Jeweller-watchmaker or watchmaker-jeweller, Cartier excels in both. From this rich tradition, and as evidenced again recently with the introduction of the Drive, the Parisian Maison has drawn an unrivalled legacy in creating fascinating shaped watches. MONOCHROME brings together some of the most iconic Cartier masterpieces born from a unique percep..................
2016-07-26 More
This year, Montblanc has again been highly productive – and that’s a fact you’ll have to get used to, believe us. They introduced superb watches, including the ExoTourbillon Slim or the?TimeWalker ExoTourbillon Minute Chronograph, both part of the 4810 collection. They also introduced a more traditional watch, a regular chronograp..................
2016-07-26 More
We all love to change straps on our watches, especially when it comes to sports or dive watches. Whether you own a Tudor Black Bay, an Oris Divers Sixty Five, a Seiko Prospex, or all?sorts of watches that are cool and slightly rugged, switching straps is just part of the fun. Of course, it allows you to match it with your “environment” ..................
2016-07-25 More
We continue this week with the seventh instalment of our market finds, in collaboration with auctioneer Catawiki. By now, you already know the story. Uber cool watches that deserve our (and your) interest. This week, we look a bit at the past than previously, with more vintage (but still very cool) watches, as we have an extremely rare and vintage ..................
2016-07-23 More
Over the past weeks we have selected ‘5 Cool Finds‘ from the new offering that is published each week at Catawiki auctioneers. Tomorrow we will have another one, and again, we found some really great watches?for you. Since we’re browsing the web all day long, we are just trying to help you find nice?watches, sometimes very interes..................
2016-07-22 More
As the world of watches is now fairly driven by the internet, you certainly didn’t miss the novelties that?Tudor Watches had for this year 2016. The star of the show was definitely the bronze edition of the Black Bay, followed by a second edition, this time coated with a black PVD treatment, the Black Bay Dark. Both of them are equipped with ..................
2016-07-21 More
Right after Baselworld 2016, we shared?with you a video interview, where the CEO of Ulysse Nardin,?Patrik P. Hoffmann, was explaining the importance of the Marine Collection in the brand’s portfolio. Indeed, this collection is the best-seller of the brand and is, this year, celebrating its 20th anniversary. In this video, we already introduce..................
2016-07-21 More
Team Monochrome has just returned from a week in Switzerland where we visited Omega and MCT Watches. It was a great week, and it’s just awesome to meet old & new friends. The odometer in our cars gained a few thousand kilometers and after the week we had to recharge a bit. Now it’s time for the next sweepstake! This is the first swe..................
2016-07-20 More
Let’s rewind the tape… In late 2015, Montblanc introduced to us a watch (a superb, exquisite, fascinating watch… sometimes words are hard to find) that we simply loved: the?Montblanc 1858 Chronograph Tachymeter, with Villeret monopusher movement. Seriously, having a watch of this quality, with a movement comping from?vintage chron..................
2016-07-20 More
If there’s one thing and one thing only to remember about Cartier (among many others of course) is how this Old Maison always mastered shapes, like not other brand achieved and always with a restrained, somehow old-fashioned elegance. Recently, the brand made?incursions in new worlds, like for instance the sporty Calibre de Cartier and its Di..................
2016-07-19 More
We continue this week with the sixth instalment of our market finds?“5 Cool Finds”, in collaboration with auctioneer Catawiki. Once again, the story is simple. Instead of focusing exclusively on vintage watches, we prefer to look at what we, here at Monochrome-Watches love and know, and we think will be the coming trend: Youngtimers. He..................
2016-07-16 More
In an event that occurred yesterday night in New York City, Piaget, the manufacture?known for ultra-thin watches, introduced a brand new version of its sports watch, the Polo. This new?Piaget Polo S is special in?several aspects, as first of all it shows an entirely new design – previous watches looked like this (click here)?and were still ra..................
2016-07-15 More
Just like we did a week ago, by showing our selection of the best sports-chic watches for summer, this week we’ll look at colorful watches… Of course, summer is the perfect moment to think?different, to move out from?the black or silver dial comfort zone, to go wild and fun. Well, it’s time to bring joy on your wrist – but d..................
