Recap: A Retrospective of 2023 with our Favourite Videos
Let me start by saying that, on this first day of 2024 and on behalf of the entire MONOCHROME team, I’d like to wish you all a Happy and Prosperous New Year. May it be filled with passion for watches and remarkable new models. 2023 has been one of the most prolific years for the watch industry – yet with a slightly degraded context – and for our magazine, too. New team members joined us, hundreds of articles were published and because MONO’ is a multi-platform medium, over 60 videos were produced. Here are some of our favourite in-depth movies and video reviews, a laid-back way to refresh your mind on this first day of the year.?Why The Omega Speedmaster 57 is a Great Alternative to the MoonwatchIn this video, we’re trying to answer a difficult question. Is there an alternative to the all-time classic Moonwatch? And we’re doing so by having a closer look at the Speedmaster 57. Smaller, a bit less bulky, more refined, hand-wound Could this Speedmaster

The spooky Petite Seconde Louis Horror x Seconde/Seconde
Louis Erard has become a byword for collaborations, and the list of watchmakers and design studios involved with the brand is growing by the day. Fast becoming a tradition, the models singled out for the collaborative transformations are the Regulateur and the Petite Seconde from Louis Erard’s Excellence collection. Tapping into a festive Halloween mood, the latest Petite Seconde has been designed by seconde/seconde, the alias of Romaric Andre, who has gained fame for customising vintage watches with lighthearted, whimsical touches.Seconde/secondeA serial hand-swapper, Parisian designer Romaric Andre makes no qualms about his intentions: “I vandalize other people’s products only because I failed at building mine.” Taking the seriousness out of vintage watches, Andre’s tongue-in-cheek customisations include a Air King with a cloud substituting the central seconds hand or a Patek Philippe model branded Tiffany & Co. with a croissant-shaped minute hand

Your Hublot away for service? Hublot provides a loan watch! - Monochrome Watches
I guess most watch collectors already know that sending a watch for service usually ends with an impressive invoice, usually after months and months of waiting. Hublot comes with a unique new service, providing a loan watch for the duration of the service.?This is a first in the watch industry! Although most watch collectors will easily grab another wrist watch from their collection, this “Atelier watch” as Hublot calls it, can be a very useful service and it’s a great ‘gesture’ from this manufacture. This service is only available from one of the 49 Hublot boutiques?and as yet, it is not available in multi-brand outlets. Ad - Scroll to continue with article The “Atelier watch”?is a special model that is not for general sale, as “subtly” indicated on the dial. Its case, bezel and the pin buckle to close the b

Introducing the IWC Portofino Hand-Wound Monopusher Chronograph (specs & price) - Monochrome-Watches
Recently, IWC introduced a unique edition of the Portofino launched at the occasion of the?Tribeca Film Festival 2015, a watch that later had been auctioned by Christie’s. Surprisingly, this unique timepiece came with a brand new movement,?never seen before in?the rest of the Portofino collection: a hand-wound mono-pusher chronograph. However, we knew?this was?not just a unique attempt, this was?a launching piece for?IWC's new in-house Hand-Wound 8-Days Monopusher chronograph movement – and here is now the regular edition. Please welcome the?IWC Portofino Hand-Wound Monopusher.Basically, this new?IWC Portofino Hand-Wound Monopusher Chronograph is a mechanical (but not visual) evolution of the actual?IWC Portofino Hand-Wound Eight Days.?Until now, IWC's Hand-Wound 8-Day calibre, a large movement that can be found for example in the Portuguese Hand-Wound 8 Days - 75th Anniversary Edition, featured a small off-center?second display (at 6 o'clock), a power reserve indicator (at

Oris introduces a trio of unisex Aquis Date 36.5mm models.
Geneva Watch Days 2022 brings us a fun trio of Oris Aquis Date models, this time with reserved, unisex cases and earthy mother-of-pearl dials. Don't let the relaxed aesthetics fool you: these are serious divers with a pro depth rating and sophistication that Aquis Date watches are known for. They follow similar yet larger models like the Aquis Date New York Harbor Limited Edition with a green mother-of-pearl dial (almost identical to one of these three), but the smaller size and steel bracelets give them distinctive personalities. Women might be a bit more drawn to these, but they're certainly suitable for anyone above or below the water.The multi-piece stainless steel case has the familiar Aquis Date look with a steel unidirectional rotating bezel and 60-minute scale in relief. At 36.5mm in diameter, it's on the smaller end of the collection but, again, universally sized for just about any wrist. A double-domed sapphire crystal with an interior anti-reflective coating protects the dia