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Give away at Fratellowatches

mono — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 13:38:09 +0000

Give away at Fratellowatches is a post from: Monochrome.nl

Our friends from Fratellowatches are giving away some nice goodies and it’s easy to win. Recently they did a special about the Rolex GMT-Master, featuring many different versions of this classic pilot’s watch.

So,what’s to win? You can win several items used in the photo shoot, being a PME Legend Pilot Jacket (size Large) and a Ray-Ban Aviator (also size Large) in steel. Below you can see Dennis from the Fratello team posing the jacket and sun glasses. Respond to this post on Fratellowatches and like them on Facebook, in order to be included in the draw.

That sounds easy… and it is. So visit our friends at Fratellowatches by clicking the photo above.

The most beautiful watch winders of the world

mono — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 08:15:10 +0000

The most beautiful watch winders of the world is a post from: Monochrome.nl

What happens if the producer of the most luxurious vaults in the world joins forces with a producer of components and customized refinements for customers such as Aston-Martin or Bugatti? Yep… they created something incredibly cool. Is this perhaps the most beautiful and luxurious watch winder?

Well, maybe it isn’t the most luxurious. That honor goes to the Gigantis that was featured by our friends of TheSydneyTarts and which is made by the same people, Kudoe Schli & Matz. Maybe they don’t deserve the prize for the best company name, but luxury watch winders is their business and they really impressed us.

Until now they produced three models, all with a very different design, but also with some things in common. And that’s is the incredible attention for detail and making no compromises when it comes to choosing for the ultimate luxury watch winders.

Kudoe, Schli & Matz is a joint effort of two companies. Bernd Kussmaul and Uwe Matzner have been creating complex solutions for individual components, and customized refinements for customers such as Aston-Martin or Bugatti, Jaeger-LeCoultre. Markus Döttling and Andreas K. Schlittenhardt co-manage the Döttling manufactory, established in 1919, which enjoys a reputation that is unique around the world in the luxury safes.

If the Morphosis is the most beautiful watch winder, you have to determine yourself. We think it’s an incredible machine that looks amazing. The Morphosis has 42 watch winders, two times 21 individually programmable watch-winders. Each is placed in 90-degree position within the stainless steel casing of the Morphosis, so the watches are visible from the front. As you can see on the photo of the touch panel (below), this individually programming is taken very serious!

As soon as you enter your code on the touch panel, the interior starts turning and revealing your watches. But there is more… The Morphosis also has an integrated sound system that can be controlled by your smart phone. How cool is that? Yep… very cool. The materials used are by choice, whether it’s carbon, ray skin, fabric or a fine fur cover and the same applies for all the steel components.

OK, the Morphosis would be slightly out of balance for those with a watch collection worth several hundreds or several thousands of euro/dollar. So for those who have 42 watches and their value calls for a suitable watch winder, than look no further. The Morphosis is available from € 95,000 Euro (ex TAX) and more info can be found at the Kudoe Schli & Matz website.

Weekly Watch Photo – Ochs und Junior Due Ore

mono — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 16:25:55 +0000

Weekly Watch Photo – Ochs und Junior Due Ore is a post from: Monochrome.nl

It’s simple. If you want a perfect Weekly Watch Photo, than simply ask the Watch Photographer. Because Ochs und Junior are visiting the Netherlands for a brunch meeting, we asked the Watch Photographer to do his magic on the Ochs und Junior Due Ore.

Tomorrow, Sunday 11th of December is the Ochs und Junior brunch meeting in Villa Augustus (Netherlands). Beat Weinmann will present the newest watches and Ludwig Oechslin’s smart innovations. This is interesting material of every watch fan! Do you really think a moon phase needs 40-50 parts? Ludwig Oechslin thought otherwise….

And Oechslin was right, he showed the entire watch industry that smart innovations are still possible. The Selene features the most accurate moon phase in a wrist watch ever and it comprises of only 5 parts! So no 30, 40 or 50 parts, no just five (5) parts!

During the brunch meeting at Villa Augustus, Beat Weinmann will show the Ochs und Junior Selene and other models like the one pictured above and below, the Due Ore, to the guests. Later this month we’ll do an extended review of the Due Ore.

Many thanx to Bert a.k.a. the Watch Photographer for the beautiful photos. Check out his 2012 calendar of Rolex watches and get your copy before Christmas!