2016-07-11 More
To follow up with the series we started a month ago, with our Cool Finds article, we continue this week with the fifth instalment of our market finds, in collaboration with auctioneer Catawiki. By now, you already know the story. Uber cool watches that deserve our (and your) interest. This week we have two ultra-thin dress watches from Jaeger LeCou..................
2016-07-09 More
Until recently, the concept?of Hublot was mainly focused on the look and the combination of extreme materials, such as ceramic of course, but also super-resistant gold alloys, carbon fibre printed with motifs?or sapphire. Hublot is first of all a design, a concept, not only?focussed on horology but also on the looks – and?with all respect to ..................
2016-07-08 More
This year, at Baselworld 2016, you won’t be surprised to know that the attention was again mainly focused on the Group booth ( and Tudor Watches). Of course, the Daytona Ceramic Bezel was on?everyone’s?lips (well, it’s a and it’s a Daytona, that’s no?surprise) but the other big eye catcher there was on the other s..................
2016-07-06 More
Vacheron Constantin, a manufacture nearly as old as the concept of Swiss watchmaking (260 years of continuous activity… no less), is also a sort of father for?the?barrel-shaped watches known as tonneau cases, a now popular shape that they introduced first in their collection in 1912. This style, strongly inspired by?Art-Deco spirit, is both e..................
2016-07-06 More
Believe it or not (some of us in Europe still don’t believe in it… US seem better though) but summer is coming. For this reason, you’ll soon have to decide what watch to?bring in your luggage?for holidays (as you probably won’t bring your entire collection). Tough time, probably as difficult for you than it is difficult for ..................
2016-07-04 More
Today is the 4th of July, an important day for US Citizens and US-related people. Not that the watch we’re about to show you has been especially developed for this reason, but it has just been introduced and it is a limited edition for North America only. Indeed, we thought it could be a nice gift for our US readers, and we know they are?nume..................
2016-07-04 More
Back in 2015, A. Lange & Sohne introduced a brand new Saxonia collection, revamping all the editions, with new dials and new sizes, while keeping the same concept: clean, elegant and restrained dress watches. In the tradition of the Saxonian Manufacture, these watches were all available in white gold or pink gold case, but only?with a white dia..................
2016-06-30 More
The IWC Portugieser is probably, as you might all be aware of, the most iconic piece of the Schaffhausen-based manufacture. One edition however has a special status in our heart, mainly because of its complicated split-seconds movement (we love split-seconds here…) and because of the man behind the development of the movement and the module,?..................
2016-06-29 More
In a previous article, we covered the present state of affairs at Omega, which also gave us a glimpse of what the future holds for the company and for us, journalists and you, potential consumers. Now it is time to rewind the tape of the Omega story and to discover more in details how the company reached this point in its history, by showing you a ..................
2016-06-29 More
After a spectacular (in terms of execution and visual aspect) watch introduced a few days ago, the?RM 68-01 Tourbillon decorated by street-artist Cyril Kongo, Richard Mille goes back to more fundamental inspirations, with a new limited edition of its Dual Time Zone?chronograph dedicated to classic cars and racing, the?Richard Mille RM 11-02 Le Mans..................
2016-06-28 More
We’re still celebrating our 10th anniversary, and thus it’s time for the next sweepstake! We just ended the Patek Philippe sweepstake and will get in touch with the winner today, and now you can win goodie sets with Baume & Mercier, Nomos and Panerai goodies, all donated by our local authorised retailer Steltman Watches. So scroll d..................
2016-06-28 More
If there’s one word?to keep in mind with Ochs Und Junior, it’s simplicity. Usually, simplicity in things?means less attraction (we all love complexity). in watchmaking especially, we want complications. But with Ochs Und Junior, we’re talk about?Ludwig Oechslin, so-to-say the pope of simplicity?in?complications. In fact, simplifyi..................
2016-06-28 More
Recently we co-hosted an evening together with Montblanc, and our readers got to see, touch, and try on the wrist, the latest SIHH 2016 Montblanc timepieces. The Montblanc Black & White Week event, as it is dubbed, was held in the esteemed hotel New York, in Rotterdam, Netherlands. A century ago, this was the place where passengers embarked on ..................
