If you are a regular reader of MONOCHROME, then you are no doubt already familiar with Karsten Frässdorf. After working behind the scene for several brands, the German Master watchmaker decided to create his own brand. His first creation with Montres Karsten Frässdorf, the Spirograph Tourbillon, is an innovative Tourbillon fit for daily wear and […]
Ressence likes to do things like no other in the watchmaking industry… Its approach is both modern, technical and unique, and yet lots of traditional mechanics inside. Already impressive with its in-house orbital display of the time, Ressence decided to even improve the concept with an oiled-filled piece, with the Type 3. And then, benefiting from this distortion-free system, a dive watch was launched. For 2019, the Ressence Type 5 gets updated with a Night blue dial – relevant for a dive watch!
More than three centuries after the invention of the sprung balance (by Hooke/Huygens), the oscillator is back in the limelight. Exploring new frontier and technological breakthroughs in mechanical watchmaking, the oscillator is considered the crowning glory for the most inventive and skillful watchmakers. Just a few days after the presentation of the Ulysse Nardin Freak […]
The classic Patek Philippe hand-wound chrono immediately come to mind to any collector thinking about high-end chronographs. The 5070 (based on a Lemania ebauche for Patek Philippe) was presented in 1998. It was replaced by the reference 5170 and its in-house, CH 29-535 hand-wound movement (that was launched the year before in a ladies watch). […]
Armin Strom was already known for their fascinating juxtaposition of modern skeletonization and traditional Haute-Horlogerie finishing. Something that here, at MONOCHROME, we’ve always seen as true “watchmaking lesson on the wrist”. Due to their openworked nature, you can see how the movement works. In 2016, Armin Strom introduced a watch that is nothing short of spectacular and that showcases one of the ultimate challenges in chronometry: resonance.
Hautlence goes back to its roots. The brand was already famous for its unusual displays of the time – think about the jumping hours of the HL Ti 2 or the chain of the Vortex. At Baselworld 2019, the brand comes with a world-first, a wristwatch displaying the time thanks to a playful and spectacular spherical jumping hour/retrograde minute display. Meet the Hautlence HL Sphere 01.
At long last! We might not be a majority, but there are plenty of women out there who appreciate the micro-mechanical delights of a watch but are unwilling to settle for a men’s watch spruced up with stones. MB&F has broken its 14-year-long tradition of masterminding complex, visually arresting men’s watches and taken its first […]
In the early 1970s, Audemars Piguet introduced a watch that would forever unite the worlds of luxury and sport. Now, almost 50 years later, the brand continues to find innovative and intriguing ways to reinvent the Royal Oak, ensuring it remains one of the most sought-after watch collections in the world. This year, Audemars Piguet […]
We’ve been exploring the Dutch fields of watchmaking recently, with for instance the Van der Gang 20019 chronograph, the 3D-Printed watches of Dutch watchmaker Michiel Holthinrichs or the first watch by De Rijke Watches & Co, the Amalfi Series I. Today we shed light on yet another Dutch creation, driven by one man’s passion for […]
As we’ve explained already, compliant mechanisms offer huge innovation potential for mechanical watchmaking. As another proof of this revolution, the latest version of the Ulysse Nardin Freak is packed with innovative applications of flexible parts, including a revolutionary flying oscillator whose tridimensional architecture is based on flexible silicon blades. Meet the latest model in a long lineage of innovative watches, the Ulysse Nardin Freak NeXt. And if it is still a concept watch for now, it might make it into production in a very near future.