2020… What a year… what a year! Both on a professional as well as on a personal level this was a bizarre year, and not only due to that nasty Corona pandemic that is terrorizing humankind. Politics also reared its most ugly head on various sides of the globe and Baselworld, an old watch institution, […]
Monochrome is all about watches, of course. The vast majority of what we cover are mechanical wristwatches, although every now and then we’ll highlight something intriguing like the quartz Citizen Calibre 0100 with an accuracy of +/- 1 second per year. In the same vein, we also dip our toes into the world of mechanical […]
Like them or not, appropriate or not, nicknames have to be earned. Watches are very personal objects and they reflect an enduring connection with fans. Often, these nicknames are directly inspired by the characteristics of the watch, its shape or colours. In other cases, celebrities or a special event made a watch famous and their […]
While today the world relies mostly on two measurement systems (metric and imperial), things haven’t been always that simple. Each country, each culture, sometimes even each corporation had its own units and ways to measure its commodities or production. And if you’re into watchmaking, you might have spotted one of these old units when it […]
The number of watch brands introducing very long warranties is as long as the history of modern (post-quartz crisis) watchmaking. Until recently, two years of warranty was the norm. However, more and more watchmakers tend to offer five years and even more for some special editions. And that raises the question: does it actually make […]
While we would highly recommend you only read MONOCHROME when it comes to learning about the world of watches (we are our own best advocates), there are many sources around to help up your horological game. The latest on the market has been launched by none other than prominent auction house Christie’s and its “education” […]
As Dr George Daniels’ student, the inventor of the co-axial escapement, Dr Roger W. Smith OBE (or simply Roger Smith) is today regarded as the most prominent master watchmaker in the UK. If you are into watches, there’s no chance that this name is unknown to you. And today, you can register for a free […]
Since I began MONOCHROME in 2006, the information that brands disclosed about their watches has improved significantly. Diameter and height are now in pretty much every press release, and so is the actual movement. However, lately, we are often asked about the lug-to-lug size. Something that brands do not communicate about and neither do we. […]
Knowing the time onboard a ship/vessel/spacecraft/vehicle isn’t just about knowing “what time it is”… It goes far beyond that! 18th-century maritime explorers knew that. In order to calculate their position around the globe (establishing their latitude and longitude), they needed to have one heck of a precise clock onboard – marine chronometers back then. Even […]
In the world of watches, opinions about modified or customized or ‘tuned’ watches is usually not very positive. That’s why the official collaboration between LVMH brands Zenith and TAG Heuer with one of these customizers, Bamford, was remarkable, to say the least. For a few years now, another customizer is making a name for itself and does it in a rather qualitative and original way. I’m talking about Artisans de Genève, and today they launch a fully skeletonized Rolex Daytona, which they designed together with ex-Formula 1 driver, Juan Pablo Montoya. And it looks pretty cool!