Dutch Watch Collector Paul, On Building His Dream Dress Watch, The Angelier Classique
I’m pretty sure that at one point in every watch enthusiast’s life, the inspiration to design your own watch pops into your head. Through buying, owning and possibly selling watches, we tend to get a pretty good feeling of the pros and cons of what’s out there. The next step would be to put that design to paper, which is a leap only a handful of people will make. Even fewer will take that design and actually seek out patterns and suppliers to make it a reality. And from that handful of projects, only a small percentage will actually make it. And from all of that wheat-from-chaff separating, just a handful will turn into a commercial brand. Such are the challenges in building your dream watch, which takes guts, perseverance, a clear vision, and a little bit of luck. With all this in mind, we turn to Paul Angelier, a Dutchman whose story follows this path and who’s building his actual dream dress watch. And through the support (and demands, it seems) of a good num

Spotted - Football Player Roberto Firmino with an HYT H0
Usually, professional football players show a preference for a handful of watch brands. They are usually spotted with mainstream brands like Audemars Piguet, Hublot, Patek Philippe, Richard Mille or . I have observed a couple of players with timepieces from A. Lange & Sohne and Patek, and also watches from independent brand Urwerk. This leads us to today's player who has purchased a watch that tells the time using an unconventional method. Here's Roberto Firmino's HYT watch.Roberto Firmino is a Brazilian football (or soccer for our US readers…) player for English Premier League club Liverpool FC and the Brazil national team, as an attacking midfielder, forward or winger. On 31 August 2019, Firmino became the first Brazilian player to score 50 goals in the Premier League when he netted the third and final goal in a 3¨C0 win over Burnley.Photo by Chloe Knott – Danehouse/Getty ImagesHe recently purchased a watch from HYT. HYT Watches are special since they utilise fluids t

Hands-On - Claude Meylan Legende 69 (with vintage Valjoux 69 movement) with Vintage Chronograph Movement (Specs & Price)
A visit to Les Ateliers (editor's note, the place where most independent watchmakers exhibit) at Baselworld 2018 can sometimes bring very nice surprises - especially if you have a love for old-school chronograph watches. The Claude Meylan Legende 69 is a clean, simple, elegant stopwatch. As its name suggests, it is powered by a vintage Valjoux 69 chronograph movement, entirely refurbished and redecorated by Claude Meylan, an independent watchmaker based in the Vallee de Joux, specialised in crafting skeletonised watches. The hand-wound column wheel chronograph found in this elegant and clean watch is a refinished old-stock Valjoux 69 calibre, a movement introduced in the late 1930s (more precisely, we talk about new movements created with old-stock parts). The origins of the legendary chronograph maker Valjoux go as far back as the late 19th century when the Reymond brothers set up their movement manufacture in the Vallee de Joux. Reymond Freres SA would b

Hands-on - Zenith Heritage Pilot Cafe Racer Spirit with El Primero Chronograph (live pics & price) - Monochrome Watches
This year, as Baselworld 2016, Zenith Watches introduced?several novelties but mainly, the brand showed the new strategic direction chose for the design and the positioning of the collections – considering that Zenith is part of the LVMH Group, alongside TAG Heuer and Hublot, a clear differentiation was required. As of now, Zenith will have a focus (among others) on vintage inspired chronographs and racing cars and motorbikes. We already showed to you a limited edition of the El Primero?made with HERO Cup. However, as a proper first in this new direction of vintage motorbikes, here is the?Zenith Heritage Pilot Cafe Racer Spirit with El Primero Chronograph. Some found it weird, we found it quite cool.The?Zenith Heritage Pilot Cafe Racer Spirit is, as indicated in its name, inspired by the world of Cafe Racer motorbikes. As a reminder, it is a bikers movement born in England in the 1920s. A bit?rebellious, its fans wanted a motorcycle that was both fast and customized, enabling the

What happens at TAG Heuer? (unemployment, layoffs, repositioning) - Monochrome-Watches
The last Baselworld edition seemed to be a good one for TAG Heuer. We saw the introduction of a brand new, in-house developed and manufactured, chronograph movement, named calibre CH80 (initially introduced as calibre 1969). And there was a new, and very good looking, TAG Heuer Carrera that was equipped with this new in-house movement. Shortly after Baselworld we already heard that it would get a few design changes, which we showed you here. However, the time of celebration is over. First we heard that the launch of?calibre CH80 was postponed. Then, we read that TAG Heuer had to let some?personnel go, so we wondered: what is going on at TAG Heuer?We already told you that we were?impressed?by the new Carrera CH80 – a truly inspired watch, with an in-house movement. The design was great, the specifications of the movement too. It was called to a great success. But in the middle of this celebration, the LVMH group and Jean-Claude Biver (head of watches for?the group and previously C