SalonQP 2011 starts this Thursday at The Saatchi Gallery – London

mono — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 15:30:10 +0000

SalonQP 2011 starts this Thursday at The Saatchi Gallery – London is a post from: Monochrome.nl

This Thursday, SalonQP starts again and offers you a unique chance to discover the finest watches and meet the most interesting brands in the world. Does this sound excessive? Well we know it’s true!

Unlike Baselworld or the SIHH, SalonQP really offers the chance for every watch aficionado to walk in and have talk with people representing the brands. And not only people representing the major brand, also many of the greatest independent watchmakers are there.

SalonQP is a very accesible watch fair, which makes it easy to have chat with brands and independent watchmakers, discuss their watches and maybe try something on your wrist. To name just a few…

Maîtres du Temps will be there with the new Chapter Two with chocolat dial, Heritage Watch Manufactory will be showing their magnificent chronometers and Roger Smith, a watchmaker that we have covered frequently on Moncohrome.

Also present are De Bethune, the Belgian horological treat Ressence, the great Peter Speake-Marin and MB&F will be showing their new Legacy Machine 1. If you’re planning to visit we can also recommend to have a chat with the people from Bremont, a young Brittish watch brand.

And if you’re done with walking and talking (of course while enjoying a nice glass of something), there are several other things having a look at the ‘History of Watchmaking’ exhibition curated by the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie and interactive workshops origanized by Jaeger-LeCoultre.

There are over 40 brands showcasing their products at SalonQP this year, please take a look at the full list of exhibitors on the SalonQP Exhibitors page. On the website you can also information about directions, admission and everything else you need to know before you will dive into the horological feast called SalonQP. Have fun!

Win a trip to Piaget with Hodinkee

mono — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 11:38:41 +0000

Win a trip to Piaget with Hodinkee is a post from: Monochrome.nl

Would you like to win an all-expenses-paid trip to Switzerland and visit both Piaget manufactures? Our friend from Hodinkee teamed up with Piaget and offer exactly that!

Yes that’s right, you can win a trip to Switzerland and get to visit the two Piaget Manufactures. This is an opportunity to get a look inside and see how Piaget creates their elegant and stylish timepieces, like the Altiplano created for Only Watch or the Emperador Coussin XL Tourbillon. Want to know how to win this trip?

In order to be entered in the random draw, you must need to have the answers on a load of questions. The answers can be found in Hodinkee’s must-read review of the Piaget Altiplano. So start reading, studying, making notes… and win that magnificent trip, all expenses paid, to Switzerland and visit both Piaget Manufactures. To the person who wins… we envy you

Here you can read how to enter the contest.

Oh… you have until November 17th, 2011.

Prices: where will it end?

Dr.Watch — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 14:52:56 +0000

Prices: where will it end? is a post from: Monochrome.nl

Our own dr. Watch shares his ideas about the value and prices of watches. An interesting timing if we consider the second yearly price increase was just announced by Rolex and the Swiss National Bank promises to weaken the Swiss Franc.

It was at least 7-8 years ago that a watch collector told me he stopped collecting recent Swiss watches. German watches, vintage watches, OK, but the new products from the country of eternal bank secrecy and Heidi, no, just too darn expensive. At that moment, I thought of the average AP ROO (Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore), which was entangled in a fierce battle with the likes of the BP FB (Blancpain Flyback) and PP´s Nautilus to decide once and for all who was the most expensive in steel. I also thought shortly about the moment that I realized what a blessing the introduction of the Euro was for the sales of watches in the Euro zone: in the Netherlands a watch that seemed slightly overpriced at 10.500 Dutch Guilders was suddenly priced just below 5K Euro and that price already added some sneaky extra Euro´s… (5k Euro is equal to a little more that 11k Dutch Guilders).

It was also the time that Zenith was still considered an interesting brand for watch brands (hm, maybe it was even longer ago than 7-8 years…): the prices were very decent for a manufactured watch and the designs were appealing. After Nataf got his hands on it, their watches AND prices were beyond reason, but that’s not the topic of today. It seemed like the Swiss realized that the quartz crisis was really over and they were back in the game. What is more, they were leading the game and could change the rules during the match: the early examples of high-priced or just plain expensive watches as mentioned above have now almost blended into the crowd. Well, they created a league of their own, slightly out of reach for the others, as we can conclude today.

