Schwarz Etienne presents a revisited version of its Roswell watch transformed by a spectacular and unprecedented staging of the date mechanism. Here’s a hands-on review of the new Schwarz Etienne Roswell 08. If you are a regular reader of MONOCHROME, you should already be familiar with Schwarz Etienne. The brand, founded by Paul Arthur Schwarz …
As part of their Pre-Baselworld 2018 collection, Bulgari unveils a new version of its Octo Tourbillon Sapphire, now with a black-DLC steel case. In the dark, its luminescent Tourbillon movement shines blue light and reveals its inner working in complete transparency. Here’s an early hands-on look at this bold piece.
For the last 2 years, De Bethune had to deal with a complicated financial and managerial situation. Yet, in October 2017, the company announced that an investment consortium led by Pierre Jacques, former CEO of the brand, was about to take over the capital, to put this manufacture back on track. In the middle of the SIHH 2018, here is the first watch of this “new De Bethune”, a variation on the well-known DB28 model, with a skeletonized movement. Meet the DB28 Steel Wheels.
Recently, we had the opportunity to spend some quality hands-on time with the new Armin Strom Mirrored Force Resonance, and it now receives some superb guilloché dials. Creating an outstanding contrast between technology and modernity (the movement) and tradition (the dials), the creation of this new watch involved more than Armin Strom’s watchmakers… We had previously seen the watch at SalonQP in London, but it wasn’t quite ready for publication then, so we had to hold off until now to share all the tantalising details with you. We’re pretty sure you’ll agree though, that it was definitely worth the wait.
As we told you in a recent article, next year will be the 25th anniversary of a modern icon, a watch that simply created the trend for bold sports-luxury watches: the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore. In 1993, the brand impressed (or shocked) the industry with this watch, and to celebrate this, AP has some commemorative pieces to show. The first one looks at the past, as being a re-edition of the first ROO. The second one, which goes under our loupe today, looks at the future. Aggressive, impressive, complex, architectural… Here is the bold (to say the least) Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Tourbillon Chronograph 25th Anniversary.
Last year, Bell & Ross set a new benchmark for itself with the unveiling of the BR-X1 Chronograph Tourbillon Sapphire. Housed in a jaw-dropping, sapphire case that left little to the imagination, the (way-too) limited-edition timepiece made it crystal clear (pun intended) that the brand is about far more than just military and aviation-inspired watches. Now, Bell & Ross is taking the challenge of transparency a step further, with the new BR-X1 Skeleton Tourbillon Sapphire.
At the SIHH 2016, Audemars Piguet introduced a new version of its Royal Oak Openworked, and this time, it featured a Double Balance Wheel… Why replacing this superb model? And why having two balances? We all know that images are better than words in order to understand, so let’s turn the floor over to the CEO of Audemars Piguet, François-Henry Bennahmias (and you’ll see, there’s a fun story behind the creation of this watch) and Gilles Pellet, Head of Product Quality Department at Audemars Piguet, to discover the superb and technically-advanced Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Double Balance Wheel Openworked 15407.
Few might know Kees Engelbarts here. It is true that is work will always remain confidential, however for very good reasons (that we’ll explain). He himself says that he can only produce 6 to 8 watches a year, all hand-made, unique, mostly commisioned pieces. But, believe us, Kees Engelbarts’ work must be discovered. His latest piece, the Psychedelic Tourbillon, is a perfect demonstration of what proper skeleton watches are.
Recently we brought you a detailed look at Vaucher, one of the most prominent high-grade mechanical makers for third parties in the watch industry (read our article here). We went back to the Val-de-Travers to take a look at how the movement manufacturer produces openworked movements, including their own calibre 5401.
Introduced in the early 1990s, the Masterpiece family is Maurice Lacroix’s top-of-the-range collection, and offers complications at an accessible price point. At Baselworld this year, the brand unveiled new versions of its Masterpiece Chronograph Skeleton – an intricately executed openwork chronograph based on the Valjoux 7750. The 2017 models are presented with a steel case with blue dial and a limited edition blue PVD steel case with matching dial.