Hands-on with the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Chronograph QEII Cup 2015 Limited Edition (live pics, specs & price) - Monochrome-Watches
When it comes to limited edition watches, I usually don’t really care much about the partnership or the?purpose of them. In today’s hands-on review, we give you an Audemars Piguet, a watch made in collaboration?with?The Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) for the 17th Audemars Piguet Queen Elizabeth II (QEII) Cup. Thus, something that I really don’t care about. However, what tickles my interest is clearly the watch in question, because what we have here might be one of the best looking modern AP Royal Oak?Chronographs. it’s called the?Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Chronograph QEII Cup 2015 Limited Edition (sorry for the name) and here it is in the flesh.The “new” Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Chronograph was introduced in 2012 with several improvements and updates: a new face, with thinner and longer indexes, a slightly more precise pattern on the dial with smaller “hobnails” but mainly a larger case, measuring 41mm vs. 39mm on the older edition. Surpri

The Vintage Corner - The Story of Aquastar Deepstar Dive Chronograph
Aquastar is a very niche brand, specialized in diver's instruments. It is also a rather young brand, in the vintage field, as it was only established in 1962. The brand started supplying watches to Jacques Cousteau's dive team in 1965, and it seems that the brand’s founder, Frederic Robert, working under the umbrella of the JeanRichards Company, was not wrong in his push to create dedicated dive watches, including today's specialized chronograph, the Aquastar Deepstar. It may not be the most practical and functional dive watch ever created, but its visual appeal can't be denied. This is why we'll take a closer look at it, in today's episode of the Vintage Corner.This Aquastar Deepstar diving chronograph was created in an era of new world of exploration. While NASA and the USSR were reaching Space and planning for a moon shot, others were using advanced technology to explore the depths of the oceans on Earth. The rush of technological development in materials, plastics and new all

Horological Cyber-Warfare: Swiss Brands Targeting Piracy-Dials for Smartwatches - Monochrome Watches
Downloading movies and music without paying is illegal, and if you are caught you can be prosecuted for it. Download a Milgauss face for your gizmo? Hold on just a second! You could be next in line for the Swiss industry giants to take down a peg or two. Brands like Omega, Panerai, Mondaine and IWC are taking action against the latest phase of horo-theft: smartwatch-piracy.The global watch industry is an unusually large platform for piracy, as you probably all know. Hundreds of sites selling Bolex, Braitlin, EyeWC or Ublow have been taken down in the past, but they seem to surface again and again. Even more worrying, people are even rebadging a Cartier Rotonde to something called a Reef Tiger and try to pass it on as original designs, complete with a blue cabochon on the crown. And now we can add copyright infringing digital watch faces to the mix. Ad - Scroll to continue with article

Hands-on - Hublot Big Bang Meca-10, With The Brand's New 10-day Power Reserve Movement (specs & price) - Monochrome Watches
Until recently, the concept?of Hublot was mainly focused on the look and the combination of extreme materials, such as ceramic of course, but also super-resistant gold alloys, carbon fibre printed with motifs?or sapphire. Hublot is first of all a design, a concept, not only?focussed on horology but also on the looks – and?with all respect to the brand, this has been very successful until now. Then came the first in-house movement of the brand, the Unico – but that was a chronograph. With the idea to emphasize more on watchmaking skills and integration, this year the brand introduced a new watch, with a brand new movement, where watchmaking is used to create style, architectural design and horological pleasure. Here is the?Hublot Big Bang Meca-10, with the brand’s new 10-day power reserve movement. A bit caricatural in the execution, but that’s also why Hublot is Hublot.The new?Hublot Big Bang Meca-10 is based on the traditional Big Bang case – so the point

Hands-On - IWC Big Pilot's Watch Perpetual Calendar Edition "A Tribute to the 1st IWC Pilot's Watch" - Monochrome Watches
80 years ago (yes, already…), a brand named International Watch Co. launched a watch that will later become an icon and one emblematic collection. This watch was a “Special Watch For Pilots” and it was introduced to the world in 1936. Decades after, the spirit that the brand injected in this watch is still alive and the current?IWC Big Pilot’s Watch still represents the pinnacle of the aviator’s instrument. To celebrate the 80th anniversary of IWC’s dedication?to the pilot watch, the brand is about to launch a stunning limited edition, the IWC Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar Edition “A Tribute to the 1st IWC Pilot’s Watch”, exclusively available in the Benelux and Scandinavian market (a very good occasion to travel to the Old Europe…).A short reminder about the IWC Pilot watchesThe inter-war period marked the pinnacle for the development of both military aviation and for all the instruments related to this field, in