A day before the official opening of SIHH 2017, Montblanc surprised a select group of watch media with the invitation to experience the unveiling of a new personality for the iconic Montblanc TimeWalker collection.
For the first time, Hublot releases a GMT watch in the Big Bang collection with an in-house movement, and I have to say, it is pretty slick. The 2017 Hublot Big Bang UNICO GMT was developed with utility and practicality in mind, and as a logical extension of where Hublot Big Bang watches with in-house movements are going.
I typically have good results when mixing things which are both high-end and Japanese. Down in South Florida where performance speaks louder than pizazz, I decided see how well a Grand Seiko Spring Drive GMT SBGE001 watch matched with a 2017 Infiniti QX80 Limited SUV.
Cartier introduced its very special Rotonde de Cartier Earth and Moon Tourbillon watch in 2014. And earlier this year, we managed to get up close and personal with the latest pink gold version of the watch.
Here’s a fun fact: Carl F. Bucherer is one of the the oldest luxury watchmakers in Switzerland still wholly owned by its founding family – a feat that grows more and more impressive every year as the industry’s original independents read more…
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.
Even though the historic decorated-egg-maker Fabergé is a “luxury name” most people know, even many well-informed watch lovers have no idea that the brand is alive today and making wrist watches.
The Baume & Mercier Clifton is not just a watch but an entire collection, which looks at the almost entire scope of traditional (yet accessible) complications. You’ll be able to find a Small-Second watch, a Complete Calendar watch, a Chronograph, a Chronograph Complete Calendar, a Dual Time, a Retrograde Date or a Large Date Power Reserve. Clearly, the choice is wide (and add to that some dials options). For the SIHH 2017, Baume adds a version for travelers, the Clifton GMT Power Reserve, which aligns itself among the range of small complications offered by the Clifton collection and adds a striking blue dial to the usual white / black options.
The ability to keep track of multiple time zones instantly can make life easier for many travelers and professionals, and that’s where a GMT watch comes in handy. If that sounds useful, and you also tend to like the straightforward Teutonic take on tool watches that German brands are often known for, the Mühle-Glashütte Terrasport IV GMT may just be an attractive combination.
Crafted for adventures. Panerai’s history was shaped by the needs of the Italian Navy, that it has supplied with precision instruments and watches for years. Designing tool watches, robust products for facing the most extreme situations, is the brand’s raison d’être. This rugged character made Panerai the perfect companion for Mike’s Horn expeditions. Following Arktos (2002-2004), the North Pole Winter expedition (2006) and Pangea (2008-2012), Panerai will be a partner of the Pole2Pole expedition. In this new enterprise, the South African-Swiss explorer circumnavigates the world from pole to pole with a new special edition Panerai strapped on his wrist, the PAM00719.