It was only a few weeks ago that respected journalist/blogger and watch collector Kristian Haagen asked his connections on Facebook if they could still understand the price of a steel Nautilus. He even owns one of these watches (I can’t judge it and wouldn’t wear one if they were a third of the historic price), so he has a right to ask. And why is Patek asking such outrageous prices for these watches, almost making you wonder if you’re looking at a platinum watch? The easy answer and semi-Obama-quote is: “because they can, yes, they can!”. Why can they produce watches that might be unsellable for everyone else and can sell them at stupefying prices? Why can they (I’m repeating myself, I know I wrote this before, but I still can’t get my head around it) ask 300K+ for a steel chronograph rattrapante watches? Because they can, yes, they can!

This is not just the usual suspect: when a friend of mine recently asked me if a certain Breitling had its own (he meant manufacture) movement, I had to tell him that not only was this not a manufacture movement, but it was one of the most basic movements in the industry (Breitling Calibre 17 is actually an ETA 2824) that can also be found in watches costing about 1/8 of the price of this Breitling. Sure, the parts have been polished and finished and decorated and it now reads Breitling all over the place, but it doesn’t justify the complete price difference.

Is this all in the marketing? Are consumers paying for the efforts of the brands to get so well known that people don’t tend to ask questions anymore about the ratio behind the price? Sure, partly. Are we paying for the investments in new movements and improvements on current models? Let’s hope that’s part of the price as well. Are we paying for the war against counterfeiting and parallel trade, mostly caused by people that are of course far from our inner circle of watch friends and enthusiasts (right?)? Probably. In any case, it doesn’t hurt to ask yourself, your retailer or a fellow watch freak from time to time why he thinks the price is reasonable, acceptable or maybe even inevitable. It might filter out the truly outrageous ones and teaches us something in the process.

In the end, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and if someone simply has an expensive taste, who am I to say the watch of his choice is overpriced? All I´m saying is, watch brands should ask themselves from time to time if they can explain the price when a watch collector is puzzled. I´m quite sure there are many people in the trade, and I don´t mean only the brands mentioned above, who would have a hard time to justify the price tag on the watch they´re selling. In the end it´s only the consumer who will decide and he´ll vote with his wallet.

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The watch collector – a strange breed of people?

Dr.Watch — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 11:44:57 +0000

The watch collector – a strange breed of people? is a post from: Monochrome.nl

Monochrome’s contributor Dr. Watch shares his personal ideas about the strange breed called watch aficionados. Be prepared and join the discussion!

A few years ago, quite a lot actually, Nike launched an intriguing campaign featuring a picture of an unattractive man who was clearly more worried about sports results than fashion. The tagline was something like “Runners are freaks; they don’t act like normal people, they don’t dress like normal people”. I won’t bother anyone with the dressing habits of the average watch fan, but when it comes to ‘not acting like normal people’, watch freaks are just as uhmmm… freaky as the average runner.

I’ve been a watch nerd for my entire adult life (before the tender age of 18, I think people could be forgiven for wearing stuff, not just watches, that we can only regret later), but sometimes I’m still amazed about the fascinating examples of watch craze one can stumble across amongst aficionados. Maybe it’s nice to mention some examples, although I think we have the same breed of people in mind.

First of all, I REALLY don’t understand anything about the subtle art of collecting Rolex watches. OK, even a very simple human being like I consider myself to be, can understand that a watch that has a good reselling value, will always find a buyer and therefore also many other potential buyers who don’t have the cash (yet), but who like to discuss what’s so cool about all this. Therefore, I do understand that there’s more discussion feasible about a sought after Daytona in steel than about (no offense, owners) about the same Daytona in steel & gold with a funky mother of pearl dial and diamond indexes. There’s no accounting for tastes, but the rare and desired pieces are clearly the favorite topic everywhere. However, how can anyone distinguish all these ‘almost-the-same-hardly-unchanged-for-50-years-but-different-in-details-watches’ by means of some red font instead of white, the presence or lack of lug-holes or even worse, just a serial number, is beyond my humble understanding.

Let alone things like discolored or even cracked (called spiderweb; see above) dials that are considered a definite NO for any other brand, but add to the charm of the right and only the right Rolex.

