The New Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Selfwinding Chronograph 43mm
Presented in 1993, the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph, known as “The Beast,” brought a robust, utilitarian look to the Royal Oak. Since its inception, this watch has been regularly updated, adding for instance a 44mm version in the early 2000s. This year, Audemars Piguet is presenting a complete makeover of its robust chronograph, with a new design, a more ergonomic 43mm case, more refined details on the habillage, interchangeable straps and, mostly, the addition of the brand's integrated selfwinding flyback chronograph, the Calibre 4401. With 5 models honed from stainless steel, 18-carat pink gold or titanium, the new Royal Oak Offshore Selfwinding Chronograph 43mm is already a solid collection.After launching the initial Royal Oak in 1972, which caused a revolution in watch design and introduced us to the concept of a luxury steel sports watch, the Offshore collection almost did the same in 1993 when first presented. It was bolder, more disruptive and defi

The History of the Omega Constellation Collection - In-Depth
The Constellation family has been around for 66 years and is currently one of Omega's oldest collections. What started out as a chronometer for men in 1952 has undergone countless aesthetic transformations, from the pie-pan dials of the 1950s to the ultra-thin quartz watches of the 1970s leading to the consolidation of the collection in 1982 with the Constellation Manhattan and its hallmark claws. Today many Constellation models are equipped with Master Chronometer movements respecting the original vocation of this family to combine luxury and precision. Let's take a look at how the Constellation got its star power and its claws.Born as a chronometer in 1952To celebrate its 100th anniversary in 1948, Omega released the Centenary, its first limited-edition chronometer-certified wristwatch with an automatic movement. Given the positive reaction to this unrivalled combination of precision and practicality, Omega decided the time was ripe for a collection of automatic wristwatches with chr

Finding your new watch - Monochrome Watches
Sometimes a watch really grasps your attention and doesn’t let go. What is it that sets this watch apart from the rest? Is it the looks or maybe the brand’s name and fame appeals to you? Or did your father or favourite movie star had a watch that made a deep impression? Or maybe it is mainly about the technical aspects?Since the reason will be different for everyone and will probably even differ from watch to watch, I can only describe what made me want a watch from the Finnish watchmaker Sarpaneva. In my story at World Tempus I wrote about my decision to buy a special watch. But why this one and not any other watch. There are thousands of beautiful watches, so more than enough to choose from. One of my friends is crazy about a double straumann escapement, while i have just a vague idea of what makes this escapement differ from normal escapements. One of my other friends collects Cartier of the Collection Privee. And so do we all have a weak spot for something different. Fo

Patek Philippe Nautilus Annual Calendar 5726/1A now in Gradient Blue - Monochrome Watches
As one of the hottest watches these days, it seems natural for Patek Philippe to ride on the?wave of success by introducing new references of the iconic Nautilus. Last year, we saw the introduction of the Perpetual Calendar 5740G model, the most complex piece in the collection. This year, its little brother, the Annual Calendar 5726 is under the loupe, with the steel-on-steel model getting a new gradient blue dial (and the grey dial being discontinued).While most collectors (or even the not-that-hardcore watch enthusiasts) have the 3-hand 5711 and the deliberately unbalanced 5712 in mind when thinking about the Nautilus, there’s also another reference that is available in stainless steel – certainly the less “collectable” of the three, the Annual Calendar reference 5726/1A. It was time to give this model a small update and to shine the spotlight on it. Ad - Scroll to continue with article

Grand Seiko Spring Drive Snowflake Titanium SBGA211 | REVIEW
Quartz… A word that you don’t often read on MONOCHROME. I’m not afraid to say that and freely admit that we are watch snobs. We love fine mechanics and Haute Horlogerie. However, the watch that we’re about to review has a quartz regulator, but isn’t battery powered – and that already makes things slightly different. Secondly, this watch is made by Grand Seiko – and we’ve already seen that it is committed to doing things in a different (better?) way. And last but not least, this quartz crystal is part of a hybrid movement, mixing old-school mechanics and modernity. This watch is the?Grand Seiko Spring Drive Snowflake SBGA211 and no, we’re not afraid to review it in this “online magazine dedicated to fine watches”.?I recall that following his visit to the Seiko manufacture, our founder Frank Geelen came to the conclusion that: “Quartz CAN be high-end”. A concept that will be important to this article because, a