Category: independent watchmaking

Hands-on – Brellum Duobox Pandial Black-DLC

Brellum is a niche independent watch brand that was launched just two years ago by Sebastien Muller, a fourth-generation watchmaker in the Swiss Jura. His first model, the Duobox, is a no-nonsense chronograph offering excellent value for the money. Recently, the collection received a cool-looking Panda version (white dial with black sub-counters) – the “Pandial”, reviewed here – and today, this model gains boldness with a new black DLC-coated case. Meet the Brellum Duobox Pandial Black-DLC.

7 years ago

Introducing – The Habring2 Erwin LAB01 – A Bronze Edition from the Newly-Created Massena LAB

On one side: William Massena, one of those inescapable names of the watch industry. A former head of an auction house, Managing Director of one of the largest watch forums, he is first and foremost an avid watch collector and a true connoisseur. On the other side is Habring², a small, independent watchmaker from Austria with superb craftsmanship and interesting (but not overpriced) complications. So what happens when you mix these two? The Habring² Erwin LAB01 Bronze, the result of William’s new project, the Massena LAB.

7 years ago

Review – Urwerk UR-111C – Reimagining Time

As part of the brand’s ‘Special Projects’ line, the UR-111C is Urwerk at its best, a mature watch that soars with mechanical ingenuity and a design ethos straight out of Blade Runner. Although it does not bear the hallmark satellite hour hands we have come to associate with the brand, the UR-111C is packed with imaginative displays (jumping hours, linear retrograde minutes, optical fibre-augmented seconds) and a look and feel that is 100% Urwerk.

7 years ago

Independent Watchmaking – In Conversation with Kari Voutilainen

Kari Voutilainen is one of the most respected and revered independent watchmakers. The watches of this Finnish-born master watchmaker (no more than 50 pieces per year) are crafted to a level that cannot be achieved in mass production. We climbed the steep stairway of his Môtiers workshop to meet the master and understand why he is determined to remain an independent watchmaker.

7 years ago

Hands-on – The new Brellum Wyvern Manufacture Limited Edition

If you are a regular reader of MONOCHROME, you are probably familiar with Brellum. This young micro-brand was launched two years ago by Sebastien Muller with the Duobox, a cool, retro-inspired chronograph powered by COSC-certified Valjoux 7750 movements. After this first (and rather successful) attempt with a sporty chronograph, it is time for the brand to expand the collection with a new classic watch, the Brellum Wyvern Manufacture.

7 years ago

Just Because – The Car Clock by John-Mikael Flaux

There is an inextricable link between cars and watches. It isn’t as simple as saying that “People who love watches also love cars” or the other way around, there is something more to it. Something deeper. Perhaps it is the immediate sense of belonging that a fine watch or fine car brings out in their owners? You fall in love with one marque and that’s it. Once you “join the team” you stay with the team for a long, long time. It isn’t about brand loyalty – people switch brands; billions of marketing dollars are spent to ensure we do. It is about the “thing”; the watch, the car, music, a whole list of things that enter our lives that we continue to obsess over until we are too old and too grey to obsess anymore. It could be Ferrari as easily as it could be Audemars Piguet as easily as it could be Manchester United.

7 years ago

Video – Inside Bovet, a Unique Manufacture of High-End, Astronomical Watches

The independent watchmaking “scene” is vast and comprises dozens of brands, ateliers and one-man shows. What still impress us here, at MONOCHROME, is how those watchmaking brands manage to create passion and to differentiate with striking products. Among them is Bovet, a unique manufacture with impressive horological skills, superbly decorated movements and a focus on astronomy, creating watches like no others. Today, we’re in Motiers, at the brand’s headquarters, to talk with owner Pascal Raffy about these fascinating timepieces.

7 years ago

First Look – The new Grönefeld 1941 Principia – Simpler, Automatic, Still Superbly Finished

It took Tim and Bart Grönefeld, the charismatic “Horological Brothers”, almost three years to reveal a new watch. Certainly, they are not the most prolific watchmakers when it comes to novelties – meaning that when something new is coming to the market, we’re quite enthusiastic. While all of their previous creations feature a complication (a tourbillon, an oversized dead-beat second or a remontoire), their new watch is a simple automatic 3-hander. But we prefer to avoid the word “entry-level” here as, clearly, the new Grönefeld 1941 Principia is all about (very) fine watchmaking.

7 years ago

Hands-on – H. Moser & Cie. Pioneer Tourbillon – Made to be Worn

H. Moser & Cie. unveils its latest take on the flying tourbillon complication housed in a stainless steel Pioneer case ready to battle the elements. This is not Moser’s first tourbillon – it has already appeared in the upmarket Endeavour, Venturer and Swiss Alp Watch collections – nor is it the first complication to reach the Pioneer family, which hosts a QP complication. The novelty here is the combination of a one-minute flying tourbillon and its corresponding automatic movement inside the sportier case of the Pioneer. Forming part of Moser’s SIHH 2019 novelties, the brand that likes to row against the tide of convention has decided to beat the flurry of pre-SIHH teasers and puts the Pioneer Tourbillon for sale on the market today. Shielded by its beefy 42.8mm steel case that is water-resistant to 120m, this is Moser’s concept of an ATV tourbillon that can take on the challenges of everyday wear and tear – and also the brand’s most accessible tourbi ever.

7 years ago

Hands-on – The Impressive Armin Strom Masterpiece 1 Dual Time Resonance

In 2016, Armin Strom impressed us with a brand-new watch featuring a stunning complication. Armin Strom is a watch brand that was known mainly for its bold skeletonized movements, however mostly time-only watches. But with the Mirrored Force Resonance, the brand showed unprecedented horological skills. This year, the brand pushes the concept even further, not only by using the concept of Resonance but by using the double-balance construction to create a Dual Time watch. Two movements in one watch… Meet the Armin Strom Masterpiece 1 Dual Time Resonance.

7 years ago