Category: Chronographs

OPINION – Joining Forces For The Best? The Tudor / Breitling Mechanical Alliance

When prior to Baselworld 2017, at their annual pre-Basel event, Tudor unveiled the new Black Bay Chronograph, the crowd of journalists present there immediately thought “in-house chronograph movement” (us included). The excitement lasted for less than 5 minutes, as soon as the official disclaimer was launched. Indeed, despite the “MT” nomenclature, this movement is not produced by Tudor, but by Breitling – which soon after announced the launch of a new 3-hand movement, based on a… Tudor calibre. Good thing or not? This is what we’re going to see with the new Tudor / Breitling alliance.

8 years ago

Meerson Introduces the Mutiny Chronograph – A Limited Production Bespoke Watch Collection

Creating a watch brand from scratch, especially when you don’t rely on new funding processes such as Kickstarter, is sort of a daring gamble in times of “crisis” and “slow demand”. However, that’s exactly what Alexandre Meerson did 3 years ago, and not with an affordable piece, but with a complete collection of luxury watches, with a quite unique tailor-made idea. After the Altitude and the D-15 GMT collections, Meerson comes back with a third piece, this time entirely focused on the Limited Production / Bespoke concept, the Meerson Mutiny Chronograph.

8 years ago

Tutima Tempostopp – The 90th Anniversary Watch, With Superb In-House Hand-Wound Flyback Chronograph

For one reason or another, Tutima was not part of Monochrome’s team 150 meetings for Baselworld 2017. As we passed by one of its displays however, we were captivated by a particular watch and its movement: a bi-compax chronograph with a perfectly balanced dial and large, optimally spaced sub-counters. We wanted to know more and we were not disappointed, as the Tutima Tempostopp deserves interest… Especially when the back is revealed.

8 years ago

6 Car-Inspired Watches From Baselworld 2017

Speed is equal to the distance traveled divided by the time. Here we are, the link with watchmaking is easy to get. Mechanical fascination does the rest: gearheads are inevitably attracted by watches. This natural fit has long inspired watchmakers. We take a look at 6 automotive-inspired watches from Baselworld 2017.

8 years ago

Kickstarter – Get Back To Basics With Vintage Inspired Watches From Baltic

It seems there is no shortage of watch projects on Kickstarter these days. Whilst some elicit a yawn at best, others genuinely try to do something cool and unique and have gone on to become real success stories, like REC Watches. Today we’re showing you a highly anticipated project that has just launched from newcomer Baltic Watches, featuring two seriously cool, neo-vintage style watches with step-cases inspired by the minimalist designs of the 1940’s.

8 years ago

Hands-On – Zenith Defy El Primero 21 – From a 10th to a 100th of a Second (Video, Specs & Price)

Back in 1969, Zenith introduced a movement that will later become an icon, as being both one of the first automatic chronograph movements, and being the 20th century’s king of precision, as beating at 5Hz and being precise to the 10th of a second. Its name: the El Primero. At Baselworld, the Le Locle-based manufacture has given this fast-beating engine a 21st century appeal: 50Hz frequency, precision to the 100th of a second, modernized look, open-worked movement. Here is the Zenith Defy El Primero 21… and it’s fast, very fast.

8 years ago

Hands-On – Zenith Defy El Primero 21 – From a 10th to a 100th of a Second (Video, Specs & Price)

Back in 1969, Zenith introduced a movement that will later become an icon, as being both one of the first automatic chronograph movements, and being the 20th century’s king of precision, as beating at 5Hz and being precise to the 10th of a second. Its name: the El Primero. At Baselworld, the Le Locle-based manufacture has given this fast-beating engine a 21st century appeal: 50Hz frequency, precision to the 100th of a second, modernized look, open-worked movement. Here is the Zenith Defy El Primero 21… and it’s fast, very fast.

8 years ago

Frank Geelen’s Baselworld 2017 Top 10 and Musing about the Fair

Back in 2008 the world faced a new challenge. The worldwide financial crisis began with the collapse of Lehman Brothers. The following year the watch industry was kind of nervous and saw a small drop in sales. And while the financial crisis went on, on a global scale (we’re still recovering from that), the big crisis in the watch industry didn’t really come through… yet. Last year was the first year that brands and luxury groups published numbers that showed serious signs of the crisis, and this year’s numbers are actually more than worrisome. This year the crisis could also be felt in the novelties as presented by the brands, not only during the SIHH in January, but also at the 100th edition of the Baselworld Watch & Jewelry show that has just come to an end. Still, it was possible to list ten watches that got me exited! However first some musings about this year’s edition of Baselworld…

8 years ago