Buying Guide - Highlights From The Geneva Watch Days 2020
With the cancellation of Baselworld and Watches & Wonders, the Geneva Watch Days event was one of the very few multi-brand watch events of the year. Seventeen brands? showcased their novelties between August 26 and August 29 in the “capital of luxury watchmaking”. The event was decentralised as each brand was presenting novelties in their individual showrooms. We masked up and ventured to Geneva to get a long-awaited horological fix! Here are some of our highlight watches.Ferdinand Berthoud Chronometre FB 2REFerdinand Berthoud's first-round model will be one of the watches of the year. Although the brand's focus remains the same – precision chronometry – the second Berthoud collection comes with a new case and a new calibre. The Chronometre FB 2RE picks up the shape of Berthoud marine clocks and their modular construction. It is based on a cylindrical container fitted with short, tapering lugs secured to the case by stylised bolts. Time is displayed on a tra

A look at the TAG Heuer Carrera Calibre Heuer 01 (Specs & Price) - Monochrome-Watches
Today on Monochrome-Watches, we’re going to look at TAG Heuer’s latest addition – and we’ll have a look at it through the hublot (the meaning?of this last sentence will probably sound odd to you, but you’ll understand later). While the new strategy of TAG is to get back on track with the market of young, active and sport-oriented men (with watches like?this one) or to look back at its past (with vintage oriented pieces like this one), the?TAG Heuer Carrera Calibre Heuer 01 plays on another field. It’s technical, modern, visually complicated and different from anything else made by the brand. Let’s see if this watch is a proper TAG.For most of us, a Carrera is a sports chronograph with a specific look that is easily recognizable. Even if it can be modern and look like that, it can also be a re-issue of the vintage 1960s editions, like the recently introduced?Carrera Calibre 18 Chronograph Telemeter. Whatever the model, they all share specific at

Chris Grainger-Herr on the New 2020 IWC Portugieser Collection, the Big Pilot Safari and COVID-19 (warning: long read) - Monochrome Watches
I guess I need to start this interview with an apology. Sorry, this interview is long, very long, comprising close to 3,000 words. However, the conversation with Chris Grainger-Herr, CEO of IWC Schaffhausen, was great and there was just so much to say about the new Portugiesers. We had the conversation two weeks ago, in the midst of the COVID-19 lockdown. Chris was in his office, in Schaffhausen, and we had a zoom meeting. It’s weird, not sitting together for a talk, but it is what it is and I guess for the foreseeable future this is going to be the new normal.?Personally I am quite pleased with the new Portugieser line-up; there’s a lot to like! Of course, I’d love to put the new Portugieser Perpetual Calendar on the wrist and see/feel how the 42mm diameter works with such a classic beauty. And the Portugieser Automatic 40 with its small seconds sub-dial at 6 o’clock looks fabulous and I’m curious how the old Portugieser and the new one with in-house move

Monochrome top 10 reviews of 2014 - Monochrome-Watches
Here at Monochrome-Watches, we define our job not only as journalists but also as testers. We love watches, all sorts of watches (although we have a strong preference for anything that is made with passion and by skilled hands!) In order to let you know how it these watches actually are in their natural habitat (i.e. on the wrist), we write lengthy watch reviews in which we share our experience and our feelings. Reviews are essential for us as we think it’s the best?way to?inform you and to allow you to really understand?how these timepieces work and feel on the wrist. Brice and I sat down and choose our favourite watch reviews of 2014. It has been a spectacular year! We published many reviews, and we have much awaiting to be written and published. In the coming months we’ll show you our watch reviews of a Richard Mille RM 033, a De Bethune DB28z, a Glashutte-Original Senator Chronometer, an Armin Strom Gravity Racing, an Oris 110 Years L.E. and many, many more. So next yea

Louis Erard Excellence email Grand Feu Small Seconds
Louis Erard, the independent Swiss brand with a tradition of accessible luxury, has gained considerable traction in the past couple of years. One of the brand's strategies to gain visibility for its Excellence collection was to invite designers Alain Silberstein and Eric Giroud, and even watchmaker Vianney Halter, to reinterpret the traditional regulator in a more contemporary key. Today, the brand adopts another feature associated with traditional watchmaking and introduces its first Grand Feu enamel dial on board another member of the Excellence family, the elegant Petite Seconde or Small Seconds. Once again, it turns to a third-party supplier’s expertise, in this case, the acclaimed Donze Cadrans enamel workshop, to produce the handmade enamel dial of this edition of 99 watches. True to its accessible price philosophy, the Louis Erard Excellence email Grand Feu Small Seconds will retail for less than CHF 4,000.Petite SecondeThe Petite Seconde joined the Louis Erard Excellence