Buying Guide – The Summer Edition, 5 Accessible Sports Watches of 2019

Summertime and the livin’ is easy… As the holiday season is fast approaching, it’s all about making your style cool and effortless, but also having watches that can survive adventures (a splash of mojito, perhaps?). To help you out, we have rounded up 5 watches that will make great daily beaters for sunny days, without […]

6 years ago

Introducing – Maurice Lacroix Aikon Venturer Limited Edition and #timecode Treasure Hunt

Presented ahead of Baselworld 2019, the Maurice Lacroix Aikon Venturer is a fortified/sportier version of the Aikon, the brand’s affordable take on the steel luxury sports watch. Fitted with a unidirectional rotating bezel, it aims at offering a combination of functionality and style shifting the model’s focus to a more adventurous aesthetic. The launch of […]

6 years ago

Buying Guide – The Best Accessible Watches (Under EUR 2,500) we Saw at Baselworld 2019

With the Swatch Group gone from Baselworld 2019, the “Value Proposition” category, meaning watches under EUR 2,500, has been seriously affected. Brands like Tissot, Mido, Hamilton or Longines usually perform well in this segment. Nevertheless, this doesn’t mean we haven’t seen some cool things at Baselworld this year (and around the fair too). Here are […]

6 years ago

Introducing – Maurice Lacroix Aikon Venturer Automatic

The Maurice Lacroix Aikon has been around for a couple of years in various guises. This sporty model is an attractive package, to be considered as an affordable alternative to the high-end luxury sports watch. With the Venturer, Maurice Lacroix is taking the Aikon into different territories, shifting its focus on a sportier, more adventurous […]

6 years ago

Hands-on – Maurice Lacroix Masterpiece Square Wheel Retrograde

If you prefer the anatomy of a watch to be front and centre, a skeletonized movement and dial is the way to go. There’s a middle ground, however, for those who want a bit of mechanical action without the mechanics on full display. In this perspective, Maurice Lacroix recently added another Masterpiece to its collection with a unique take on this mechanical middle ground. Based on the cool unique Square Wheel display invented by ML a few years ago, the brand adds now a signature retrograde date and, best of all, a more accessible price.

6 years ago

Introducing – Maurice Lacroix Aikon Mercury – with Patented “Free Hand” Display

With its Masterpiece collection, Maurice Lacroix has distinguished itself by creating unconventional complications – the Gravity, the Roue Carrée (squared-wheel), retrograde indications, the mysterious seconds… The brand is now infusing this spirit into its successful sporty collection with the Aikon Mercury, an original take on display, where hands are not always indicating the time.

6 years ago

Introducing – Maurice Lacroix Aikon Automatic All-Black (Hands-On)

Launched a couple of years ago, the Maurice Lacroix Aikon is a modern revival of the Calypso, one of the brand’s 1990s timepieces – for more information about this collection, you can watch our in-depth video here. The watch is an attractive, modern package with competitive pricing, an affordable alternative to the high-end luxury sports […]

6 years ago

Buying Guide – The 10 Best Watches of 2018 from EUR 2,000 to 5,000

As the end of the year is fast approaching, it is time for us at MONOCHROME to take a look back at the main novelties of 2018 and to decide what were the best watches we’ve seen. As we did with our best watches below EUR 2,000, here’s our second buying guide, this time with the best watches of 2018 priced between EUR 2,000 and EUR 5,000. And this has been a tough selection, as this category is crucial for luxury brands – there’s a huge competition in this price range, as “accessible luxury” companies are fighting with entry-level models of more established names. But here is our top-10, just to give you an idea of what you could get with your hard-earned money this year.

6 years ago

Video – The Maurice Lacroix Aikon Automatic, An Accessible Luxury Sports Watch

Maurice Lacroix has been active since the mid-1970s with a consistent motto: accessible luxury and high perceived quality. The true change within this company occurred at the end of the 1990s, with the creation of the Masterpiece collection and in-house complication modules: the famous retrograde watches. Since then, the brand continues to offer these complex […]

6 years ago

Buying Guide – The 10 Best Watches of 2018 Under 2,000 EUR

Let’s make things clear! When Frank founded MONOCHROME over 12 years ago, the main objective was to create “an online magazine dedicated to fine watches”. That meant the celebration of traditional, high-end watchmaking. However, we are very much aware that most of our readers can’t afford such pieces and we are very much aware that accessible, down-to-earth, good price/quality watches are important. Yet, lower prices often mean lower quality – but not for us.
For this reason, we will publish several price-oriented buying guides until the end of the year, listing our favourite watches of 2018 – thus, each will be able to find the right watch according to his budget. Starting today, here are our 10 best watches of 2018 priced under EUR 2,000 – and well below that for some of these watches! And because you’re reading MONO, they are, of course, all mechanical timepieces. Believe it or not but “enamel dial”, “in-house movement”, “chronometer” or “annual calendar” are even part of this buying guide!

6 years ago