GIVE AWAY: Five Books, Notebooks and Rollerballs by A. Lange & Sohne - Monochrome Watches
Time for the next give-away on Monochrome to celebrate our 10th anniversary, and this time we can give away 5 sets from A. Lange & Sohne. The beautiful German watch brand, who just launched the renewed Lange 1 Moonphase Day/Night, ?provided us with 5 x the book “Sign of the Times”, 5 x a Lange notebook and 5 rollerballs.?The book, written by Christoph Scheuring, is a historic novel inspired by the fascinating personality of Saxony's watchmaking pioneer, Ferdinand Adolph Lange. Quite a few books already covered his accomplishments, however little has been known about the first few years of his life so far. Lange grew up with foster parents who encouraged him in his ambitions and allowed him to study at the newly founded Royal Technical College, the precursor of what is now the University of Dresden. There, Lange was able to develop his scientific talents. Johann Christian Friedrich Gutkaes, who was later appointed clockmaker to the court, quickly recognised the youngster

IWC Perpetual Calendar Platinum IW503406 and Portugieser Automatic Steel IW500712 (Specs & Price)
This year, 2018, International Watch Company or short IWC celebrates its 150th anniversary and for that reason, it has launched a host of anniversary models (see here in our IWC section) and in the meantime there’s been a new Pilot's Watch Chronograph with creme-coloured (vintage style) markers and hands and a “Laureus Edition” black ceramic Pilot's Watch Mark XVIII. And while the entire year will be all about the 150th anniversary, the Schaffhausen-based brand still adds some other novelties to the collection. There’s a new version of the Portugieser Perpetual Calendar in platinum and a steel Portugieser Automatic, that looks exactly like the older platinum version of this watch.IWC Portugieser Perpetual Calendar Platinum?IW503406Three years ago IWC introduced a new engine for its Portugieser Perpetual Calendar, and it was improved with a double mainspring barrel, ceramic ball-bearings and solid gold automatic winding rotor. On the dial side, the beloved “

IWC Pilot Chronograph Edition Saint-Exupery 'The Last Flight' - Monochrome-Watches
70 years ago Antoine de Saint-Exupery, who could have been IWC’s best ambassador for pilot watches, took off on a reconnaissance flight over France and never returned. It was the 11 August 1944. IWC,?which?always had a strong link with aviation and military-inspired watches, pays tribute once again to this great man, both a famous novelist and trained aviator. In a previous edition of its pilot watch, the brand was giving honors to the author, with the?IWC Pilot Watch Chronograph Edition ?Le Petit Prince??and the?IWC Big Pilot's Watch Perpetual Calendar and Mark XVII Limited Special Edition Le Petit Prince. It is now the appropriate day to celebrate the pilot, with a new limited edition of the Pilot’s Watch Chronograph.This limited edition of the IWC Pilot Chronograph comes in an unusual full-brown colour combination. The 46mm case is made of brown silicon nitride ceramic. Both the dial – with a sun-burst finish – and the strap are also using that same colour. T

Hands-On - Omega Seamaster Olympic Games Collection (specs & price)
The?2018 Winter Olympics are about to start and Omega celebrates its 86th year as the official timekeeper of the Games. What’s more, the brand has announced that it will hold this position at least until 2032 – meaning an entire century of? Olympic timing. After the gold collection introduced earlier this week, it is time to look at the other side of the price range, with the?Omega Seamaster Olympic Games Collection – some nice, colourful, entry-level sports watches inspired by the?Olympic Flag and vintage stopwatches.This?Omega Seamaster Olympic Games Collection is not dedicated per se to the 2018 Olympic Games, even if it will be launched almost coinciding with the official start of PyeongChang 2018. As such, this new collection is more of a celebration of Omega’s participation in the Games as the official timekeeper. The Biel-based brand has fulfilled this role since 1932 and it just announced that this will continue at least until 2032 – which will mea

Hands-On: The Patek Philippe Calatrava 24-Hour Travel Time 5224R
While chronographs and complex calendars are often seen as the classics of Patek Philippe – and sometimes both combined – traveller’s watches of all kinds have long been present within the brand’s collections. Remember that Patek, together with Louis Cottier, pioneered the concept of the world time watch. There are more travel watches and complications for everyday use available, and the?Travel Time dual time zone function is known as Patek’s vision of this multi-time-zone concept. This year, the brand presents a watch that combines elegance, classism and practicality, yet with a slight dosage of originality and casualness; the Calatrava 24-Hour Travel Time 5224R.Among the numerous complications available in Patek Philippe’s collections, the Travel Time system for the display of a second time zone (with two centre hour hands, one of which can be adjusted backwards or forwards in one-hour steps) has become a classic, with proven practicality when trav