name of the watch says it all. This was the first model to be created by the brand's Experimental Engineering Team (hence the XPL in the name) and it was all about resista

News: IWC Ceralume, The First Fully Luminous Ceramic Watch
The use of luminescent materials on watches is far from new… Soon after the discovery of radium and its properties (and dangers…) by Marie and Pierre Curie in 1898, watch dials – markers, numerals and hands – have been coated with radium and then different substances (tritium, Super-LumiNova) to produce light in the dark. Fully luminous watch dials are a far more recent trend, and fully luminous watch cases are still a rarity that we only covered twice in this magazine – with Bell & Ross and Tockr. IWC, which has already shown its appeal for lume, now unveils Ceralume, a proprietary luminous ceramic technology and the first fully luminous ceramic watch… But don’t get crazy too soon, it is still a concept and isn’t commercialized.While the idea of a fully luminous watch case isn’t new, the difference with IWC is that the brand’s engineering division XPL has developed an unprecedented luminous ceramic compound – Bell &

The Oris Williams FW41 Limited Edition Full Carbon - Monochrome Watches
For the last 15 years, Oris and Williams F1 have been enjoying a mutually beneficial union. As the world-renowned Formula 1 team's official watch partner, Oris periodically releases special edition models to celebrate significant milestones for the team. A perfect example is the recently launched Martini Racing Limited Edition Chronograph, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Martini Racing Team, Williams' principal sponsor. Now, another special edition joins the line-up; the Oris Williams FW41 Limited Edition.Unless you're a hardcore F1 fan, it's probably not immediately obvious what significant Williams F1 milestone this watch is celebrating. FW41 is the name of William's 2018 Formula 1 car, which was officially launched back in February of this year. It's also the first car that Williams’ chief technical officer Paddy Lowe and head of aerodynamics Dirk de Beer have been involved with from the start. They only joined the team at the beginning of last year. Ad -

SIHH 2016: Introducing the Panerai Luminor 8-Days Set - Two Pre-Vend?me Inspired Collector's Models (Hands-on Photos and Price) - Monochrome Watches
The history of Panerai is probably well known, with its link to?the Italian navy, and in particular the frogman commandos of the First Submarine Group Command of the Royal Italian Navy. The Florentine watchmakers created timepieces for the Royal Italian Navy; in?1936 they created the very first ‘Radiomir’. In 1940 the Radiomir was slightly changed (now Radiomir 1940) and in 1950 the legendary Luminor 1950, with its iconic crown protection mechanism, was first created. Much can be said about Panerai’s history, however commercial success didn’t start until the, what we now call, the pre-Vend?me period. During this year’s SIHH Panerai introduces a set of two pre-Vend?me inspired watches, the Panerai Luminor 8-Days set.?Limited to only 500 examples, the?new Luminor 8 Days set of two watches inspired by these pre-Vend?me watches; to be precise, the so-called?Slytech models that sold in 1996. The pre-Vend?me era was from?1992-1997 and Panerai offered three colle