Introducing The New IWC Portofino Complete Calendar
Since its launch during the mid-1980s (with the stunning, oversized reference 5251 and its moon-phase display), the Portofino has been the most classic offering of IWC. Even more than the Portugieser, it has to be seen as the brand’s dress watch and evokes pocket watches of the past. Recently revamped, with the 39mm Chronograph model as a flagship watch, IWC has decided to give this watch what’s expected from such a collection; traditional complications. It started with a perpetual calendar, today joined by a pointer date and the elegant Portofino Complete Calendar you’ll discover here.?While having displays that can be identical, a perpetual and a complete calendar are rather different when it comes to the mechanics that sit behind the dial. Basically, each represents an end of the spectrum in the field of calendar watches. A perpetual calendar is a complex mechanism that takes into account all the oddities of our gregorian calendar (months with 28, 30 or 31 days, as

Norqain Freedom 60 Chronograph 40mm (Specs & Price)
Norqain is a new Swiss watchmaker of only a few years, but the team has a lot of industry experience. Founder Ben Kuffer worked at Breitling before launching the brand in 2018, while the son of former Breitling CEO Ted Schneider is also part of the team. Ben's father owned a Swiss private label watch manufacturer, Roventa-Henex SA. This small, family-owned brand has some serious muscle behind it, which has already resulted in a partnership with movement manufacturer Kenissi. The latest watch is a smaller version of the impressive Freedom 60 Chronograph, and it brings new dials and straps.?The original 43mm chronograph was surprisingly mature from such a new watchmaker, but the size was a bit at odds with the vintage-inspired design. That changes for 2022 as the stainless steel case is now 40mm in diameter and 14.9mm in height (49.2mm lug-to-lug), which is closer to the intended 1960s look. It lives alongside the 43mm variant, so you can still choose that contemporary size. The case is

In-Depth: Diving With The New Aquastar Model 60
Aquastar made a name for itself in the early 1960s as one of the first purveyors of purpose-built dive watches. Starting as a company that made watches and other maritime instruments, it became one of the most well-known watch brands for serious SCUBA divers and underwater professionals. It found a certain type of fame on the wrists of everyone from Jacques Cousteau’s team of explorers to US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh, who wore an Aquastar while aboard the bathyscaphe Trieste for his pioneering journey to the bottom of Challenger Deep at a record-breaking depth of 10,911 metres (for the record, the Deep Sea Special was strapped outside, some Longines stopwatches were onboard, and Walsh was wearing an Aquastar). After a bit of a lull during the quartz crisis, Aquastar was revived in 2020 by none other than Rick Marei, the man famous for rejuvenating another esoteric dive watch brand, Doxa. Today, we take the brand’s latest creation underwater, the Aquastar Model 60, a tribu

Buying Guide - 5 New Watches with Red Hot Dials
Watch dials rarely venture to red. Less formal than dark colours, red grabs your attention. But red can be very attractive and elegant, as you’ll see. Especially if you are confident in your ability to carry off colours or like to stand out from the crowd. If this is the case, we have rounded up five great red dial watches presented recently.Note: this selection is based on a consensus among the MONOCHROME team. It reflects our preferences but if there are other watches you'd love to mention, feel free to share these in the comment section at the end of this article.Oris Big Crown Pointer date 40mm oxblood Red dialRed with brownish hues, the oxblood dial of this Pointer Date works extremely well with the context of this vintage-inspired Oris model. Its stylized typography is paired with cathedral hands treated with beige Super-LumiNova. The automatic calibre 754 inside is based on a Sellita SW200-1 modified internally for the date indication. It comes with an equally unique but s

Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Tribute Tourbillon Duoface (Specs & Price)
When you think Jaeger-LeCoultre, you immediately think Reverso. Thin, elegant, discreet and with the iconic reversible case. There had been some highly complex versions though in the collection, just like the?Reverso Tribute Gyrotourbillon for the 85th anniversary of the model or minute repeaters. Today, La Grande Maison is bringing back complexity in its emblematic watch, with a slim, visually clean and elegant tourbillon model, the?Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Tribute Tourbillon Duoface.?To mark its 185th anniversary, Jaeger-LeCoultre is taking a new step in the Reverso line, with this new?Tribute Tourbillon Duoface, combining the double-dialled concept with a complex movement. Even though dubbed as a “tribute” piece, this watch is entirely new – design, concept, movement…?Equipped with a new manually-wound calibre, this timepiece is exclusive (only a few pieces, in platinum) and, as usual with Duoface pieces, has more to show than what you might see at first sigh