Audemars Piguet and Richard Mille Will Leave the SIHH as of 2020 - Monochrome Watches
While it became quite common to hear brands leaving Baselworld and complaining about the show (Swatch Group a few weeks ago, Raymond Weil this morning), the Geneva-based, Richemont-controlled Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie – or SIHH – was still?in safer waters… As of today, as?it’s time for the SIHH to also face non-neglectable departures. Good point is that it isn’t for this year, as indicated by?CEO Fran?ois-Henry Bennahmias in Le Temps, Audemars Piguet will still be there at the SIHH 2019… But that will be its last appearance.“The 2019 edition will be the last for us. Then the SIHH and Audemars Piguet will take different directions” said FHB to?Le Temps. The main reason indicated by the CEO of AP is that trade shows aren’t in line anymore with expectations of brands, and that such fairs are only intended for professionals (press and retailers). “Today we want to focus 100% on the end customer,” said FHB. A

Introducing The Complete List Of Unique Watches For Only Watch 2023
Only Watch, the biennial fundraiser for research on muscular dystrophy, has just released the list of the 72 watchmakers/brands and 62 lots that will be part of its 2023 auction. Over the years, Only Watch has become one of the most anticipated and significant auctions in the watch calendar, if only for the quality of the watches offered. Some CHF 30 million was raised for the 2021 edition. Beauty, originality, savoir-faire and creativity are united again for an exceptional 2023 millesime. And as is often the case, many brands use Only Watch as a platform to introduce new models, so it is really worth a closer look And even though we expect to go into more detail regarding some of the watches in separate stories, here's an initial rundown of everything and some first takeaways.Let's start with the news that everybody is expecting. However, the wait is not over, as the Patek Philippe unique piece for Only Watch 2023 has not been revealed yet. What we do know is that Patek will introduce

Hands-On Patek Philippe Calatrava Weekly Calendar 5212A (Specs & Price)
Like a good thriller, the Calatrava Weekly Calendar 5212A is packed with subtle clues that offer us a glimpse into the strategies of its maker. More complex than the elite and minimalist line-up of Calatrava watches, the Weekly Calendar also departs from its family heritage of precious metal cases and flaunts a stainless steel case. Currently the only Calatrava watch in steel, the 5212A gets some of its design elements from a 1955 ancestor, it comes with a sector dial, a winning touch of “handwritten” font on the dial, and a new movement. Although it is the first model to offer this unusual combination of calendar functions, the Weekly Calendar transmits the reassuring feeling that it has always been a member of the Patek dynasty.Useful complicationsPatek's expertise in calendar watches – and combinations of sophisticated calendars with other complications – is legendary. Taking a different tack from the classic aperture/sub-dial layout of its classic calendar w

LVMH 2020 Full Year Results, Resilience Despite Lockdowns, Impact on Watches
Following mixed mid-year announcements, grearly impacted by a series of lockdowns in Europe and Asia, we certainly not expected the world’s leader in luxury to present positive results for the full year 2020. Especially since the soft and hard luxury industries have been greatly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. LVMH just released its 2020 Full Year Results and the French luxury powerhouse shows resilience with sales down in a less dramatic way than expected and even strong recovery for the last quarter in certain markets. Altogether, sales are down 17% and profit, even though still positive, is slightly more impacted.Before having a closer look at our main topic of interest (watches), it must noted that the French luxury powerhouse still demonstrate its overall resilience and an impressive strength of its brands. Altogether, sales on the period are down 17% at EUR 44,651 million, versus EUR 53,670 million in 2019. Remember that, over the first semester of 2020, the group was re

Weekly Watch Photo - IWC Big Pilot's Watch - Monochrome Watches
IWC totally understands how to promote their watches. I think they’ve been looking closely at what watch fans have been doing at forums and what Monochrome also does once a week… sharing beautiful photos of beautiful watches.For the launch of the new Pilot’s watch collection, IWC created a set of very cool photos of their newest timepieces. We already showed you photos of the new Pilot's Watch Chronograph Top Gun Miramar and the Pilot’s Watch Mark XVII. Today we show you the Big Pilot’s Watch ref. 5009 and the Top Gun and Top Gun Miramar Editions.When IWC released the first Big Pilot’s Watch (ref. 5002) in 2002 it was, together with Panerai, THE watch that changed the fashion of the watch world from what we call now-a-days ‘medium-size’ to BIG. In those days, any watch larger that 40/41 mm in diameter was considered large. I still recall people saying my TAG Heuer Monaco (square case, 38 x 38 mm) being very big. Imagine how much the perce