Watches NEWS
Recap: The Best GMT and Travel Watches of 2023
Yesterday, we started looking back at 2023 and all the new watches we’ve seen to try and make a list of the best ones. The MONOCHROME Editorial Team took votes to determine the Best Chronograph of 2023, which kicked things off, but also many other categories. Up next is the GMT/Travel category, and although the list wasn’t as long as the chronographs category, there was a lot of debate on which ones would make the cut. Going through the list reveals that there are plenty of directions to go in, but the diving travel watch is gaining traction. So, without revealing too much up front, here are the MONOCHROME team’s Best GMT/Travel Watches of 2023.Going through all watch novelties for 2023, we ended up with a little over 70 watches under the GMT/Travel tag. The list?before voting saw some usual suspects making the rounds, but some new brands, like Jacob & Co with its The World Is Yours dual time watch, also entered the mix. Nevertheless, we narrowed it down to the fi
Hublot Spirit of Big Bang for Bruce Lee - Commemorating the Masters 75th Birthday (specs & price) - Monochrome Watches
Hublot dispense with their traditional octagonal port-hole' form to pay tribute to the late Kung Fu icon on what would have been his 75th birthday.? Have the playful brains at Hublot disgraced their ancestors? Will this watch of truly epic proportions' be able to restore the honor of their monastery? ?Overview of the Hublot Spirit of Big Bang for Bruce Lee Chronograph.In the year 2015 it is almost impossible to OVERstate the role Bruce Lee, the San Francisco born son of a touring Hong Kong acting family has had on modern action films. In a day and age where the lion's share of what you see on screen in a movie is CGI, Lee's movies, though sometimes quaint looking by today's standards, are packed with a life's dedication to mastering King Chun and Jeet Kune Do style Kung Fu. More importantly, Lee's brief TV and movie career still serves as the archetype for the modern action hero. Hint: when you look at Keanu Reeves in the Matrix Trilogy, what you see is one huge homage to Bruce Lee. An
Kikuchi Nakagawa, Independent Watchmaker from Japan
By now we've established well enough that the world of watchmaking is far from limited to Switzerland, or even Europe. Well beyond the Swiss borders, there's plenty of amazing stuff to be discovered. And even though we have a seasoned team of editors, we sometimes get hit by big surprises. Like Kikuchi Nakagawa, a watchmaking duo from Japan, who we've never covered before but recently stumbled upon on Instagram. It’s not even the fact there’s an entirely new watch either, but more about the discovery and the hunger for more that followed. What struck us right off the bat is the insane attention to detail in the finishing, using traditional craftsmanship to elevate a watch far beyond an instrument to tell time.I'll go through the basics first before I uncover the splendour of the watches. Kikuchi Nakagawa is an independent watchmaking company from Japan, founded in 2018 by Yusuki Kikuchi and Tomonari Nakagawa. Both men are trained watchmakers but had a different path leading
Value Proposition - William L. 1985 with one of The Most Affordable Automatic Chronographs On The Market (Specs & Price)
William L. 1985 was founded in 2015 by Guillaume Laidet (hence the name William L. – Guillaume is the French for William). A French entrepreneur with a passion for watchmaking, Guillaume used to work in Switzerland for high-end brands such as Zenith and Jaeger-LeCoultre. When he founded his own brand, his idea was to offer vintage-inspired timepieces that would be both functional and affordable. After the successful launch, William L. 1985 is now back on Kickstarter to unveil an automatic chronograph presented as the most affordable in the market' and priced just under EUR 500 (Kickstarter price).The William L. 1985 Automatic chronograph is a no-nonsense stopwatch that makes a good first impression?with its elegant,?vintage-inspired spirit. The round case is a well thought-out design with a sloped bezel, tapered lugs, mushroom-type push-pieces and a fluted crown engraved with the brand's logo. At 41 mm, it is (to me at least) perfectly sized and should fit comfortably on most wri
Oris Carl Brashear Calibre 401 Limited Edition - Hands-On, Price
The connection between Oris and the Carl Brashear Foundation isn't new. It all started in 2016, when the brand introduced its first-ever bronze watch, which also marked the beginning of a long-term relationship between the Swiss brand and the American Foundation. This watch, based on the handsome Divers Sixty Five vintage-inspired model, will draw the design cues that will later be found on two subsequent watches; the Oris Carl Brashear Chronograph of 2018 and the watch we'll be talking about today, the recently-introduced Oris Carl Brashear Calibre 401 Limited Edition.?A tribute to a man who never gave upThe story of Carl Brashear is that of man who has faced adversity and overcame challenges, despite shortcomings, racial prejudice and disability. And indeed, he never gave up! Carl Brashear is mostly known by younger generations thanks to the 2000 movie Men of Honor, an American drama film, starring Robert De Niro and Cuba Gooding Jr. that depicts the life of Brashear.?
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