The Collector's Series: the Breguet Type XX that ignited Brice's Passion for Watches - Monochrome Watches
It was an immense pleasure to sit down with our very own associate editor, Brice Goulard, and hear where his passion for watches comes from. Brice is the only Frenchman in the Monochrome lineup, so me being from the UK, we try to avoid talking about the Football or le Rugby. Luckily we have no problems talking watches, so we caught up with Brice in Paris to find out why Brequet is so close to his heart and why the Type XX is historically so important.How did you first get into watches?My first contact with watches will sound familiar to many collectors. I was 15 years old and my father offered me a 1960s mechanical chronograph that was previously owned by my grandfather. I guess it was a Yema, a French brand that used to be extremely popular in France in the 1950s / 1960s. However, don't ask me for more details about this one, as I only had it for a short period of time, before it had been stolen! Anyway, this watch was the starting point of everything (and it explains why I'm here, at

The Collector's Series - Peter Chong with his masterpiece, a Philippe Dufour Simplicity - Monochrome-Watches
When you speak to hardcore watch geeks, there is one name that consistently gets brought up in conversation.? Mr Philippe Dufour. There are very few owners of such watches and we're lucky enough to have one in the Collector's Series, in the name of Peter Chong, a true seasoned collector with certainly some of the most beautiful watches around. Peter founded Deployant with 2 other close friends in 2014 and runs the editorials. Last week we got to discuss what many would describe as their ultimate grail watch, the Philippe Dufour Simplicity.Peter Chong is a veteran watch collector. He has been an active commentator in the industry since the 1990. He founded the Lange Forum on Timezone.com in 1997, and continues to moderate the forum to this very day. He retired from an active commercial life in the aviation business in 2010 to write the book A. Lange & Sohne: The Pour le Merite Collection. The large coffee table book was published in 2011, and he decided to stay out of active commerc

Introducing the Breitling Navitimer 01 in 46mm - Monochrome Watches
The Navitimer is Breitling’s most emblematic watch. Presented in 1952 with?the reference 806 as the ultimate pilot chronograph, equipped with a very useful slide rule, it was endorsed as the official timekeeping instrument of the?AOPA – the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. At that time, with its 42mm, it was already huge, especially when you consider that most watches were sized at 35mm. For years now, the Navitimer has shared the same spirit and design, with the same slide rule and its 3-sub-counter panda dial (black dial with white sub-dials). But the 43mm of the actual models are quite average now and an?update was needed, just to keep the?spirit of the original?one: a massive 46mm or 48mm tool-watch to wear over?your?flight jacket.Navitimer 806 – Photo by WatchFredThe Navitimer is one of the few watches that can really claim to be iconic. It even boasts a surprising link between an astronaut (Scott Carpenter), a French singer (Serge Gainsbourg), an American

We have a winner for the Montblanc Sweepstake - Monochrome Watches
Montblanc gave us the opportunity to visit the Montblanc watch manufacture in Le Locle together with one of Monochrome’s readers. So early February we posted the sweepstake and ended it, as announced, a month later on Friday the 8th of March.?An overwhelming number of 883 of our readers have registered for this sweepstake and I’m totally overwhelmed by this. Thank you all for registering for the sweepstake and Monochrome newsletter! But there is only one person who can join me for visiting the Montblanc watch manufacture in Le Locle. Ad - Scroll to continue with article Our winner, Andrew, takes absolutely gorgeous photos during the dives he made on all exotic dive spots around the world, like this photo of “Nemo”. And he’s an avid watch collector and actively shares his passion for watches online on Facebook and on watch forums. I

Oris ProPilot X Calibre 115 - Incl. First-Look Pics and Technical Overview - Monochrome Watches
From a concept of ? Real Watches for Real People ?, meaning no-nonsense, practical tool watches with not much horological depth but solid manufacturing, to a higher-end, highly mechanical piece that will define the brand's future Oris' latest watch had a long way to travel. We went down that same road with its creators to see what this new ProPilot X Calibre 115 is all about.It was only about a month ago that I wrote a piece on a EUR 7,000 watch with only hour and minute hands. One of the comments I got on the article was: Why can't this brand make a watch at an honest price when Oris can?”Just to keep our thinking clear, I won't mention that other brand (two brands cannot always be easily compared – prestige plays a role in pricing as well). But the gist of the comment was clear. And indeed, it made me realize something: apparently, Oris has become the benchmark for reasonably priced, well-designed and good-quality real watches. No one could have thought that about 15 year