With the Villeret Tourbillon Volant Heure Sautante Minute Retrograde, Blancpain introduces its first model ever with jumping hours and retrograde minutes. And that’s not all… There is much more than first meets the eye with this elegant Villeret watch. Its no-nonsense time display and clean, classic look incorporate technically challenging complications and superb craftsmanship. Let’s take a close look.
Yellow gold watches divide opinion, but they are definitely back in style, in particular with more modernly designed and bold watches – which is quite an anachronism but can definitely bring an impressive result. A case in point, at SIHH 2018, HYT unveiled yellow gold versions of its H0, taking the model to new territories.
It seems an endless wave of new watch brands are cropping up on Kickstarter every day, with many sharing the same or similar ‘minimalist’ design aesthetic. The majority seem to be generic, albeit more affordable, derivatives of existing products from more established brands. A rare few, however, like newcomer Humism, who we are featuring here …
It is not the first time we talk about Reservoir Watches, a young brand that has made a name for itself with its cool, well-designed, original watches. Here, at MONOCHROME, we love the beauty of mechanics and novel ways of telling the time – and this Reservoir model, with its jumping hours and retrograde minutes, satisfies us on both levels. But it also comes with a very attractive price tag…So, let’s invest in some quality time with the Reservoir Supercharged Sport.
After a long day admiring traditional watch fare from the more conservative brands, a visit to MB&F offers an energising boost of unorthodox horology. Surrounded by a fleet of intergalactic watches, Balthazar the robot, an eight-legged table clock and even a chirping turtle automaton, it is plain to see that Max Busser’s enterprise is a bubbling cauldron of creativity. Busser is fast becoming the matchmaker extraordinaire of the watch world inviting talented friends from different disciplines to join in his creative cocktails where unlimited imagination coupled with impeccable craftsmanship are the main ingredients.
A brand of recent creation, the name Franck Dubarry may sound familiar. Franck Dubarry is a French entrepreneur and watch designer. Before launching the eponymous brand, he made his reputation in the advertising sector and in the watch industry by creating TechnoMarine in 1997. A fantastic commercial success, TechnoMarine presented truly original concepts; for instance, it was one of the first to combine diamond and rubber. After 10 years and selling over 2.5 million watches, Franck Dubarry sold his brand to a private equity fund.
Clearly, this watch is far from usual standards, in terms of elegance and proportions. Clearly, it is not meant for the masses – whether we talk about design or retail price. Clearly, it is not the average vision of a classic timepiece. Yet, the Jacob & Co. Astronomia Tourbillon is quite a watch, especially from a technical point of view. It is bold but mechanically fascinating. This year, Jacob & Co. unveils an exceptional new version of its uber-complicated piece, the Astronomia Tourbillon Clarity Octopus.
Prior to the SIHH 2018, back in December, IWC introduced a series of 4 watches, including one very surprising watch. A stand-alone piece, not included in any of the existing collection, the IWC Tribute to Pallweber is a watch specifically created for the 150th Anniversary of the Schaffhausen-based brand. This re-edition of one of the greatest pocket-watches IWC ever made is now available in steel, still with the same digital hours and minute display.
When we hear H. Moser & Cie., we usually have classicism or cleanness in mind – or a certain sense of provocation, with the Swiss Mad Watch or the recent Swiss Icons Watch. Yet, for the first time in its history, the Schaffhausen-based manufacture has revisited its time display methods to create a new, disc-based system. Meet the Endeavour Flying Hours with planetary display of hours and minutes.
Last year, at the SIHH 2017, Ulysse Nardin introduced an impressive piece, a concept watch featuring no less than 10 major innovations, as a showcase to demonstrate the brand’s savoir-faire: the InnoVision 2. Every part of this watch boasted an innovation, whether the escapement, the display, the winding system or even the hands. And while last year’s piece wasn’t meant to be commercialized, it is now time for Ulysse Nardin to deploy some of these features into serially produced pieces… Meet the Ulysse Nardin Freak Vision.