Watches NEWS
Swatch Sistem51 - Monochrome-Watches
The Swatch Sistem51 is certainly the cheapest watch we’ve ever featured on Monochrome-Watches and we are doing it without any shame or regrets. Why? The Sistem51 is clearly one of the most important novelties presented during the last 10 years. As the first Swatch did in 1983, this new automatic watch is a major industrial milestone that COULD (I have to insist on the ‘could’ because, for the moment, we are not sure of possible future developments) change the face of the Swatch Group and of the whole industry.History of SwatchSwatch (which stands for ‘second watch’, because of its affordable price and casual look) was born in the early 1980s, just in the middle of the ‘Quartz Crisis’. At that time, the actors of the watchmaking industry in Switzerland were all intensely affected by the arrival of cheap Japanese quartz watches and production numbers became lower than at any time before. However, a very simple but clever idea saved the industry.
Celebrating the 125th Anniversary of the Omega name with Jubilee Watches - Special De Ville Tresor and Reborn Original Calibre 19-ligne - Monochrome Watches
125 years ago, a Swiss watch manufacture started to use its commercial name and became one of the most iconic, most sought-after names in the industry. Not a new brand per se, this watch manufacture took its name from its emblematic movement, a 19-ligne hand-wound calibre fitted in pocket watches: the Calibre Omega. As you’ve guessed, the name Omega celebrates its 125th anniversary today, and the brand has every reason to celebrate.A brand named after its emblematic movementToday marks the 125th anniversary of the name Omega but not of the manufacture?itself. Omega was established on the roots of the Louis Brandt manufacture, founded by Mr Brandt in 1848.?At that time, the business existed only as a small workshop, opened by the young watchmaker Louis Brandt in the Swiss city of La Chaux-de-Fonds. Brandt quickly gained a reputation for his precise and reliable movements.?After Louis Brandt's death in 1879, his two sons - Louis-Paul and Cesar - took over the family business.
Introducing: IWC Big Pilot Shock Absorber Tourbillon Skeleton XPL
A couple of years ago, IWC introduced a Big Pilot's watch with a device developed by the brand's Experimental Engineering Division to protect the movement from extreme shocks. Not any only shock, mind you, but acceleration forces in excess of 30,000Gs (akin to the speed of a battleship shell) that no pilot could survive. Today’s big news is the release of the Big Pilot's Watch Shock Absorber Tourbillon Skeleton XPL, an alliance of the brand’s advanced shock-absorbing system and a delicate tourbillon complication.?IWC's patented SPRIN-g PROTECT shock-absorbing system took eight years to develop and is based on a cantilever spring that suspends and cushions the movement inside the case. Made from bulk metallic glass (BMG), the spring spreads shock forces across its length and width, protecting movement against g-forces, a vital consideration for pilots in supersonic jets. However, to incorporate the brand's 82915 calibre with a flying one-minute tourbillon, the eight arms of
First Look: The IWC Ingenieur Automatic 40 Gets a Classic Blue dial
Born in the mid-1950s as a watch designed for people working in magnetic environments (hence its name), the IWC Ingenieur is mostly remembered in its 1976 shape when IWC released the SL Jumbo reference 1832, designed by Gerald Genta using his classic integrated luxury sports watch concept. It took some years for IWC to finally come back with a modern iteration, but in 2023, the Schaffhausen-based brand released this: the Ingenieur Automatic 40. Following a titanium version and three stainless steel editions in black, silver and aqua blue, IWC now adds a new dial colour to the collection, a classic dark blue – a.k.a the most expected tone of the category.We’re not here to re-do the entire history of the collection or to recap all the details behind the return of the classic IWC Ingenieur. For that, you can consult our in-depth article and video here. What’s important to know is this: in 2023, IWC released the long-anticipated Ingenieur watch in its most classic shape,
Another Letter From the Editor - Tell Us What YOU Want - Monochrome Watches
Last month I posted the first “Letter from the Editor” in the seven years of Monochrome and I gave you a sneak peek of what is to come and to tell you I would be off the air for a week to enjoy my honeymoon (thanks for all the kind messages!). Immediately after returning we successfully made the transition from monochrome-watches.com to monochrome-watches.com and today we’ve reached our thousandth posts. That’s a perfectly good reason to tell you more about what we’re going to do in the near future and to ASK YOU what you like to see/read more!Of course we will keep our focus on high-end watch, or Haute Horlogerie, made by BIG and famous watch brands and small independent artisan watchmakers. And in the process we will keep explaining and educating about the beauty of fine watchmaking.? Without these ingredients Monochrome wouldn’t be Monochrome. At the end of this “letter from the editor” you’ll find a form and I kindly ask you to
[Rating:(5 / 5 stars)]
