T-Rex is back in town. You might recognise him after his first apparition as MB&F’s contribution to the upcoming Only Watch 2019 charity auction with a small boy sitting astride the clock. An unconventional table clock by any standards (except for MB&F’s), the T-Rex is a clock with dinosaur legs. Not a walking clock, but […]
Two years ago, Singer Reimagined (the sister company of Singer Vehicle Design, creator of some extraordinary Restomod 911s) launched an impressive, cool-looking and mechanically innovative chronograph named “Track1”. After the Launch Edition, the brand decided to introduce city-based models, with the gold-cased Geneva Edition and the black ceramic-aluminum Hong-Kong Edition. Following this theme, here’s the […]
The vast majority of watches produced display the time in the classic, standard way – with 2 or 3 hands rotating over a circular dial once per hour or once per 12 hours. Practical for sure, but not the most original way to indicate the time. Still, some watchmakers from the independent scene are proud […]
It is always a pleasure for us at Monochrome to discover new watchmaking talents and their work. Today we are taking a look at Antonin Falk and the watch he crafted in the frame of his watchmaking studies. A 19-year-old French man coming from Savoy, Antonin Falk is studying watchmaking in Morteau, a town next to the Swiss border and Le Locle / La Chaux-de-Fonds. He was named ‘Best Apprentice in France’ (MAF Or National Horlogerie 2016) hand-crafting a Breguet hand and pipe.
Having reviewed both the A. Lange & Söhne 1815 Chronograph and the Patek Philippe Chronograph 5172G manual-winding chronographs in previous days, today it’s time for a face-off between these two premium contenders. Both are undeniably beautiful examples of the ‘pure-chronograph-no-additional-complications genre’ and both are impeccably crafted. But they are as different as chalk and cheese, so please, take a ringside seat and see if you agree with our verdict in the battle of high-end chronographs pitting the Lange versus the Patek.
When it comes to pure, thoroughbred manual-winding chronographs, models that are devoted exclusively to capturing elapsed times and not equipped with any other paraphernalia, A. Lange & Söhne’s 1815 Chronograph is up there in the pantheon of perfection. The model we are reviewing for our three-part Battle of the High-End Chronograph series is the 2018 pink gold with black dial version, similar to the Boutique Edition of 2015 with its pulsometer scale. Like all the current variations on the 1815 chronograph theme (white gold black dial, Boutique Edition), this watch is equipped with what is possibly the most beautiful hand-wound movement on the market today.
When a model is discontinued and replaced with a new reference at Patek Philippe, two things happen: the old model tends to become even juicier bait for collectors and the newcomer is subjected to intense scrutiny. In March 2019, Patek Philippe introduced the ref.5172G chronograph to replace the longstanding and much-loved ref. 5170. Fitted with the same in-house manual-winding calibre CH 29-535 PS as its predecessor, the latest member of Patek’s chronograph dynasty comes in a white gold case with a de rigueur blue dial and a pronounced vintage temperament. Larger, bolder, less classic and more casual than the 5170, the 5172G is one of the contenders in our next battle of chronographs.
German styled watches are typically free from any unnecessary details. No frails, no fuss, just clean and elegant watches. Whether you look at brands like A. Lange & Söhne, Glashütte Original, Moritz Grossmann or at smaller independent brands, most of them offer very elegantly, stylish watches. One of these independents is Stefan Kudoke, founder and watchmaker of Kudoke Watches. Besides his intricately detailed skeletonized and engraved pieces, his HANDwerk collection follows the typical German trait. We go hands-on with the Kudoke HANDwerk 1.
For the 2019 edition of the biennial fundraiser for research on Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Ateliers de Monaco is presenting a tourbillon watch encased in an innovative forged carbon and gold case. Carbon fibre, gold and resin are mixed together, placed in a mould, pressed and then heated to form a block. The case is then machined to obtain the desired shape. The end result is a unique, contrasting, unpredictable marbling pattern.
Imagine, building a complicated mechanical wristwatch completely by hand to enter a competition about artisanal crafts. Your competitor? Cheese! That is the story of Sylvain Pinaud in a VERY tiny, exaggerated nutshell, but we’ll elaborate on that. The result of his efforts is impressive though, a very modern-looking, hand-built monopusher chronograph. We had time to meet the maker himself and go hands-on with Sylvain Pinaud’s Chronograph Monopoussoir.