I’ll start with what I acknowledge is a bold statement: the Grand Seiko Spring Drive Chronograph SBGC001, in its entirety, as it is out of the box, is exactly the package of design, movement, functionality, technology, accuracy, and value that one or more major Swiss brands should at least be trying to offer.
The Graham Chronofighter Vintage GMT is testament to a bold and technical approach to design, directly inspired by historical military timepieces. On the left-hand side of the case its signature lever allows the wearer to start and stop the chronograph with ease using the thumb – the fastest of all fingers – even when they’re wearing thick aviator gloves.
Montblanc has more or less reinvented itself over the last few years, with innovative complications, well designed watches, new high-tech materials and development of the Minerva manufactured movements alongside the goal of “accessible luxury”. All offered at a relative competitive price, even if we are talking about the incredible Montblanc 1858 Chronograph Tachymeter. New for this year will be no less than 5 new TimeWalker models including this Montblanc TimeWalker Chronograph UTC, the traveller’s sport chronograph of the collection.
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.