5 Mechanical Marvels from Baselworld 2018 - Monochrome Watches
On the contrary to?most of the other buying guides we’ve published, the present one is more of a “wish list” or a “dream list” rather than a proper guide – so consider it a guide for those who already have everything they need but want to be genuinely surprised. Nothing here is rational, it’s all about passion, ingenuity, creativity and impressive mechanics. From the thinnest automatic watch ever created to a signing automaton or an atomic?sympathique?clock, here are the five most marvellous mechanical creations we’ve seen at Baselworld 2018.Bvlgari Octo Finissimo Tourbillon AutomaticLet’s start straight away with one of the hottest brands of the moment: Bvlgari. Yes, the Italian Maison is a proper watchmaking expert and as a demonstration of this savoir-faire, it has created several record-breaking ultra-thin watches – the thinnest tourbillon, the thinnest minute repeater and here is the new thinnest automatic watch AND thinn

Weekly Watch Photo - Vacheron Constantin Wristshots from the Hour Lounge - Monochrome Watches
Another week, another Weekly Watch Photo here at Monochrome. A while ago Alex Ghotbi, community manager of Vacheron Constantin’s “in-house” forum, started the Friday “what’s on your wrist” post by showing the Overseas Chronograph with blue dial (click here for our hands-on report) on his wrist. I liked that photo a lot and yesterday I browsed through the Hour Lounge to search for more beautiful wrist shots of the Overseas Chrono and ended up with some entirely different photos.While I was actually searching for photos of the sporty and casual Overseas, I saw a photo of the Historique American 1921 and I like this model so much. The search went on, but I noticed that my focus was changed and thus I selected other photos, not of the sports watch that the Overseas is, but photos of stylish, refined and even elegant dress watches. No wonder, actually, because that’s exactly what we can expect from Vacheron Constantin. Together with Patek Philippe a

Petrolhead Corner - The 1970 Lotus Type 66 That Never Was, Is Now A Reality
Like many car manufacturers built upon a passion for speed, performance and racing cars, Lotus has pretty much done it all and won it all. It raced in open-wheel categories such as the Indy500 and Formula 1 but also at Le Mans and various other prestigious championships around the world. For many years, this was driven by Colin Chapman’s forward-thinking engineering and although not every car was a success, Lotus always found a way to reinvent themselves to become championship contenders once more. Cars like the Lotus Elise and Lotus 7 paved the way for huge international successes and unique racing heritage. And on the occasion of the brand’s 75th anniversary Clive Chapman, Colin Chapman’s son, pulled back the covers of a car that actually never existed. Here’s the story of the fascinating Lotus Type 66.To say this car never existed, and now does, needs some explaining of course. For this, we take a trip down memory lane and go back to the 1960s and 1970s. This

Introducing New Variations Of The TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph 42mm (Live Pics)
In 2020 TAG Heuer celebrated the 160th anniversary of the brand and launched several editions of the Carrera Chronograph to highlight the importance of the watch to the brand’s past, present and future. The origins of the iconic Carrera and its value to the watchmaking history received plenty of coverage; the perfect chronograph design, conceived in the 1960s by Jack Heuer, continues to impress and inspire modern-day creations. The new TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph 42 mm stays true to its name: racing-inspired and dynamic high-performance timepiece for sports car enthusiasts to please watch lovers, too.TAG Heuer now launches two references to expand the 42mm Carrera Chronograph collection, evoking both early Carrera models and the watches presented in 2020. Elegant polished stainless steels case with angular lugs, piston-style chronograph pushers at 2 and 4 o’clock and the large crown, absence of the tachymetric scale on the bezel and the angled flange with the minutes̵

Vacheron Constantin vintage chronograph ref. 4072 hands-on - Monochrome-Watches
It won’t be the first time we say it: buying vintage watches can be risky. If the trustworthiness of the seller has already?been established, one’s attention has to be turned toward the authenticity of the watch itself. By that, we mean verifying it has the right pieces, the right hands or dial and not replacement ones – or even worse, pieces from another reference. In order to define what a genuine (and amazing) vintage watch is, we went to the Vacheron Constantin boutique in Paris and got our hands on a 1940s chronograph that made us fall in love.?Usually, the three ways to buy a vintage watch are through auctions, specialized shops and forums (we won’t mention here a certain auction website that everyone knows to be dangerous). These were really your only options until a few months ago, when Vacheron Constantin created a true collectors’ club (TheHourClub) and decided to sell some of their historical pieces inside their own boutiques (Paris, Geneva and