Hands-On with the Blancpain Bathyscaphe Chronograph Flyback (Live photos & pricing) - Monochrome Watches
This year at the?Baselworld?watch fair,?Blancpain presented a chronograph version of its Bathyscaphe, the clean and vintage inspired version of the Fifty Fathoms. A very seductive dive watch available in full black ceramic or in?stainless steel, now?proposed with a flyback chronograph caliber. And the main point of this watch is here: its new hi-beat in-house movement, calibre?F385. Let’s see why.?The Bathyscaphe Chronograph Flyback comes with a robust 43 mm case that is water resistant?up to 300 meters, even when using the chronograph with the pushers. It is available in two flavours: brushed black ceramic or brushed stainless steel. The design, similar to the?version without chronograph, is very clean with straight and thin lugs and masculine enough to create?a tool-watch look. The two versions features a unidirectional rotating black bezel made with?LiquidMetal (hey, isn’t that exclusive to Omega?) – a ceramic ring filed with liquid metal for?the numbers and markin

Buying Guide: The Very Best Artistic Dials We've Seen This Year
They say the face of a watch can be regarded as a canvas. A canvas to display time first and foremost, but in some watches, it is also a backdrop for a discerning and mesmerising complication like a tourbillon or a perpetual calendar indication. But what if you would take the dial as a canvas more literally? What if you actually use it as a blank canvas to produce a work of art? Well, magic can happen if you do, showcased by these spectacularly creative watches. And where some go for miniature painting, others take a less conventional approach!Bulgari octo Finissimo Automatic Laurent GrassoPartnering with French artist Laurent Grasso, Bulgari has given a creative spin to its mighty Octo Finissimo. The blue PVD-coated titanium case is fitted with a blue PVD-coated dial finished with an evanescent blue, white and pink cloud created by Grasso. The dreamy, iridescent image captures Grasso’s fascination with electromagnetic energy and paranormal phenomena and is said to question the f

Introducing the TAG Heuer Carrera NISMO Calibre 16 Day-Date Chronograph Special Edition (specs & price) - Monochrome-Watches
When you think about racing cars and car-oriented chronographs, you should?have only a restricted amount of watches?in mind. If you think now?about the 24 Hours of Le Mans, you certainly only have one single brand in mind: TAG Heuer – mainly?because of the Heuer Monaco worn by Steve McQueen during the movie Le Mans. For 2015, TAG Heuer partners with the Nissan / Nismo Team and the result of this collaboration is a modified Carrera. Here is the new?TAG Heuer Carrera NISMO Calibre 16 Day-Date Chronograph Special Edition.Even though TAG Heuer is actually in a transitional period with a repositioning strategy (the difficult moments we reported seem to be part of the past now), conducted by its new CEO Jean-Claude Biver and that led to different types of watches, like the vintage-inspired Carrera Calibre 18 Chronograph Telemeter or the very modern Hublot-style Carrera Heuer-01, TAG Heuer’s latest piece of news was?refreshing. In fact, even before?seeing the watch in question, kn

Pre-Baselworld 2016 - Introducing the Oris Artix Skeleton (specs & price) - Monochrome Watches
Most of you may know Oris for their sports watches, with some robust dive watches (like the Aquis), very cool vintage-inspired pieces (e.g. the Divers Sixty Five), highly functional pilot watches (think?Big Crown ProPilot Altimeter) or race-oriented pieces (the?Audi Sport Limited Editions). However, as we have already showed you, Oris also has some interesting dress watches in the collection, and some even featuring?an in-house movement. For Baselworld 2016, the brand will come with a modern dressy piece, featuring a nice automatic skeletonized movement, the?Oris Artix Skeleton.The new?Oris Artix Skeleton is part of a collection composed of rather classical but contemporary watches called Artix – see all the models here. However, if all the other models have some complications – date, moon-phase indicator or a complete calendar – and?a traditional silvery white dial, this new open-worked edition plays more on the modern-side. Visible technical parts, nicely opened bri

Panerai Luminor Submersible 1950 3 Days Automatic Oro Rosso 42mm PAM00684 - SIHH 2017 (Review / Price)
Panerai watches are great. They look super-cool, they have that unique aura of a robust and vintage dive watch mixed with that Italian je-ne-sais-quoi.?They are icons of watchmaking. Still, there might?be one issue with these watches. Most?are sized for?lumberjacks’ wrists. If the 45mm or 47mm diameters participate to the look (and they are actually easier to wear than what you can expect), a smaller size could be welcome. That’s what happened with the Panerai Luminor Due, the smaller, slimmer and dressier versions of the icon. But what if you want the sporty look? Well, for the SIHH 2017, the answer came in the name of?the?Panerai Luminor Submersible 1950 3 Days Automatic Oro Rosso 42mm PAM00684, the small & gold Luminor Submersible that rocks.To some, this watch will be an almost no-sense. Admittedly, it is full of contradictions. It is supposed to be a Luminor Submersible but?it’s small (relatively speaking, because it is 42mm). It is supposed to be a tool watc