2016-06-27 More
Two weeks ago, we started a new series of article, a series focusing on relatively recent watches for sale that we believe to be highly interesting, the 5 Cool Finds?articles. This week, we continue with the third instalment of our market finds, in collaboration with auctioneer?Catawiki. Once again, the story is simple. Three?watches that we believ..................
2016-06-24 More
We here at Monochrome get quite a few press releases every day, and sometimes, just sometimes, there’s one that just makes your jaw drop and hit the table. My first thought when this came in, is whether mr. Richard Mille had been smoking something or eating the wrong mushrooms on his Spaghetti con Funghi. After a closer observation -and readi..................
2016-06-24 More
COSC, Geneva Seal, Fleurier Quality Foundation, ISO standards Watchmakers endorse their products with various certification marks to demonstrate their commitment to quality. These certifications address to multiple aspects of quality, relating to criteria as different as precision, durability, robustness, aesthetic or even provenance. This installm..................
2016-06-22 More
What happens when you put 28 watch-nuts in a room? Indeed, the restaurant staff gets crazy. Last Friday, 28 IWC collectors and aficionados from various countries gathered in Amsterdam to chat, do some activities in the city and spend the evening together in the Okura restaurant. During dinner, IWC surprised its fanbase by showing all three models o..................
2016-06-21 More
When digging into the history of watchmaking, it has been long admitted that the invention of the chronograph was credited to Nicolas Rieussec. Indeed, in 1822, he patented a clock that was able to write time, to record measures of elapsed time. It was, until recently, known as the first ever chronograph (a machine that writes time…). However..................
2016-06-21 More
When Oris’ name comes in the conversation, most collectors know what it is about: reliable, well-crafted, well-designed and perfectly priced tool watches (and not only tools…). This goes for the Oris Aquis, a reliable and accessible dive watch, or the Depth Gauge, with its innovative mechanism. There’s also a huge cool factor with..................
2016-06-20 More
Again it’s time for a new installment of the Monochrome 10th anniversary give-away, and today we have the pleasure to announce some spectacular gifts (again) that one of our readers can win. For this sweepstake we will be giving away a copy of the Patek Philippe Watches volume I & II books, a copy of the 175th anniversary book, a Collecti..................
2016-06-19 More
There are books and there are BOOKS. Patek Philippe Watches Volumes I and II, made by the Patek Philippe Museum, belong to the second category. These must have' volumes for Patek aficionados weigh a respectable 6.4kg and measures approximately 295x260x85mm. Definitely something you can put as an art object on your table - and certainly a read that ..................
2016-06-16 More
When you have the concept of a rugged and functional dive watch in mind, with great quality and for a relatively affordable price, the Oris Aquis Date has to be on your wish-list. No debate, this watch is good for what it has been designed for – and it’s also a pleasant watch on a daily basis (even professional divers spend some time on..................
2016-06-16 More
What is the color of the deep sea? Blue? Navy?blue? No, when you reach 600 meters, the sea is black, pitch black in fact.?At this depth, everything turns dark and no color can be distinguished anymore. You probably saw?us coming with this teaser. Yes, here is it, this is the “raison d’¨ºtre” of the brand new?Omega Seamaster Planet ..................
2016-06-14 More
In terms of complications, the chronograph is certainly the most widely known – and used – of them all. Then, when you pronounce the words “chiming watches“, the immediate reference goes to the minute repeater. However, one chiming complication shouldn’t be forgotten, one which?is actually rather important historically..................
2016-06-13 More
Ulysse Nardin is certainly widely known for their signature collections; the Marine and the Diver. Both inspired by antique marine chronometers (something that was the core business of the brand at its inception), they share a unique and easily recognizable design, with some bold aspects – like we’ve seen recently in this article or pre..................
2016-06-13 More
It’s time again for a next give-away. Our good friends from MB&F, who also run the MAD Gallery in Geneva, Taipei and Dubai, kindly offered an Applause Machine that we can give to one of our readers. Just a few days ago we showed you, in a short video that we recorded in the MAD Gallery in Geneva, what a cool place it is. It’s all ab..................
2016-06-11 More
In the online world of watches, vintage watches are covered extensively. Many of our online colleagues are doing a great job at this. Since we’re ‘passionate about vintage watches, and certainly no experts, we are more than aware of all the dangers of this ‘murky world’ of vintage watches. We’ve heard too many stories ..................
2016-06-10 More