Today, increasing numbers of shark species are facing extinction. More than 100 million sharks are caught every year whilst continued over shing depletes their nutritional resources. To help awareness about this issue, IWC is about to launch a specific limited edition of its Aquatimer Chronograph, the Edition “Sharks”, with specific dial and engraving. Overview.
The Montblanc 1858 Collection certainly is one of our favorites here, at Monochrome. It indeed pays tribute to the military roots of the Villeret manufacture and the 1930s pilot watches produced at that time by Minerva (now part of Montblanc). Large diameters, highly contrasted dials, cathedral hands… all sounds perfectly vintage and faithful to the Minerva heritage. To even reinforce that vintage feel, the brand is about to introduce some new models in the collection, which for the first time will use bronze elements for the case, and this includes the stunning Montblanc 1858 Chronograph Tachymeter, that we already showed you several times.
When it has been first launched in 1995, the IWC Portugieser Chronograph Rattrapante (Ref. 3712) quickly obtained the status of icon, first for being a Portugieser (which alone makes this watch totally emblematic of the Schaffhausen-based manufacture) but also for being a quite special split-second. Yes, it is a rattrapante but that’s not the point. It’s special because it is a simple and accessible rattrapante, and that was very cool. Unfortunately, this watch was discontinued in 2006… Until earlier this year, when it came back in a gold limited edition for Milano, today joined by two stainless versions – and that is really cool. Here is the “new” Portugieser Chronograph Rattrapante with two Boutique Editions, for Munich and Rue de la Paix / Paris.
With the SIHH 2017 coming up in a few weeks, brands are pre-releasing selected models to whet our appetites. Among them is Parmigiani Fleurier, which just released some new Tonda Metrographe watches, sporting tastefully redesigned dials and showing more discretion, resulting in great elegance. Here is an early hands-on look at these classic yet sporty new Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda Metrographe.
Among the novelties presented by Zenith at Baselworld 2016 were two open-worked versions of the El Primero Chronograph revealing a side of their iconic movement we are not used to seeing. The first one is a “simple” chronograph while the other is regulated by a Tourbillon. As the Le Locle-based manufacture is now launching internationally both models, Monochrome takes a closer look at the Zenith El Primero Tourbillon Skeleton.
Pairing up what is certainly the most emblematic sports-car manufacture, Ferrari, with what might be the most hyped watch brand, Hublot, and you have as a result a strong, flamboyant bond. Since 2011, these two brands joined forces to create watches that are in the vein of the philosophy of both the car brand and the watch brand: strong, bold, highly masculine and, using Ferrari’s expertise, innovative and performant. For 2016, using Ferrari’s latest models and technologies, Hublot introduces 3 new editions of their bold and sporty Big Bang Ferrari Unico.
The Jaeger-LeCoultre Duometre is a collection rather apart in JLC’s catalogue. It’s a collection of complex watches, with unique style, unique complication and properly interesting movement’s architecture. As a preview of the upcoming Geneva Watch Fair, the SIHH 2017, the brand will unveil 3 new versions of one of its stars. Please welcome the Jaeger-LeCoultre Duometre Collection now with magnetite grey dials and pink gold cases, for the Spherotourbillon, the Quantième Lunaire and the Chronograph.
Breitling was founded in 1884, and right from the start, specialised in chronographs to that extent that it is fair to say that the form of the chronograph, as we know it today, had been solidified due to the development done by the company. It was in 1942, that Breitling introduced the first watch with a circular slide rule, the Chronomat. Some years later (1954) the legendary Navitimer was also introduced. However, the focus of the article is on the Chronomat, perhaps one of, if not, the most commercially successful Breitling of the past sixty years. Contrary to general belief, it is not the Navitimer but the Chronomat that has proved to be Breitling’s biggest seller. However, before we examine the Chronomat Black Steel 44 SE we must understand how this model evolved.
There’s a common saying that ‘car’ guys are ‘watch’ guys. Behind this aphorism though is a real connection fueled by the love of fine mechanics, performance and passion. As a result collaborations between watch and car manufacturers have flourished – for the better … or worse. Case in point, Zenith and Land Rover recently announced …
As we’ve seen in our two first episodes of “Tudor and its Heritage“, the brand did an important move into sports watches in the middle of the 1950s, starting with the Submariners, followed by the Ranger. These vintage pieces led to the creation of two current watches, the Heritage Black Bay and the Heritage Ranger, two pieces paying tribute to the rich past of Tudor Watches. However, there’s a another type of watches that we didn’t explore yet, and in this field, Tudor has been very active: chronographs. Today, we are going to look at how, starting in 1970, the brand created some highly iconic and bold chronographs, which later inspired the super-cool Tudor Heritage Chrono.