The Top 10 Swiss Watch Brands in 2019 // Editorial
If the value of Swiss watch exports has slightly increased in 2019, the industry has been facing numerous challenges over the past years. Although high-end Swiss watches remain attractive, the low/mid-end segments have been under pressure as the smartwatch expansion seems to have come at the expense of the lower-priced Swiss timepieces.Most watch brands are traditionally secretive about their sales figures. Independents usually do not communicate numbers – with the notable exception of Audemars Piguet. Listed groups such as Swatch, Richemont or LVMH do not provide details by brand in their financial statements.Ever wondered just how big and popular some of the largest watch brands can get? MONOCHROME has listed the top 10 Swiss watch brands based on estimated 2019 sales. This article is based only on brands. As a comparison, the main actor of the Swiss watch industry is Swatch Group, with estimated sales of CHF 8,000 million in 2019 (8bn) –? spread over 15 watch brands and

Weekly Watch Photo - Cartier Rotonde Jour et Nuit - Monochrome Watches
This photo represents what I like so much about watch and photography. The Weekly Watch Photo shows a Cartier Rotonde Jour et Nuit and is made by GEO. GEO is probably the biggest Cartier connaisseur and he shares his passion for Cartier watches through his own website Troisanneaux.com and since a few months as moderator of the Cartier forum at Revolution Online and even once on Monochrome. He wrote a lot about the?Cartier Collection Privee Cartier Paris watches, also known as CPCP watches. The Rotonde Jour et Nuit is part of the CPCP and in my opinion one of the most beautiful examples of this collection. Ad - Scroll to continue with article This series only features watches made in precious metals (gold and platinum)?and all feature an elegant and sophisticated manual winding movement. Cartier used the CPCP collection for their finest and most exclusive timepie

IWC launches Three Boutique Edition Pilot Watches - Monochrome Watches
Although IWC dedicated this year entirely to re-engineering the Ingenieur collection (check our extensive coverage here, here and here), they still had time to launch three boutique editions of the Pilot Watch collection. A?Big Pilot's Watch Top Gun, a Big Pilot's Watch Perpetual Calendar?Top Gun?and a Pilot's Watch Chronograph Top Gun?are preparing to take off and bring more colour into the fleet. This colorful trio features?details in the form of red, green and blue hands and indices and they are available in limited editions at IWC boutiques around the world.IWC Schaffhausen's designers found inspiration for the three Top Gun Boutique editions from the cockpit instrument found in jets. The Pilot's Watch Chronograph TOP GUN Boutique Edition (Ref. IW388003)?comes with blue hands and indices, the Big Pilot's Watch Top Gun Boutique Edition (Ref. IW501903) with green and the Big Pilot's Watch Perpetual Calendar Top Gun Boutique Edition (Ref. IW502903)?with red. All three come in a?cerami

Phillips Breaks Records with the First Patek Philippe Nautilus 5711/1A-018 Tiffany Sold for $6.5 Million - Monochrome Watches
If you’re a recurring reader of MONOCHROME or simply if you’re a watch enthusiast, you can’t have missed the piece of news that dropped last Monday. Indeed, Patek Philippe and its long-time retail partner Tiffany (now owned by LVMH… hence the logo on the back) released a highly discussed edition of the Nautilus 5711 with a Tiffany-Blue dial. Launched for the 170th anniversary of the NY-based jeweller, the watch will be produced in 170 pieces and is, without a doubt, the most sought-after timepiece of the hour. And you doubt it, the first of the models has just been auctioned by Phillips for a charity cause and it reached an INSANE price of USD 6,503,500 (with fees) making it by far the record for a Nautilus 5711.Besides the rather questionable colour of the dial – which certainly makes sense for Tiffany but isn’t liked by all – the most debated element of this watch actually had to do with previous statements and the olive green model. Indeed,

Patek Philippe Aquanaut Travel Time 5164 - Monochrome Watches
Patek Philippe released a new Aquanaut at Baselworld 2011, featuring dual time zones. The new Aquanaut Travel Time ref.5164 is just the perfect traveller’s watch!Stylish, functional and extremely comfortable are the words that come to mind when putting the new Patek Philippe Aquanaut Travel Time on the wrist. It’s a true dual time zone watch, telling not only home time and local time, but also date (attached to local time) and a day/night indicator. Ad - Scroll to continue with article Photo credits go to Robert-Jan from Fratellowatches, who accompanied me for the meeting with Patek Philippe and did the photography.By pushing the pushers at the left side of the case, local time can be adjusted with steps of an hour in two directions. The date will follow the local time adjustment, also when this means jumping a day back in time. The day/night indicat