Watches Blog Wrist Watch Reviews

We like to talk about vintage watches a lot within the Fratello team. Though most of what we write about is largely focused on the most recent releases and developments, for many of us, a lot of the fun can be found in the sometimes weird and often wonderful world of vintage watches. Its a world full of history, remarkable watches, incredible stories, and quirky details. It inspired us to come up with a series of articles focusing on the best watches per decade from a select group of brands. Some of them are priceless, some of them are still affordable. In this installment, we will take a look at the best TAG Heuer watches from the 2000s.By the turn of the millennium, Switzerland had proudly [...]

Quite rare and hard to find: stumbling upon an Omega Seamaster Ref. 145.023 in such a good condition as the one we found on Zeitauktion is like discovering a NOS lightsaber on the planet Mustafar in the Outer Rim. The Omega Seamaster Anakin Skywalker watch is a multipurpose piece of kit because it's both a style statement AND a very interesting chronograph from a historical perspective. The extravagant design catches the eye and immediately takes you back to the 70s. And if you let your mind wander freely, this Seamaster will even take you to a galaxy far, far away.It was the late Chuck Maddox a legendary chronograph collector with a vast collection and the knowledge to back it up, who publi [...]

Damn you Rolex. Ok, more specifically, damn you vintage Rolex. I don't want to like you, I really don't, because so many others are in love with you and have made you dangerous to buy and a prohibitively expensive process along the way. Plus, you go and change one silly detail here or there like a font often likely without a ton of consideration on how the market will react (in this case would have reacted) and people go nuts. I mean seriously nuts. Today's TBT looks at a watch with a small little detail that collectors love and it's a watch that I kind of accidentally backed into about five years ago. Let's talk about the well-known ref.1680 Rolex Red Submariner. Actually, and I'll not [...]

Welcome back to another installment of a Brief History of Time. Today, we pick up where we left off, exploring the fascinating history of Breitling.With the Chronomat and Premier in the 40s and the Navitimer and SuperOcean in the 50s, Breitling had built up some major momentum. The 1960s proved to be yet another fruitful decade for the brand, starting with some notable improvements to the Navitimer. The prior Navitimers all-black dial was changed to feature contrasting white subdials. This improved its legibility, and the new look also made it even more attractive to the mass market. The Navitimer thus became not simply a useful tool watch, but a popular symbol of class and style.Then, in 19 [...]

When the Zenith El Primero A384 Revival hit the market to celebrate the iconic movement's 50th anniversary in 2019, it was a sight for sore eyes. While the strap last year's model arrived on was nice, the newly-released ladder bracelet takes this offering to another level.Pun intended. And to clarify before I forge on, A sight for sore eyes is a good thing. It means a salve, a remedy, a tonic for aching peepers. I only find it necessary to make that clear because I said it to my German girlfriend once, and I spent the night in the dog house because she thought I was insulting her. With potential misinterpretations out of the way, I will say this: Never underestimate the effect of a good brac [...]

As you can probably imagine, having long-winded, in-depth discussions about the watch industry, brand theory, and product particulars consumes a lot of our free time here at Fratello. But thats not to say we dont love it. Quite the contrary Our passion for these nuanced chats paints a clear picture: were mad about simply everything to do with our hobby. One such conversation gave rise to this article, so I thought Id share with you my thoughts on the current state of play at Rolex and what that might mean for the brand, its consumers, and the industry en masse in the future.Rolex is no longer a watch brand, I said nonchalantly. Ive been saying it for a couple of years and I often deliver thi [...]

Collaborations within the world of horology are a pretty common sight these days. But whenever the name Alain Silberstein pops up, Im all ears. The legendary French watch designer has a design signature that always stands out. He is able to surprise me constantly and brings a smile to my face every time. His style of design has that power. And my anticipation grew even bigger when I read that Silberstein teamed up with Beno?t Mintiens from the Ressence. The end result is the brilliant Ressence a Alain Silberstein Carpe Diem' that is presented by the new platform Grail Watch.?Generally, I do not live with a lot of regrets when it comes to buying watches. However, I have mentioned before that [...]

