independent watchmaking Archives - Page 128 of 159

Hands-on – H.Moser & Cie. Endeavour Centre Seconds Automatic: a Simply Perfect 3-Hand Watch?

It’s always a little daunting to review a simple 3-hand dress watch because, on the whole, they tend to steer on the side of ‘conservative, classic, understated elegance’ and can have you thumbing through your Thesaurus in search of yet another way to express ‘conservative, classic, understated elegance’. Luckily, when it comes to H.Moser & Cie., things are different. Although the Endeavour Centre Seconds Automatic is Moser’s simplest 3-hand dress watch and is the brand’s interpretation of a ‘classic in the making’, it speaks a far more contemporary language than many of its peers, more in-tune with the times and the brand’s pervasive philosophy. The two watches we are looking at today – one in red gold and the other in white gold – might be related but the attitude they transmit couldn’t be more different.

Independent Watchmaking – Sitting at the Workbench with Karsten Frassdorf and an In-Depth Look at the Spirograph Tourbillon’s Calibre 360

If you are a regular reader of Monochrome-watches you might be familiar with Montres KF’s Spirograph, a wristwatch that can withstand shocks up to 5,000G and magnetic fields up to 1,000 Gauss. Inside the 45mm Spirograph is the calibre 360, a hand-wound movement regulated by an eye-catching and unique oversized tourbillon. We sat at the […]

Independent Watchmaking – Sarpaneva K3 Northern Stars Guilloché

Let’s face the reality. For the last few months, we’ve neglected the independent watchmakers… This was part of the DNA of MONOCHROME since its inception, so as a mea-culpa before the summer break, the redaction has decided to bring back some of these cool, unique and creative watches back under the spotlights. My choice of the day: a truly fascinating piece, the Sarpaneva K3 Northern Stars here presented with a completely unusual old-rose guilloché dial.

Women’s Watch Wednesday – Bovet Dimier Récital 11 Miss Alexandra: Once in a Blue Moon

Shattering the prevailing opinion that women just want a pretty dial and couldn’t care less about mechanical complications, Bovet presents a timepiece that seduces on the mechanical and aesthetic fronts – and how! Complicated yet feminine, poetic but not affected, Bovet’s red gold version of the Dimier Récital 11 Miss Alexandra puts on a blue-hued […]

Review – Ophion OPH 786 – Affordable but Truly Refined

For its first endeavour, the fledgeling brand Ophion surprised us with a nicely designed watch equipped with an interesting hand-wound movement. This first model, the OPH 960, was probably lacking a bit of personality and personalisation – standard movement, plain dial… With its new watch, the OPH 786, Ophion sets the bar much, much higher. With a convincing design, a great looking movement and multiple details that you usually find in a different price range, Ophion has resorted to several well-thought-out tricks to keep the watch at an affordable price. Let’s look at this 18th-century inspired watch in detail.

Interview – Armin Strom’s Serge Michel and Claude Greisler talk about what makes the brand unique and what’s coming next

Armin Strom is not a usual brand. And this is not only due to the unique design of their watches. We’ve told it to you several times when reviewing their timepieces and when we took the opportunity to visit the manufacture – because Armin Strom is a truly integrated manufacture that produces most of the parts of a watch and that has a true innovation power (see the Resonance watch). Today, we take the time to talk with Serge Michel and Claude Greisler, owners of the brand, to talk about what makes this watch manufacture unique and what they have in mind for the future.

Hands-on – De Bethune DB28T Kind of Blue – a Bolt from the Blue!

Looking at the DB28T Kind of Blue watch can produce a similar reaction to looking up at the night sky and seeing an iridescent blue UFO whizzing by. Surprise, amazement, disbelief… A futuristic vessel decked out in eye-catching blued titanium with a 30-second tourbillon, the DB28T is not the kind of watch to wear if you want to fly under the radar. A regular member of De Bethune’s watch stable, the DB28T was revisited again in 2018 in this radiant monochrome version.

Hands-on – Louis Moinet SpaceWalker & Skylink – Celebrating Russian Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov

Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Yuri Gagarin. Three men we pretty much all know, cemented in history due to their endeavours in outer space. But, besides these legends among men, there are more pioneers that deserve credit for their adventures but simply appear less top-of-mind for most of us, or not known at all. Well, Louis Moinet, the inventors of the chronograph, bring us two watches celebrating Russian cosmonaut Alexei Leonov; the Louis Moinet SpaceWalker & Skylink.

Hands-on – Speake-Marin One & Two Academic – Elegantly Eccentric

Many Speake-Marin aficionados were wondering – and were rather legitimate in being worried – about the future of this independent watch brand since the departure of its founder. Well, the good news is that the models unveiled at SIHH 2018 are well thought-out and more than convincing. Among these, the One & Two Academic is quintessentially Speake-Marin but with some discreet and worthy updates. Overview of these discreetly eccentric watches.

Introducing – Laurent Ferrier Galet Square Regulateur Black – Same Display, Different Case

With this new watch, Laurent Ferrier presents the compilation of its best features: the combination of red gold with a black dial dear to the founder, the regulator display that has been introduced a year ago, the in-house micro-rotor movement and the elegant, stylish Galet Square case. Yet, for the first time, all of them are reunited in a single watch, giving a desirable and well-balanced watch. Meet the Laurent Ferrier Galet Square Regulateur Black.

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Category: independent watchmaking