Industry Massive Shakeups at Richemont, Abolishes CEO Role, IWC's Kern Head of Watchmaking and Montblanc's Lambert Head of Operations - Monochrome Watches
Telling you that the watchmaking industry is now facing some troubles won’t be the biggest piece of news you’ll have today. It is now known; the Swiss industry is in tough period, sales are decreasing, profits are lower and stocks are massively increasing at retailers. This situation seemed to be quite a secret for a year or so, but now, large groups – mainly those listed and that must report to shareholders – are making things clearer and?the situation really becomes public. As a proof, yesterday Richmont Group, the second largest actor in the field of luxury watchmaking (owner of Cartier, IWC, Jaeger, Montblanc and more)?announced declining results,?abolished?CEO Role and?unveiled a major?sweeping management overhaul – as?IWC’s Kern will become Head of Watchmaking and Montblanc’s Lambert Head of Operations.As reported by Bloomberg here, massive changes are about to come at Richmont Group. As a reminder, Richemont Group, a Swiss Group listed a

Introducing the IWC Big Pilot Le Petit Prince in Red Gold - Specs and Price - Monochrome Watches
The end of last year we told you about the limited edition Big Pilot Watch?honouring one of IWC’s?favourite ambassadors, the late Antoine de Saint-Exupery, and his famous character le petit Prince. Antoine de Saint-Exupery, and the Petit Prince', feature as IWC limited editions regularly and always, a part of the proceeds go to a good cause. After the steel version, IWC have now come with a follow up limited edition, the IWC Big Pilot Le Petit Prince in red gold.The “Le Petit Prince” are all limited editions and the Antoine de Saint-Exupery editions are ‘special editions’ and all are linked with charity. For instance the Pilot Chronograph Saint-Exupery ‘Last Flight‘, which is entirely executed in a?brown ceramic case, comes in several editions, and one of these editions has a platinum crown, pushers and case-back. This platinum model is auctioned and all proceeds go to the Antoine de Saint-Exupery Foundation. A part of the proceeds of ALL ̶

Piaget Altiplano Ultimate Concept - The World's Thinnest Mechanical Watch Ever - Review
To follow with the video we just published, it is now time for us to go into all the details about what certainly is THE main technical achievement of the beginning of the year. Piaget smashes all previous records and unveils the ultra-lean 2mm Altiplano Ultimate Concept. What you see in front of you simply is the thinnest mechanical watch ever created… And by far. Ultra-thin redefined!BackgroundThe domain of a few specialist watchmakers, the creation of ultra-thin watches is a challenging art uniting elegance and the most precise horological technology. It requires a focus on the essentials while working with the most extreme tolerances.Piaget started life as a watchmaker. Edouard Piaget set up his workshop in 1874 in La Cote-aux-Fees, a small village in the Jura Mountains. Since then, the brand has cultivated a unique horological legacy, specializing in the crafting of ultra-thin watches. Following decades of investment on technical and aesthetic levels, Piaget's mastery of ult

Hands-On - 2022 TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 1000 Superdiver
TAG Heuer's new Aquaracer Professional 1000 Superdiver is a big brother to the Aquaracer Professional 300 with upgrades across the board. The depth rating of 1,000 metres is suitable for the most hardcore saturation divers, while a partnership with Kenissi Manufacture SA brings an all-new movement to the brand as well. This watch follows icons from decades ago like the Heuer 1000m diver from 1982 and Super Professional from 1984, both designed for professional divers and a bit ahead of their time. The brand is no stranger to pushing boundaries when it comes to deep-sea exploration.?The case of the TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 1000 Superdiver is sizable with a 45mm diameter and height of 15.75mm, although that's rather decent for such a deep diver. The majority is made from grade 5 titanium with the caseback and a few small elements having different materials. This keeps it lightweight on the wrist for long dives and titanium is incredibly corrosion-resistant. The unidirectional rot

EZA Watches Sealander, an interesting and affordable dive watch from a startup brand (live photos & price) - Monochrome Watches
Young startup brands are often presented to us via press materials. Not necessarily a bad thing of course, but it gets so much better when they can show you the final product (or one as close as 99% to production ready). EZA Watches (already introduced here) is one of those young brands, which managed to let us go hands-on with their first collection, the EZA Watches Sealander. So, after the introductory story, we now have the extensive review ready for your reading pleasure! And, this is essential, we are happy to be able to bring you an important piece of news at the same time: it gets rid of the Japanese movement and will be equipped with a Swiss ETA movement. And for the same price Not too bad, right.Now, to begin with the selected movement of the initial Sealander collection, it was something some people (including the ever-picky Monochrome-team) at least raised an eyebrow to. The initial movement was supposed to be a Japanese automatic Miyota, basically one of the widely availabl