Patek collectors are also among the more mystifying creatures I’ve encountered in my life so far. It takes more study to know what Patek you should own and which you shouldn’t than the average brain surgeon would need, but the rewards are interesting. I guess I’ll wait for the time travel machine to be finished and go back a few decades when many of the current sweethearts of auction houses were still considered junk that wasn’t sellable to any sane person. I do like Patek and I think they do a great job when it comes to marketing. Not a problem, many people like to believe the watches are worth every cent, but they don’t get more beautiful, even though the prices are surging. But the really weird thing about Patek collectors is when they appear to have a pretty normal conversation, you’ll find out it sounds strange when you listen closely. Why? The reference numbers! There must be hundreds of numbers and somehow they don’t make any sense, there seems to be no logical classification, but this doesn’t bother the Patek aficionados. I’m open to explanations as much as on the other topics mentioned here.

Paneristi should of course be the grande finale where it comes to watch weirdos. Where to start? First of all, I never thought ANYTHING related to Sylvester Stallone would be interesting, let alone very appealing, to grown-ups. Secondly, I do understand that a different strap helps to tell the difference between all these very similar watches, but do we really need to make such an issue out of that? I read some people are willing to pay up to $800 for a strap and then I’m not even mentioning the thing that amazed me most: many Panerai collectors own an numerous straps. Made new or sometimes very old cowhides and all sorts of variants of animal skins. You name it, lizard, elephant skin, the tender leather of a horse’s ars, chicken leg leather, and much more. Panerai collectors just love straps made from old leather found in a ship’s wreck, that was on the bottom of the sea for any decades. I even read someone used leather of a Ferrari seat to make straps. Well, I rest my case…

Now on a slightly more friendly note, no offence again, everyone should feel free to spend his money where and how he wants; there would be a lot of brands that wouldn’t exist anymore these days if we all had the same view on what makes someone a Watch Idiot Savant.

Weekly Watch Photo – guess the name of the brand!

mono — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 08:58:51 +0000

Weekly Watch Photo – guess the name of the brand! is a post from: Monochrome.nl

The Weekly Watch Photo is always dedicated to beautiful photos of beautiful watches and so is this week’s WWP. However now we add a little something just for the fun of it. Try to guess the name of the brand, watch model and movement.

This one is for you serious watch aficionados. A little puzzle for the Sunday… guess the name of the brand, the watch and even the caliber. And forget about checking the EXIF data of the photo of maybe a clue in the link. Soon I’ll write more about this young brand that focusses on absolute Haute Horlogerie (with capitals). Extraordinary beautiful movements with extraordinary performance. Let’s hope they will become a constant force in the watch industry.

If you know the answers, please mail them to me and if you like a catalog, please also include your address. I have a few catalogs of the brand and if you’re interested I’ll sent a catalog.

Party with the watch industry’s in-crowd for a good cause and have fun

mono — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 11:16:48 +0000

Party with the watch industry’s in-crowd for a good cause and have fun is a post from: Monochrome.nl

Do you want to have a great party? Do you wanna celebrate with the ‘in-crowd’ of the watch industry? Coming Thursday the 23th of June in Gland, Switzerland is the 1st Watchmaker’s Ball.

This is the first time that a party brings together everyone in the watch industry, simply to have a great evening, get to know each other, hang out and party! Usually people from the industry meet each other during the yearly watch fairs, when the competition is on. But not on this evening!

I’ve heard Audemars Piguet, Greubel Forsey, Panerai, Roger Dubuis and Ferrari already bought tickets for a full table. Other brands, like Zenith, Girard-Perregaux and even the auctioneers of Antiquorum will also be there. There is room for a maximum of 200 guests and if you are not there to hang out with the watch industry’s crème de la crème, than it might be because you want to sponsor a good cause or simply want to win some prizes.

After dinner, Sotheby’s will auction 5 spectacular lots… Did you always dream of becoming a movie star? If you win lot number 1 you get to play a role in a French movie. No kidding! Lot number 2 brings you to Paris to enjoy a Haute Couture show and a night in hotel De Crillon, lot number 3 is a private tennis match with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga! Be prepared to not win this match And if this is not spectacular enough, you can also bid on one day of heli-skiing with Olympic ski champion Didier Defago.

Lot number 5 is one day on a European race track with a Ferrari 250 GTO from 1972. Now let me think… what would I choose… I hope the person who wins this lot will be very careful, because this vintage beauty is worth more than 20 million Euro!!

