Category: vintage

Tudor and its Heritage – The old and new Tudor Ranger face to face

Last week, we started a new series of articles named “Tudor and Its Heritage“. As you might have guessed, we are here looking at how Tudor Watches successfully drew the lines of the Heritage collection by looking at some of its glorious vintage watches, however not copying them, but re-interpretating some key elements into a modern package. Vintage-inspiration, not vintage reedition. Our first episode focussed on the most expected ones, the Submariners and the actual Heritage Black Bay. However, the Heritage collection does comprise much more, including the Tudor Heritage Ranger, inspired by one of the most controversial watches of the brand, the Oyster Prince Ranger. And we have them face to face today – and we have a little extra too…

8 years ago

The History of the Vacheron Constantin Overseas – The Other 1970s Icon

In the 1970s, the post-war global economic boom came to an end. The new, accurate quartz watches gained popularity and plunged the Swiss watch industry in a deep crisis. As the inexpensive electronic watches began to flood the market, the competition from foreign manufacturers created a major economic turmoil, and with it, the need for Swiss brands to reinvent themselves, making necessary disruptive changes. And that includes the Vacheron Constantin Overseas, a watch born in that exact period.

8 years ago

Tudor and its Heritage – How the Vintage Submariners inspired the Tudor Black Bay

In terms of product design, vintage inspiration has been, for the last 10 years, one of the major, if not the major trend. Most brands, from low-end to ultra-luxury have been, at least once, looking at their past and used it as a reference to create new models. We all need strong foundations to feel confident, and this must be a part of the explanation. However, as always, some handled this vintage style with success, some didn’t. In the middle of this crowd, one brand must be regarded with great care: Tudor. With their Heritage line, they clearly played on this trend and achieved probably better than most around. To every success there’s an explanation, and here, it must the combination of vintage elements into a modern package, and not just a copy-paste of the past. Today, we start a series about Tudor and its Heritage and we’ll look at how the Vintage Submariners inspired the Tudor Black Bay (and inspired only…)

8 years ago

Eternity In A Box: The Blancpain Rolls Starring Léon Hatot Made Watchmaking History

Léon Hatot and Blancpain met in 1929 and Hatot revealed his prototype of a revolutionary movement with automatic winding: the inside of the Rolls case included a rail on which the whole movement moved up and down on ball bearings, powered by the motion of its owner and providing the name for this unique timepiece right out of the history books.

8 years ago

Historical Perspective – The Doxa Sub 300, The Dive Watch Personified

Back in Baselworld 2016, Doxa introduced its 50th Anniversary Sub model, a great dive watch with unquestionable pedigree. We will discover why this dive watch is so important by looking back at an early Doxa Sub 300, belonging to one of the preeminent Doxa collectors – and a great friend of Monochrome and me, personally – Mr. Marco Thier. By examining the story behind its creation, I hope to shed the light on the importance of the Doxa Sub in the history and the evolutionary course of the dive watch in general.

8 years ago

In-Depth – A Look at Shaped Watches by Vacheron Constantin and Patek Philippe through History

When thinking about the archetype of the round Swiss watch, the first names that come to mind might very well be Patek Philippe or Vacheron Constantin. As the custodians of Geneva’s watchmaking tradition, influenced by the sober protestant spirit, both brands stand for subtle, understated elegance. However, beyond the design conventions dictated by the round wristwatch, Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin have in common a long, rich legacy of shaped watches. After Cartier, Monochrome brings together a (non-exhaustive) selection of shaped watches from Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin.

8 years ago

Rolex Explorer II Reference 1655

Explorer Last week Michael Stockton wrote quite a ‘love letter’ (as one of our readers wrote in the comments) on the Rolex Explorer 1016. While the reference 1016 Explorer was being produced already in 1963 and kept in production for 26 years, Rolex introduced another Explorer in 1971. The Explorer II. This watch was not […]

8 years ago

#TBT Rolex Explorer 1016 – The Last of the Breed

The Rolex Explorer 1016 sprawls on a table, a scant few years shy of its 30th birthday, appearing much as it did when it was produced in 1989. An odd paradox of a watch by this time, its ultimate year of production, for it must have looked like something from so long ago, but yet […]

8 years ago