Today is officially the second day of the Lunar New Year, but the season of festive celebrations have just barely started. Traditionally, the celebrations last over 15 days, which means that there is effectively almost two weeks’ worth of festivities to go.…
Greubel Forsey claimed one of the most complicated watches unveiled at SIHH 2017 with a grande sonnerie wristwatch, but also debuted variants of its two entry-level timepieces, the Signature 1 and Tourbillon 24 Seconde Vision. Boasting an incline tourbillon and automatic winding for the second barrel, the Grande Sonnerie is styled in the typical Greubel Forsey manner – large […]
The vintage-inspired trend that overshadows the watch market these past few years is still evolving, with most companies more or less digging in their archives, trying to find vintage designs, to bring them back in life. Although this may show the difficult position of the Swiss watch industry as a whole, it can be argued that it has some benefits. Perhaps the most important one is that the market is full of great new watches. One of these is arguably the new Squale Squalematic 60 Atmos, a vintage-inspired dive watch that comes from a company with great pedigree. So we placed it under the Monochrome microscope and here are our thoughts.
Cartier focused on two sensible themes for its SIHH 2017 collection, namely the panther (figuratively and literally), as well as the cushion-shaped Drive de Cartier first introduced last year. Designs and shapes were all vintage Cartier, styled in a manner that would appeal to lovers of the Parisian jeweller’s classic aesthetic. Few of the high-end […]
After a handful of mundane years, at least in terms of mechanical men’s watch, Baume & Mercier had a good showing at SIHH 2017, keeping it compact and simple with a range of affordable additions to the Clifton collection. Though the high profile announcement before SIHH was of a pricey perpetual calendar in red gold, the key […]
Audemars Piguet prudently relied almost entirely on the Royal Oak for its SIHH 2017 line-up, which was well received despite the design being well know, proving the power of the octagonal watch. [NB: All prices are in Swiss francs, before taxes and provisional, being subject to change.] The headliner of the collection was the Royal Oak […]
When just before the SIHH 2017, we, at the Monochrome redaction, received the news about a new Ressence Type 1, I have to admit that I was personally quite curious. From what I could see on the photos, this new “Squared” was clean, more horological, slimmer and with a shape that I love, an elegant cushion. Still, nothing worth a try on the wrist (you can’t imagine how many deceptions I had after strapping on the wrist a watch that I loved on photos). And, oh boys and girls, what a pleasant surprise I had with the Ressence Type 1 Squared…
Ulysse Nardin pulled out all the stops for its first SIHH showing. In a fair charactered by conservative product releases, the Le Locle-based manufacturer presented a strong line-up of novelties, with a strong nautical theme, highlights including the new regatta timer, the technically impressive Marine Grand Deck, as well as this watch – the Classico Manufacture Grand Feu. This very traditional timepiece is jam-packed with smart details and offered at a highly competitive price. At 40mm across, the round steel case is hard to dislike, with its wide polished bezel, slightly clawed lugs set into the case middle and a crown that’s simple, sturdy and not at all fiddly. Nice though the case is, it doesn’t hold a candle to what’s within. The movement is the UN-320 caliber, made entirely in-house, down to the silicium hairspring and escapement – a feat of which the brand is rightly proud (the oft-repeated message at SIHH was that none of the other exhibiting brands made their own silicon hairsprings). The movement finishing is neat, though not astonishing. The rotor, with its blue anchor logo and wave pattern is quite pleasing on the eye. The dial is another story. It’s a ‘grand feu’ enamel dial in vivid,…
The post HANDS-ON: Confident refinement – the Ulysse Nardin Classico Manufacture Grand Feu appeared first on Time and Tide Watches.
Unsurprisingly the A. Lange & Söhne line-up at SIHH 2017 included a large and complicated watch, the Tourbograph Perpetual Pour le Mérite. This builds on the original Tourbograph, and has a split-seconds chronograph, tourbillon, perpetual calendar, as well as a chain and fusee constant force. While the new Tourbograph is an impressive complicated watch, its complexity brings with […]
While brands like Longines regularly issue palatable remakes of vintage watches, that has never been a Ulysse Nardin habit – until SIHH 2017. The fair saw Ulysse Nardin unveil the Vintage Collection, comprised of well designed four watches inspired by vintage timepieces, including the clever Perpetual Ludwig from just a decade ago. All four models are individually […]