This is not just a party, I think that was already more than obvious. Especially when you consider that all the profits are going to be donated to the new Swiss Foundation VACCINES FOR LIFE, which is developing vaccines for diseases such as Malaria, Aids and many more. So let’s hope for some generous bidding during the auction.

The first Watchmaker’s Ball is at the Dinemec Studio in Gland, where musicians like Lenny Kravitz and Pink have recorded albums. The Watchmaker’s Ball (tickets can be bought via the website) is ‘powered’ by Suryia Hill’s Sparkle PR Agency.

The Auction Hammer – Panerai Mare Nostrum

Martin Green — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 10:59:35 +0000

The Auction Hammer – Panerai Mare Nostrum is a post from: Monochrome.nl

A legend amongst legends…

Vintage Panerai’s are already exciting, big, bold, unique and rare. Amongst them the Mare Nostrum is perhaps the most mystical, since it was Panerai’s only vintage chronograph. Although the re-make is not as big as the original one, the one offered for auction by Christie’s can for sure be called exciting, bold, unique and rare.

In 1943 Panerai developed the Mare Nostrum for deck officers and it was their first chronograph. Allegedly only a couple prototypes had been made before the Allied invasion (in Italy) prevented full scale production. Like all the other Panerais, the Mare Nostrum has become a timeless classic. So it was not strange that Panerai made a re-issue of this iconic watch.

In 1993 the Mare Nostrum was introduced for public sale. Panerai did make some alterations to the design. A 42mm case made the watch much more wearable than the 52mm case of the original prototype. The two layer dial of the prototype was replaced by a normal (one layer) dial and the smooth bezel was now engraved with a km/h scale and later with a tachymeter.

Panerai opted for a ETA 2801-2 with Dubois Depraz chronograph module to power the watch. Between 1993 and 1996 492 of these Mare Nostrums where produced plus an additional 100 equally divided between 2 editions that where specially made for Sylvester Stallone. One was identical to the regular Mare Nostrum with only the name “Slytech” added to the dial. The other one had also “Slytech” on the dial, but also had a smooth bezel, just like the original prototypes.

In March 1997 the Vendôme Luxury Group (now known as Richemont) purchased Panerai and did some slight retouches on the Mare Nostrums design. They re-worked the dial where they put the minute track on the outside of the hour markers instead of on the inside and the bezel got a polished inner ring with stripes marking the according speed indicated on the satin finished outer ring. It was available with 3 dial colors; reference PAM006 with a blue dial, PAM007 with a white dial (as offered by Christie’s in the upcoming auction) and PAM008 with a black dial (below is an early pre-Vendôme model with a km/h scale on the bezel).

Pre-Vendôme Panerai Mare Nostrum - photo by Martin Wilmsen

In 2005 Panerai purchased an original Mare Nostrum prototype at Christie’s for 85.000,- euro’s. This watch is not only on display in the Panerai museum, but also gave Panerai the opportunity to examine the watch and bring out an almost identical limited edition. This limited edition, designated PAM300 (see photo below) was introduced at the 2010 SIHH, and nearly identical to the original prototypes. 99 where made and the only difference with the original one is the movement. Where the original housed an Angelus 215 manual wind chronograph movement, the modern limited edition PAM300 is powered by Panerai’s OP XXV movement, which is based on a Minerva movement with the same functions as the Angelus.

Panerai PAM300 - photo by Martin Wilmsen

With 398 pieces in total, the Vendôme-serie was actually smaller in production numbers than the pre-Vendôme version of the Mare Nostrum. Its 1997 sales price of around 1.500 Euros, or back then approximately $ 1,365, was actually quite a bargain, especially considering the brand’s current rock star status it would have been a wise investment. Christie’s estimates the hammer price of this Mare Nostrum between $ 8,000 and $ 12,000. If a further price increase for this model is still unknown, but this auction does give collectors an option to add a relatively rare and early Panerai to their collection that stands out, not only by its case design, but also its mythical place in Panerai history. This Panerai Mare Nostrum with a white dial and tachymeter scale on the bezel (reference PAM007) is lot 19 in Christies New York auction held at Rockefeller Plaza on June 15th.

Photo credits of the last to photos go to Martin Wilmsen, who runs a blog called Wrist Watch Photo, with his splendid photos of mainly Panerai watches.