Recap: Revisiting The Most Notable Watches Of Watches & Wonders 2022
You can’t determine where you’re going without knowing where you’ve been, right? And as watchmaking companies regularly look in the rear-view mirror for inspiration for future collections and references, we’re going to do the same. In a change from our regular weekly Buying Guide where we group watches around a common theme, we’re revisiting the watches of Watches & Wonders from last year. We felt it would help to refresh the collective memory of what were the most notable pieces from 2022, now that Watches & Wonders 2023 is basically just around the corner. Out of everything presented, we selected the 8 pieces that stood out to us and will tell you why. So without further ado, let’s dive straight in!Tudor Black bay ProAnd dive straight in we shall, with one of the best value-for-money watches of the entire fair. The Tudor Black Bay Pro presented in 2022 is a true GMT watch, with a high-performance movement and simply looks the part. The fixe

Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Selfwinding Flying Tourbillon 26730 Hands On
Half a century of life deserves a big celebration, and Audemars Piguet will be pulling out all the stops to fete its Royal Oak. Not only has it hit the 50-year milestone, but its popularity has reached unprecedented heights; just try getting your hands on one. Today, Audemars Piguet releases three new variations of its 41mm Royal Oak Selfwinding Flying Tourbillon with the brand’s latest-generation automatic movement and the legendary Gerald Genta architecture that launched a thousand ships (of copycats). Available in stainless steel, titanium and 18k pink gold, the new Royal Oak Selfwinding Flying Tourbillon models?reflect the subtle design evolutions developed for this jubilee year.The RO gets a Flying TourbillonGerald Genta’s landmark 1972 design for the Royal Oak is considered the precursor of the luxury sports watch category. Although there are countless contenders lurking in the background, no watch design can match the sticking power and success of the Royal Oak. When

SIHH 2015 - Vacheron Constantin Harmony Ultra-Thin Grande Complication Chronograph Caliber 3500 - Hands-on with exclusive live photos - Monochrome-Watches
Recently, we brought?you Vacheron Constantin’s main novelty, an entirely new collection named Harmony, recognizable by its vintage elements, its cushion-shaped case and its truly appealing look. We knew only from seeing the press photos and the specification sheets that these watches were highly interesting and technically advanced. It’s time for us now to confirm these feelings after having worn one of them – and not the worst – as we are now going?hands-on with the most complicated timepiece of the collection, the?Vacheron Constantin Harmony Ultra-Thin Grande Complication Chronograph Caliber 3500.With all due respect due to Vacheron Constantin and its talented manufacturing, it can?not be seen as the most productive of the brands. It is a conservative, traditional watchmaker with a collection of very restrained, discreet watches. However, the quality of these watches is clearly one of the best of Switzerland, with extremely nice finishings and impressive compl

Tissot Heritage Porto Mechanical - Hands-On Review, Price
Tissot's Heritage collection is full of classic throwbacks. Drawing upon a heritage that spans over 165 years,? suffice it to say that the Le Locle-based watchmaker knows exactly what it's doing when it comes to creating retro-inspired timepieces that nod to a bygone era. Towards the end of last year, MONOCHROME covered the Tissot Heritage Visodate Automatic, a value-for-money 1950s dress watch,? and a little before that, the vintage-looking Tissot Heritage Petite Seconde watch based on a former model from 1943. This time around, we look at something even older, slightly unusual and from an era rarely covered by vintage-inspired watches, the Tissot Heritage Porto Mechanical, an elegant and fairly-priced tonneau-shaped design influenced by the Art Nouveau period.?Firstly, the Tissot Heritage Porto watch comes in a mechanical version crafted from either steel or 18k rose gold, or a steel quartz version with a simpler dial that foregoes the small seconds sub-dial – a feature that is

Pre-Baselworld 2017 - Introducing The Hamilton Intra-Matic?68 (Specs & Price)
Hamilton is usually not a brand we cover much on Monochrome, maybe because they are positioned a bit on the lower side of the range, with various quartz offers. Yet, from time to time, the previously American brand, now under the umbrella of the Swatch Group, can surprise us, especially when look at their rich history. This year, for the upcoming 2017 edition of Baselworld, the brand will have something simply cool, a nice, vintage-inspired and affordable automatic chronograph., with iconic roots. Here is the?Hamilton Intra-Matic 68.Chronographs have been a great part of Hamilton’s?history, especially during the 1960s and 1970s, coinciding with the Swiss ear?of the brand, once it acquired Buren and moved to Biel, and later becoming part of?SSIH (subsequently?The Swatch Group). Some great watches have been made at that time, some becoming collectible iconic, such as the?Fontainebleau (powered by the Chronomatic Calibre 11). Another one have been important and is today rather sough