INTERVIEW: Rebecca Struthers About Old Watches Getting a New Life - Struthers London - Monochrome Watches
This week we had the pleasure of sitting down with Rebecca Struthers, one half of Struthers London. Rebecca and her husband Craig are the master watchmakers and founders behind Struthers London. Having spent many years as vintage and antique watch restorers they launched Struthers London to re-commission high-grade antique and vintage watch movements recycled from the past. In the interview we discuss how the Morgan Car Company partnership came to fruition, who have been her watchmaking inspirations and what its like to work with your husband. Mono: Tell us a bit about Struthers?RS: The Struthers watchmakers are my husband Craig and me, between us we’ve been in the industry for nearly 25 years and trained in vintage and antique watch restoration, illustration, design, antiquarian horology, jewellery, silversmithing and diamond grading amongst other things. In 2013 we decided to set up our own business designing and making bespoke watches using a whol

Hands-On Code 11.59 by AP Tourbillon Openworked Electric Blue 26600NB
High-tech ceramic is the big protagonist of Audemars Piguet's releases this autumn and makes its way, for the first time, into tourbillon and chronograph models of the Code 11.59 collection. So far, we've seen ceramic on the cases of the Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar and the ROC Tourbillon GMT. Now it's the Code 11.59 Tourbillon Openworked’s turn to get the ceramic treatment. Marking a departure from the elegant black-tie ceramic touches, this model flaunts a vibrant electric shade of blue ceramic. You can imagine the design team at Audemars Piguet listening to the “blue, blue electric blue” line from David Bowie's Sound and Vision album when they came up with the new colour scheme for this 50-piece limited edition. Welcome back the Tourbillon Openworked in a two-tone blue ceramic and white gold case with a colour scheme that makes its way into the heart of the movement.Case StudyThe case of Code 11.59 is well worth a second glance. Close up, the complexity of the arch

Maurice Lacroix Aikon Venturer 43mm Automatic - Hands-On (Specs & Price)
The introduction of the Aikon collection has been a very good surprise, back in 2018. The pleasure of a good luxury sports watch, without the waiting list or the 5-digit price tag. While the first version of the Aikon was a versatile, retrained model, Maurice Lacroix has decided to introduce a second, bolder, sportier iteration, with nautical/adventure inspiration. Its name is the Maurice Lacroix Aikon Venturer and today we take a look at it.While there’s no hiding the fame for luxury sports watches these days (RO and Nautilus being the stars of the show), few of us have a wallet thick enough to even consider to get one (if ever getting one was only a matter of cash… availability being THE main issue). So the introduction of an accessible, still well-crafted, automatic watch with the flair of these watches, but without the price tag, was refreshing. Certainly, you can’t expect a high-end, ultra-thin movement, a hand-polished case or the same level of execution, but as

Atelier de Chronometrie AdC #5 (Specs & Price)
If there’s one thing I love about my job is to discover new watch brands. I’m always stunned by the level of creativity infused by independent watchmakers, from the Sci-Fi creations of Urwerk or the ultra-classic propositions of Laurent Ferrier (who can do nice things together…) One brand we recently discovered at MONOCHROME cumulates quite some intriguing specificities. It isn’t Swiss, but it makes things in an ultra-traditional way, whether for the design or the manufacturing process, and it’s all about one-off pieces. This brand is?Atelier de Chronometrie and their latest creation is the AdC #5, which brings back to present times the superb 1940s design and mechanics.BackgroundThe philosophy of?Atelier de Chronometrie is to create one-off watches with the pure aesthetics of the 1930s and 1940s, in a package that is not infused with modernism. Behind this brand, there’s no idea of vintage inspiration or reeditions of glorious models with modern mec

Introducing the Autumn 2014 collection by JeanRichard - Monochrome-Watches
For those who are not already aware, JeanRichard is the ‘affordable proposition’ of the Kering Group, meaning the luxury group that owns the impressive Girard-Perregaux, the jeweler Boucheron and, since a few weeks, Ulysse Nardin. With a collection focussed on sports watches with?a strong and distinctive design, the brand is growing in the heart of collectors and known for its interesting value for money ratio. For this end of summer, JeanRichard is introducing a new collection, inspired by the warm and natural colours of autumn.The JeanRichard 1681 Chestnut Brown PVDThe 1681 is JeanRichard’s?finest proposition. It comes with an interesting in-house calibre developed inside the manufacture Sowind, in the same plant where the movements of Girard-Perregaux?are produced. It is however an exclusive engine that is used only by JeanRichard. The Calibre JR1000 is a modern self-winding movement that ticks at 4hz (28.800vph) and that boasts 48 hours of power reserve. It may be