Watches NEWS
Looking back at last year's Watches & Wonders highlights
We're only days away from travelling to Switzerland again (yes, finally!) and meeting up with our friends and colleagues from the watchmaking industry and affiliated media outlets. It will be stressful, running from appointment to appointment and seeing tons of watches (boohoo, have pity on us) and get the news out to you as soon as possible so you're all caught up on all the novelties to come. And as ever, when looking forward, it never hurts to look over one’s shoulder in the process. So with that in mind, we've looked back and listed what we think were the five stand-out novelties from Watches & Wonders 2021.IWC Big Pilot's Watch 43mmOut of the five selected watches, this one has certainly caused a lot of debate. While we applaud the introduction of the smaller, wrist-friendlier IWC Big Pilot's Watch 43, we also feel for the fact some people do not consider it a true Big Pilot's Watch. As it does without the emblematic 7-day power reserve indication or at least a subdial o
SIHH 2015: IWC Portuguese Annual Calendar ref. 5035 - hands-on with live photos, specs and price - Monochrome-Watches
For the 75th anniversary of its emblematic model, the Portuguese (or Portugaise in French /Portugieser in German), IWC chose not to totally renew the collection but instead to improve some of the (visual and technical) aspects and to add some interesting complications. The star of the show this year was the?IWC Portuguese Annual Calendar ref. 5035, that keeps the original feeling of the Portuguese but improves it more than you can really see.One of the main and recurrent reproaches made to IWC is its lack of continuity within the collections. Collectors do not really have to time to get used to a design and then?IWC totally renews its icons with a brand new look. It was the case with the Aquatimer last year. Not that this new collection is not a good one, but it didn’t keep the original feeling of the very first Aquatimers. It was also the case for the Ingenieur collection in 2013. INow it seems that IWC listened to its?collectors (and us at the same time). For the 2015 edition o
Just Because: Artcurial to Auction Watches and Clocks Owned by Charles de Gaulle
As you know, we rarely talk about auctions on MONOCHROME. We prefer to focus on what we know best: independent watchmaking, explaining fine mechanics and talking about new watches. Yet, from time to time, something sparks our interest – and in the present case, it did on a personal level, maybe due to a certain chauvinism of mine as a Frenchman. Auctions always generate doubts regarding the originality or provenance of watches, but this time I’m going beyond these questions as the origin of the watches is undeniably special. Coming Monday, December 16th, French auction house Artcurial is hosting a sale entirely dedicated to former French President and important military figure of WWII, Charles de Gaulle, including several timepieces previously owned by the General.?Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970), known in France as General de Gaulle, was a French military officer who led the Free French Forces against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government of the
New Colours For The Glashutte Original Seventies Chronograph Panorama Date
A far cry from the gravitas of the more classical Pano and Senator models, the Seventies Chronograph Panorama Date is one of the most original and refreshing models from Glashutte Original. Launched in 2014, the Seventies Panorama Date captures the zeitgeist of that groovy decade with its square TV-shaped case and adoption of vibrant, funky dial colours. Two new limited-edition models with “Golden Bay and “Ocean Breeze” matte dial colours enhance this luxury sports watch collection with a sophisticated integrated flyback chronograph and the brand’s hallmark Panorama Date window.The more demure traditional colours of the first Seventies Chronograph Panorama Date Models eventually gave way to colours more in sync with the collection’s name and spirit. Donning bold, eye-popping colours, the Seventies Chronograph Panorama Date took its first colour dip with gradient dials inspired by the nearby Elbe Sandstone Mountains before moving on to more psychedelic colo
Seiko Spring Drive Golden Tuna - SBDB008 - Monochrome Watches
This year at Basel, we saw something truly remarkable from the seminal Japanese brand, Seiko. A piece that we so boldly labeled to be an instant classic - the Grand Seiko 44GS reissue. 100 Years of watchmaking was the occasion, and with the Grand Seiko's success in international waters, it was only fitting for Seiko to put a GS as its symbol for yet another hallmark but is the Grand Seiko all there is to it? Monochrome investigatesLike a third-eye or the sixth-sense or whatever you want to call it, we knew something was up with the Japanese brand. It cannot be this simple, the 44GS was fantastic, but the GS was JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) no more. There is something amiss from their anniversary collection. And then we saw it, right at the very last section of the Japanese catalog (click here), a behemoth of a piece that Seiko hid so well. We stood silent staring into the photograph, and only three words were uttered - Spring Drive Tuna! Ad - Scroll to continue with articl
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