Hands-On - The 2022 Tudor Black Bay Chrono S&G Champagne Dial
It is far from an industry secret that the Black Bay collection is Tudor's cash cow. And by saying that, I am by no means implying that as a bad thing. Far from it, the Black Bay and its retro-cool vibe have become a formidable and versatile platform for different materials and colour combinations. Heck, multiple iterations of it have found their way into the collection of several MONOCHROME editors. With no fewer than seven sub-collections, stretching to an even greater number if you include all sizes and colour variations, there are many options. And while most might focus on the new Black Bay Pro or the BB58, there's one new release we certainly didn't want to keep from you. The watch in question is the sparkling (pun intended) Tudor Black Bay Chrono with champagne yellow gold dial.Black Bay BackgroundThe Black Bay saga started in 2012, which honestly feels like ages ago. Since then, we've seen it morph from a cool-looking dive watch with an outsourced movement into a ubiquitous col

The Full Yellow Gold Chopard Alpine Eagle 41
The Chopard Alpine Eagle, a direct descendant of the slightly baroque St. Moritz model of the 1980s, was resurrected and modernised to reflect contemporary tastes. Since its revival, we’ve seen the Alpine Eagle expand to become an entire collection with a tourbillon,?an extra-large chronograph or a compact feminine version, as well as many colours or material combinations. And now, there’s a new, far more flamboyant model in the range, one that captures the original Midas temperament of the watch: the new yellow gold Chopard Alpine Eagle 41.?The Chopard Alpine Eagle is a true family affair. The predecessor of this watch, the 1980s St. Moritz watch (named after a high-end ski resort in Switzerland), was designed by Karl-Friedrich Scheufele when he started working at the company directed by his father – it was actually his first project. Of course, with the evolution of tastes, the concept of this sporty-chic, slightly baroque and flamboyant watch went out of style, and

Chopard L.U.C Perpetual T Spirit of the Chinese Zodiac
Since 2010, Chopard has released a menagerie of beautifully crafted Urushi dials to celebrate the animals of the Chinese zodiac. At the end of 2017, Chopard decided to regale collectors with a superlative one-off piece. Not only did it congregate all 12 animals of the Chinese Zodiac, hand-engraved on the sides of the case, but?the L.U.C Perpetual T Spirit was also equipped with a perpetual calendar and a tourbillon. A similar collector’s edition, decorated with motifs of Mexico’s Day of the Dead celebrations was presented during the SIAR and sold in six minutes flat. For 2019, which coincides with the Year of the Pig, Chopard repeats the formula and unveils its latest homage to Chinese cultural traditions with this unique L.U.C masterpiece.Ethical Gold CaseEarlier this year during Baselworld, Chopard made a courageous commitment to use 100% ethical gold in its jewellery and watch creations by July 2018. Ethical gold is defined by Chopard as gold acquired from responsible so

Chopard Happy Sport gets an In-House Automatic Movement for its 25th Birthday - Monochrome Watches
Chopard's famous Happy Sport collection turns 25 and celebrates the occasion with shimmering mother-of-pearl dials and a new, purpose-built, in-house automatic movement… Introducing the new generation of Happy Sport.Caroline Scheufele, co-president and artistic director of Chopard, was determined to show women that diamonds can be fun and came up with the idea of mixing a sporty stainless steel case with floating diamonds on the dial. Presented in 1993, the Happy Sport is Chopard's cult women's watch and its signature moving diamonds, skating and whirling across the dial at the slightest touch take the seriousness and formality out of jewellery watches. Ad - Scroll to continue with article Sibling synergyAs one of the few independent, family-run brands, Chopard likes to keep things en famille and the siblings in charge of the company - Caroline and Karl-Fr

Frank and his MIH Watch developed by Ludwig Oechslin and Paul Gerber - Monochrome Watches
Fly under the radar: this could be the motto of the first generation MIH Watch that was developed by none other than Ludwig Oechslin and Paul Gerber. Christian Gafner, an industrial designer who never before designed a watch, has to be credited for the ‘fly-under-the-radar’ design that goes together so well with what’s under the ‘hood’. The MIH Watch served as a fundraiser for the Musee International d’Horlogerie in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, where Ludwig Oechslin was the conservator and was sold in a newspaper!?Ludwig Oechslin signed the newspaper before he handed it over to me.Today I'm interviewing Frank Geelen, the founder and editor-in-chief of MONOCHROME, and we talk about his MIH Watch that he bought ten years ago. Although we’ve talked about many of his watches, the MIH Watch recently popped up in conversation and since it’s such a unique watch, that was born from a unique motivation and executed in such a unique way, we both