Introducing: The Monochrome Montre De Souscription 4 By Habring²

Bringing you dead seconds and a — you guessed it —monochromatic design

December 18, 2025

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Our friends over at Monochrome and Habring² are building quite a history together. Their first collaboration, in 2021, celebrated Monochrome’s 15th anniversary. The online watch magazine and the Austrian watchmaking couple teamed up once more in 2023. Their sophomore release, a split-seconds chronograph, raised money for charity. Today, we get a third collaboration in the form of the Montre de Souscription 4 Seconde Morte.

Monochrome releases special limited editions with brands under its souscription (subscription) scheme. This means you pay part of the watch up front, before production starts. Monochrome and the partner brand then produce only as many as are sold during the sale window. It is a clever way to ensure they get the quantities right and allows them to do more exotic stuff with lower risks. As the name suggests, this is the fourth time they have done it. Let’s have a closer look at the resulting watch.

The Habring² Erwin

Habring²’s Erwin model forms the basis of today’s release. This stainless steel watch has a 38.5mm diameter and a 9mm profile. You get sapphire crystals up top and in the case back. Habring² rates the watch’s water resistance at 30 meters, as expected for the style and genre.

Inside ticks caliber A11S. This in-house-developed movement takes inspiration and some of its layout from the Valjoux 7750, but it’s been thoroughly redesigned, and all its parts are either produced in-house or sourced from several suppliers in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. The caliber comprises 126 parts, runs at 28,800 vibrations per hour, and offers 48 hours of autonomy.

The model’s characteristic feature, though, is the seconde morte, or “dead seconds,” complication. This means the seconds hand ticks once per second rather than sweeping in sub-second jumps. Interestingly, the mechanism adds only seven parts to the regular movement. The mechanism sits on the backside of the caliber, visible through the display case back. Habring² uses a uniquely shaped mounting bridge reminiscent of a propeller.

The Monochrome and Habring² collaboration

The Monochrome edition of the Erwin features a stepped and fully brushed case. The dial, naturally, sticks with a monochromatic scheme. You get a combination of white printing and applied Roman numerals. A set of leaf hands completes the package.

The dial appears deceptively simple and traditional. A closer look, however, reveals intricate details and features all around. You get an outer minute track that is, surprisingly, subdivided into five portions per second/minute. I assume this is to enable more precise reading of the minute hand, as the seconds hand doesn’t take those five steps, of course. This track also serves a nice decorative purpose, as it curves around small numerals at five-minute intervals.

Monochrome took inspiration from Art Deco for this dial layout. This is clearly visible in the intricate printed tracks and the diamond-shaped applied indexes between the Roman numerals. All in all, the design feels like a fresh take on classical themes — a modern watch rooted in watchmaking history, so to speak.

The Monochrome Montre de Souscription 4

If you want to make all of this goodness yours, you can place your order on Monochrome’s website now. Monochrome and Habring² require a non-refundable down payment of €2,000 to take your order. Habring² will then produce a maximum of 33 pieces, to be delivered in February and March of 2026. A remainder of €4,000 is to be paid before delivery, bringing the total to €6,000.