High-end Watches Archives - Page 114 of 120

“The Monochrome Video Week” – Montblanc, Hand Decoration At The Villeret Manufacture

As watch journalists, one of the most recurring questions we have is how a small wrist accessory (a.k.a a watch) can have a 5 or 6-digit price tag? And clearly, for those who are not entirely into watches, that’s an entirely justified question. In order to draw an answer to this highly complex and delicate question, we took Davide Cerrato, Managing Director of Montblanc Watch Division, apart for a properly interesting discussion. Davide will guide us inside the Montblanc Villeret Manufacture, the haute-horlogerie sanctuary of the brand, to discover the beauty of real hand-finishing as it’s executed by Montblanc’s watchmakers. Polishing, Anglages, Tourbillon… Let us bring you in this fascinating world of hand-decoration through a long, in-depth video.

Montblanc Introduces Bronze Into Its 1858 Collection, Including The Stunning 1858 Chronograph Tachymeter

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.

The New A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1 Moon Phase, now with Integrated Day/Night Indicator

The Lange 1 is the icon of the A. Lange & Söhne collection since its re-inception, in 1994. Back then, it was a quite disruptive, yet hyper-elegant watch… and it still is. Another recurring theme at A. Lange & Söhne is the moon, which can be found on several watches of the Saxonian Manufacture – See the Saxonia Moon Phase. So what if you combine both? You’ll have the Lange 1 Moon Phase. And since the standard Lange 1 went under a slight but welcomed update in 2015, it is time now for the moon version to benefit from the new Lange 1 movement and from a new day/night indication, right into the moonphase indication. Here is the new, SIHH 2017, A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1 Moon Phase (not to be confused with the Grand Lange 1 Moon Phase).

Pre-SIHH 2017 – Introducing the Jaeger-LeCoultre Duometre Collection now with Magnetite Grey Dials

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.

Review – Ressence Type 3, The Oil-Filled Watch That Goes Beyond Hands

When it comes to unique displays of the time, you though you’ve already seen everything: wandering hours, chains, magnetic balls, liquid-filled capillary, rotating prisms… Then, in terms of complications and construction of the overall watch, you thought the same. Well, you’d better look at this watch, the Ressence Type 3, simply because it has both a very special display and an almost unique construction. Certainly, the Type 3 doesn’t have the visual flamboyance of a MB&F, the bold high-tech design of an URWERK or the apparent complexity of an HYT. However, under this restrained attitude and this relative discretion hides a watch filled with oil and that does not use hands to display the time. And that makes the Ressence Type 3 very special to us.

Introducing – MCT S110 Evo Vantablack by Anish Kapoor (featuring the blackest material in the universe after a black hole…)

What is a color? The perception we have of a reflection of light on a surface. What is black, as perceived by human eye? It is the opposite of color. Black is an achromatic color, literally a color without hue. Black is a surface that reflect or emit only very low light and that absorb most of the visible light. What is pitch black, in its purest form? It is the complete absence or complete absorption of light. Real black doesn’t really exist (except a black hole) and what we name black usually is dark grey, dark blue, dark red, etc… And even if pure black can’t be achieved by any material, some tried anyway. And MCT Watches, with the S110 Evo Vantablack made with artist Anish Kapoor, try to get as close as possible from black, with the blackest material ever produced by humankind.

Introducing – Carl F. Bucherer Manero Tourbillon Limited Edition 2016

Carl F. Bucherer was founded in Lucerne, Switzerland, in 1888 and is based there ever since. It not only creates mechanical timepieces with one eye on traditional Swiss watchmaking and the other on contemporary design, they do this with their own in-house movements in some collections. With the introduction of their first Tourbillon movement in 2013, the family-owned brand is now ready to incorporate this into the next model: The Carl F. Bucherer Manero Tourbillon Limited Edition 2016.

Unveiling the MB&F Legacy Machine Perpetual in White Gold (in both limited and non-limited editions)

Unless you have been in a coma for the past decade, you’re probably familiar with Max Büsser and Friends’ (MB&F) creations. Fueled by passion for the craft and unbridled creativity, the innovative horological lab played a pivotal role in the “indie” watchmaking rise. Out-of-the box thinking is the brand’s raison d’être. In 2011, when MB&F presented its first legacy machine (the LM1), a nod to watchmaking tradition, it had to be disruptive. And a few years later, when Irish watchmaker Stephen McDonnell and Max Büsser started to discuss about a perpetual calendar, the project brought to life another horological surprise transfiguring a century old complication into a sensational design. First launched in red gold and platinum, the MB&F Legacy Machine Perpetual is now available in white gold with purple or grey faces.

Dutch Made: discover the fantastic world of Hand-Engraver Kees Engelbarts (Video)

It’s not the first time that we show the work of master-engraver Kees Engelbarts. Kees is a Dutchman, moved to Geneva some 20 years ago to exercise his art (yes, his art…) in the land that is known for watchmaking. Besides commissioned work for high-end independent watchmakers and major brands alike, he also creates his own unique …

Introducing – Chopard L.U.C Full Strike – The Minute Repeater Reinvented

With the L.U.C Full Strike, the high-end collection of Chopard Watches welcomes a minute repeater, a complication never explored by the brand, and launched as the crowning point of the celebrations marking the 20^th anniversary of Chopard Manufacture. We’ve seen some tourbillons, some perpetual calendars with chronograph, super slim and eco-friendly watches, but never a striking watch. Well, you could easily imagine that it is just another minute repeater, and that, even if nicely-designed and superbly finished, it has nothing spectacular (in any case we can consider that a minute repeater is not spectacular…). However, this Chopard L.U.C Full Strike is featured with something brand new and innovative, and it makes it different from any other minute repeater we’ve seen before.

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Category: High-end Watches