Recap - The 5 Highlights of the Watchmaking Industry in 2017 - Monochrome Watches
As 2017 is coming to an end, and before the new horological season starts with the SIHH (as of January 15th, 2018), we thought it was important for you to understand what happened this year in the watchmaking industry. The idea here isn’t to focus on watches, we’ll have another recap article for that.?In all fairness, 2017 has been an eventful year. From the?game of musical chairs at Richemont to the return to growth, let’s take a look back to the highlights of the watchmaking industry in 2017.The industry is back to growth and profits (and apparently this will last…)2015 and 2016 have been difficult years for the Swiss watchmaking industry – relatively speaking of course, as in all fairness, major groups such as Richemont, Swatch or LVMH were still generating quite healthy profits. Yet, we’ve seen sales dropping quite dramatically month after month. The monthly report for exports of watches was becoming a recurrent dosage of bad news. The high Swiss

Hot off the presses: Printed watches by ALB Watches - Monochrome Watches
It is time to make a confession. Even though we at Monochrome are highly passionate about fine timepieces and craftsmanship in general, we think about the future of watchmaking too. The future, whether it be smart-watches, cutting edge materials, application of never-before seen technologies or simply new and ingenious complications; we try to take everything in consideration. Even something as unexpected but very today' as 3D-printing, although we are not unbiased to all of this.We briefly touched – or actually predicted – the subject of printed watches or parts a couple of years ago but we've never really seen anything interesting enough to cover since. There have been some intriguing projects since we first mentioned it, including a 3d printed Tourbillon escapement by Nicholas Manousos (albeit in a 1000% magnified scale), including a free sprung balance and a symmetrical Co-Axial escapement. Promising stuff, but nothing for the wrist unfortunately. The people of ALB Watc

In the Shop - The MONOCHROME Montre de Souscription 1 with Habring2
“Since I started MONOCHROME in 2006, the motto has been “dedicated to fine watches”, and this is exactly what drives not just me, but the entire team, on a daily basis. I guess it goes without saying that we're watch enthusiasts ourselves. Today is a landmark in MONOCHROME's 15 years of history, as we introduce our first collaboration watch, the MONOCHROME Montre de Souscription 1.” Frank Geelen, Founder of MONOCHROME.?For our first collaboration watch, we turned to one of our favourite brands, Habring2, an independent Austrian watchmaking atelier created by Maria and Richard Habring in 2004. Habring2 specialises in unusual displays such as dead-beat seconds and foudroyante, as well as chronograph movements. Introducing the MONOCHROME Montre de Souscription 1, now available for orders at shop.monochrome-watches.com. Ad - Scroll to continue with article

A Technical Perspective - Understanding the Concept of the Multiple-Regulator Watches
The presence of one single heart is ingrained in our idea of biology and extended conceptually to watchmaking. In order to live – or to indicate the time accurately – one only needs a single beating heart. But there are a few creatures with multiple hearts. And more and more watches come with multiple regulators – for different reasons. It is time to understand what multiple regulating organs can add to a watch.The regulating organ of a watch is often considered as its heart. The energy stored in the barrel is released in discreet bursts by the regulator that defines the speed at which the watch runs. The regulator comprises the escapement and the balance wheel, two elements working in conjunction. The escapement gives impulses to the balance. In return, the escapement is regulated by the balance wheel.The vast majority of mechanical watches operate according to the same principle. One energy source, one gear-train and one regulator. Some watches, however, use multipl

Chanel J12 33mm Calibre 12.2 (Watches and Wonders )
It's been 22 years since Chanel launched the emblematic J12 sports watch, which featured high tech ceramic and an aesthetic that's become iconic for the brand. The collection comes in multiple sizes, including 38mm and 33mm, and this is the first time the standard 33mm variant gets an automatic calibre (following a limited edition). It's a proprietary engine from Kenissi, a movement manufacturer partially owned by Chanel and Tudor (and delivering brands like Norqain), and it has both a unique design and COSC-certification. 38mm models already have the Calibre 12.1 automatic from Kenissi, so the smaller siblings are now at the same level for Watches and Wonders Geneva 2022.The 33mm case is polished ceramic in black or white, which brings different personalities within a monochromatic palette. The unidirectional rotating bezel is steel with a varnished sapphire crystal insert in black or white, and markings are limited to a simple 60-minute scale with Arabic numerals every 15 minutes. A