The Speake-Marin Magister Tourbillon, the back to basics watch - Monochrome Watches
Peter Speake-Marin is going back to his roots with a tourbillon, after an incursion in the world of sports watches. This complication is of very special significance for him. This is a good reason to take a closer look at his Magister Tourbillon, bringing together a host of details characteristics of his watch design we have been enjoying for some 15 years.Background / Reminder about Peter Speake-MarinAfter qualifying as a watchmaker at Hackney Technical College in London, Englishman Peter Speake-Marin moved to Switzerland in the late 1980s. There, he further learnt his trade at Wostep, the renowned watchmaking school in Neuchatel. Returning to London, seven highly formative years to set up and run the antique watch restauration department at Somlo antiques in Piccadilly London were an influential period on his career, allowing him to discover the valuable works of past masters. In 1996, he was attracted back to Switzerland to develop high complications for Renaud & Papi, the high-

Piaget Polo S Black ADLC / Rubber SIHH 2017 (Specs & Price)
Launched with great fanfare in the middle of last year – see our introducing article – the Piaget Polo S was both a breath of fresh air for Piaget and, at the same time (and unfortunately) the most controversial watch of the year 2016. This is the sad part of the story. This watch is great… alone. But it lives in a market full of competitors. It seems that Piaget heard the complaints and for the SIHH 2017, some new limited editions have been showed, the?Piaget Polo S Black ADLC / Rubber 3-hand and chronograph – a world of difference… And?that’s were the deal becomes pretty interesting.BackgroundThe 2016 inaugural collection of the Piaget Polo S Ad - Scroll to continue with article When launched in July 2016, the Piaget Polo S has received a huge coverage from the dedicated press, including us here, at Monochrome-Watches. Still

A Letter From The Editor - Monochrome Watches
It’s been a pleasure to see the number of readers increase every month and I always enjoy your emails, responses and reactions through all our social media channels. Thank you for that! Since Monochrome has started, back in 2006, it has been a thrill to see Monochrome grow to become one of the defining blogs (or online magazines) about watches. And as you know, we focus mainly on (ultra) Haute Horlogerie and Independent Watchmaking. My latest acquisition perfectly fits the bill. It is a vintage Patek Calatrava ref. 3484 that I bought it for a special occasion. Read on to find out what that special occasion was and to read more news about Monochrome.I have been looking to get a dot.com ever since the beginning, however the owner of monochrome.com didn’t want to relinquish that domain. So the search went on and in a few weeks we’ll be migrating monochrome-watches.com to monochrome-watches.com. And there will be more, like a new video page, a web shop, loads of reviews (

Could this be the thinnest mechanical watch in the world? Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Ultra Thin Squelette (specs & price) - Monochrome-Watches
This article wasn’t supposed to start like that. We thought we would?be in front of a?new?iteration of an ultra-thin Jaeger-LeCoultre – a nice one for sure but different just because it was featuring a?skeletonized movement. Thus, our article would have been turning around describing you the nicely opened and engraved bridges and the?enameling work done on the dial. However we, at?Monochrome-Watches, like to be precise – and them came the surprise. This?Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Ultra-Thin Squelette is said to be 3.6mm height, making it possibly the?thinnest mechanical watch in the world. We had to investigate!Basically, this new?Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Ultra-Thin Squelette is the openworked and enameled edition of a very subtle and elegant watch that we reviewed a few months ago, the Master Ultra-Thin 1907, a timepiece that our editor-in-chief praised for its understated presence, its overall comfort and of course, for the technical achievement it represents. At the ti

Cuervo y Sobrinos Historiador Doble Luna (Specs & Price)
The brand that started life in Havana, Cuba, in 1882 and winged its way across the Atlantic to resettle in Capolago, a tiny Swiss village on the shores of Lake Lugano, proposes a double moon phase indication to reveal the cycles of the Moon in both Hemispheres. Staged against an anthracite dial with golden touches, the day, date and month are also featured on the dial. Playing on the brand's Havana links, the functions are housed inside the brand's vintage-inspired Historiador case with its prominent lugs and showy black and gilt dial.This is not the first moon phase and full calendar watch in the Historiador collection. Last year we saw a similar watch, the Luna Negra, with a partially skeletonised dial but limited to moon phases in the Northern Hemisphere. By far the best-stocked collection at Cuervo y Sobrinos, the Historiador has appeared in simple time-and-date, retrograde, GMT, small seconds, moon phase and now, the Cuervo y Sobrinos Historiador Doble Luna. Ad - Scroll