Video Review Longines Spirit Time-and-Date 40mm and 42mm
Longines is a brand with impressive legitimacy when it comes to pilot’s instruments. Think of Charles Lindbergh, or even the chronographs delivered to the US Army, the Avigation Watch Type A-7 1935 (recently reissued). The brand’s savoir-faire in this field is indisputable. Today, we’ll review a watch that isn’t a faithful re-edition of a glorious past model, but instead a modern creation with classic aviation inspiration. It forms part of a new and important collection for Longines that was introduced a few months ago, the Spirit – slightly vintage but not “Heritage”. And since it is available in a variety of models, we’ve decided to compare them so you’ll be able to decide which one is the best for you. Face to face, the Longines Spirit Time-and-Date 40mm and 42mm, with different colours and bracelets… And yes, these two are drastically different watches.As we explained in our introductory article, many explorers, pioneers a

The Petrolhead Corner: A Pair Of Exquisite Jaguar Cars
Jaguar is one of the great British car manufacturers, perhaps only rivalled by Aston Martin when it comes to style, class, and heritage. It started out as the Swallow Sidecar Company in 1922, making motorcycle sidecars before moving into the production of cars in the mid-1930s, with the first-ever car being the SS Jaguar 2.5L Saloon. For obvious reasons, the SS name wouldn’t stick for long, as immediately after WWII, the company’s name was changed to Jaguar. The brand has a very rich history both on the road and in racing, winning Le Mans no less than seven times, for instance. Many cars can be called iconic, and just recently, two of those made headlines in the automotive industry!?The contrast couldn’t be bigger between the two, as on one end, we have a pure handcrafted beauty in the Jaguar Classic E-Type Commemoratives, and on the other, we have a concept-car-turned-stunt-car-turned-road-car in the Callum Designs C-X75. The story of the latter is rather unexpected,

Frederique Constant Slimline Monolithic Manufacture - Video & Review
The word innovation is so often used and abused in the watch industry that it loses its true meaning. But the development Frederique Constant is unveiling today is an authentic horological breakthrough. A prodigious feat of engineering that relies on the principle of compliant mechanisms, the Slimline Monolithic Manufacture is regulated by a revolutionary flexure pivot oscillator beating at an impressive frequency of 40Hz. Today MONOCHROME provides in-depth coverage of this unprecedented development with our article, video and live photos.Basic principlesThe way mechanical wristwatches are regulated has barely changed in centuries. To be more precise, not since the invention of the balance spring over three centuries ago. The basic operating principle is the following. Energy is stored by the mainspring inside the barrel. The energy is released via the gear train that drives the hands. The speed at which the gears rotate is controlled by the regulator that comprises the escapement and

The Petrolhead Corner - All about The New Lotus Emira
Elise, Esprit, Elan, Exige, Europa and of course Evija. Just a list of some of the cars produced by Lotus, all starting with the letter E. And now there's a new one to be added to that lineage, the Lotus Emira. At first glance, it looks properly exciting, with a striking blue paintjob and, on paper, a classical recipe for a two-seater sports car. Look closer though, and this is not just any car, but one that marks the end of an era for Lotus, and coincidentally the beginning of a new chapter.While the apparently never-ending stream of super and hypercars pumping out insane horsepower figures like there's no tomorrow is all fun and games, what's the actual point? I mean, don't get me wrong, I get worked up over a McLaren Speedtail or Rimac Nevera just as much as the next guy. It makes me think though, aren't these kinds of cars, capable of speeds multiple times the limit on public roads, getting a bit too powerful, a bit too fast, and a bit too dangerous? So in all honesty, how much pow

Ulysse Nardin FreakLab, the modern version of the mother of concept watches and silicon - Monochrome Watches
In the small but fascinating world of watchmaking, some timepieces?deeply influenced the whole industry. The Submariner almost defined what a dive watch should be. The story behind the Speedmaster is still an immense source of fascination. The Royal Oak created his own and so-respected category, the luxury sports watch. In a much more discreet way, Ulysse Nardin, in 2001, introduced a watch that deeply changed the face of modern watchmaking: the Freak, a watch that can be considered as the mother of concept watches and of silicon. Its time for us to review its successor, the?Ulysse Nardin FreakLab.The Ulysse Nardin Freak, a 15 years historyIn a time not that far away, watches were made with metals, entirely with metals. Their escapements and balance springs where made in the most advanced alloys possible, but still, this was metal. Then, before the madness of the 2000s came, watches were small, round, classical – even sports watches were in fact quite understated. Well, in 2001,