Collector's Corner - The Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Control Perpetual 1990s
For our new installment of The Collector's Corner, we are returning to a Richemont brand, one that is known as “La Grande Maison”, or the watchmaker of watchmakers. That's right, this week we are looking at Jaeger-LeCoultre, specifically, a 1990s hit that lives on in the current collection. We love complications here at MONOCHROME, and we are switching things up a bit and are going with the Master Control Perpetual Calendar, a watch that I love to name the forebear of the Dr. Strange watch. Let's have a look at a typical complicated youngtimer.?After the quartz crisis led to a culling of the herd in the Swiss watch industry, the 1980s and 1990s were a time of rebirth and re-discovery. In French-speaking Switzerland, in Le Sentier, Jaeger-LeCoultre embarked on a journey to relearn mechanical complications by developing a series of six limited-edition Reversos in rose gold, each made in 500 pieces: power reserve and date, tourbillon, minute repeater, retrograde chronograph, d

Buying Guide - Alternatives to the Tiffany-Blue Dial Patek Philippe 5711
It seems that the world has gone mad… In just a month, the watch world has been talking almost exclusively about one thing, the last batch Patek Philippe 5711 and its ‘Tiffany Blue’ (or light blue) dial. Over the past 5 weeks, this has become THE trend to follow. And then consider that any attention for light blue dials was almost non-existing. In all fairness, if you ask me, I don’t even think the watch looks good… The dial itself (the only thing that actually matters) is not what I’d expect from Patek and don’t get me started on the caseback. Since that 5711 with its Tiffany Blue dial sold at auction for a bizarre price, some watch enthusiasts are looking for watches with a Tiffany-blue dial. And now we are seeing the Oyster Perpetual with its light blue dial for sale for bizarre prices, we thought it was about time to look for alternatives. Today, it’s all about very serious (irony-mode activated) consumer advice! Here’s our se

Introducing the Laurent Ferrier Galet Square Autumn, with a new 5N red gold dial (specs & price) - Monochrome-Watches
Saying that the?Laurent Ferrier Galet Square was?welcomed and?that it is a superb achievement is kind of an understatement. This watch is simply superb. When launched, it was the entry-level proposition of the brand, with a (slightly) sportier look, a stainless steel case, a more?reasonable?price but still with the same true elegance and a perfectly finished, innovative movement. As we’re now in the middle of October, Laurent Ferrier has just decided to add a new iteration to the collection (that you can see in the flesh here) with a brushed red gold dial. Here is the?Laurent Ferrier Galet Square Autumn.Until now, the Laurent Ferrier Galet Square was only available in 2 main editions, with a stainless steel case. The first one was a classic from the small independent manufacture, with a vertically brushed blue dial and usual indexes. The other one was a sort of cleaned edition, with a more vintage feeling, due to a warm silver / light gold dial, a natural leather strap and a very

Back to basics: the Patek Philippe Ref 5370 Split-Seconds Chronograph - REVIEW with live photos, specs & price - Monochrome-Watches
Sometimes, it happens that Patek Philippe acts… differently. Recently, they came with the?Calatrava Pilot Travel Time Ref. 5524, an unusual (from Patek’s standards) pilot watch or with the Ref. 5960/1A, a sporty steel annual calendar chronograph with coloured accents. They also came with the Nautilus, a now classic watch that wasn’t so classic after all (back in 1976 of course). However, Patek Philippe also knows how to do what collectors expect from them – and this year, they are bringing to us what we will dare to call a proper vintage-inspired timepiece: the classic, high-end, complicated and super-elegant?Patek Philippe Ref 5370 Split-Seconds Chronograph.BackgroundIf you look closely at the Patek 5370, you’ll see that everything in it is reminiscent of past creations, starting from the dial, the indexes, the hands, the complication used or the shape of the case. This watch feels like buried during the 1940s and dug?out just because the hardcore collect

Oris Holstein Edition 2021 (Specs & Price)
On 1st June 1904, Oris was founded in the Swiss town of Holstein and named after a nearby brook. One hundred and seventeen years later, Oris equips its classic Big Crown Pointer Date model with a new in-house developed automatic movement known as Calibre 403. Sharing the same beefy five-day power reserve, impressive resilience to magnetism and ten-year warranty as the groundbreaking 2020 Calibre 400 automatic series, this particular calibre adds a small seconds counter and pointer date function. Although at first glance it is clearly a Big Crown Pointer Date, there are plenty of modifications to distinguish it as an anniversary model. Limited to 250 pieces, the 38mm steel Big Crown tones down the vintage vibe associated with this family and resorts to a more contemporary monochromatic palette with a grey dial, a new set of Arabic numerals and a sleeker smaller and sharper case silhouette.BackgroundThe Big Crown model started life as a pilot's watch in 1938 and featured an oversized cro