As watch journalists, we do our fair share of writing about watches. In fact, it's almost all we do. And though some would say that watch journalism is dead, here at Fratello, we feel that its alive and well. And that's largely due to you, the Fratelli. It takes people who are interested in reading our work to keep us going. From quick reviews of new watches to detailed buying guides, or even deep dives into brand histories, we try to cover all the bases here. For us, it's an expression of our interest and passion for watches. We are very lucky to get to express our views and opinions to such a receptive audience. And the ultimate expression of watch enthusiasm would be to use one's acquired [...]

The story goes that after a polo match in India, some British officers challenged their friend Cesar de Trey to create a watch that was able to resist the serious beatings caused by polo sport. Once back in Europe, Cesar de Trey (businessman) shared the problem with Jacques-David LeCoultre, who creates the Reverso watch in association with Jaeger. The Reverso watch was patented in 1931 (the 4th of March to be precise) and was originally designed by Rene-Alfred Chauvot.Almost 80 years later, the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso is still going strong and it is one of the classic watches that can also easily be referred to as a cult watch. The rectangular shape, the Reverso mechanism, the inhouse movem [...]

Ill just come out and say it. There is no chronograph in the world that I love more than the tri-color Zenith El Primero An irreverent statement coming from a writer at Fratello, I know. After all, its no secret that we love our Speedies around here. However, an absolute, exclusive enthusiasm for the Omega icon is actually not a necessity. And personally, there is just no other chronograph that speaks to me the way the tri-color El Primero does.Known these days as the Chronomaster, everything about the watch just does it for me. From its history as the worlds first high-frequency automatic chronograph in 1969 to its unmistakable blue and gray sub-dials, the watch rings both my intellectual a [...]

One of the items of the 2019 Neiman Marcus Fantasy Gift is an Aston Martin DBS Superleggera designed by Daniel Craig. A car that comes with a free Omega Seamaster 300M 007 in platinum, only 7 pieces.I had never heard of Neiman Marcus before, let alone their annual Fantasy Gifts. A closer look shows a $70.000 luxury doghouse from Rockstar Puppy (by Denise Richards), which includes a video chat with Denise. Or what to think of a one-of-a-kind pair of Christian Louboutin for $125.000. Or what about a date with Jeff Staple (sneaker designer), and on top of a romantic dinner with him, you will receive eight pairs of his collaboration sneakers. Price tag? $110.000, and thats without the option of [...]

Introduced during BaselWorld 2009, the Omega Seamaster Ploprof 1200m (ref. 224.30.55.21.01.001) is slowly hitting the stores and becomes available for the large public. This remake of the original Omega Seamaster Professional 600m/2000ft that was introduced in 1971 (after 4 years of extensive test work) is in my humble opinion one of the best that Omega did so far. Remakes are dangerous, collectors are most of the time insulted by them because there is only little left of the original details, and buyers of modern watches often dont get all the fuzz and dont like the old-fashioned design. This Ploprof 1200m is probably pleasing both groups.The Seamaster PloProf, with its impressive dimensi [...]

China Lake is a dry lake in the scorching hot Mojave Desert in California. It's also the place where Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake is situated. This immense 51,000 km2 base 240 kilometers north of Los Angeles is home to many pilots. Pilots that don't wear green flight suits, but beige ones. This color better blends in with the desert sand of the Mojave Desert. As does the sand-colored ceramic case of IWC's camouflaged BP. I tried my best blending in with the IWC Big Pilot's Watch Top Gun Edition Mojave Desert. Not in the desert but in my natural habitat, the city.You might be thinking China Lake in California? Yep, California in the US of A. The dry lake gets its name from 19th-centur [...]

Millennials might associate the Rolex Day-Date with fictive characters like Tony Soprano, but theres much more to this watch, of course. The Rolex Day-Date is the watch worn by Presidents, captains of industry, people from the entertainment industry, and all those who appreciate a timeless watch in precious metal.My first encounter with the Rolex Day-Date was relatively late. In the small village where I grew up in the 1980s and 1990s, there werent many people that spend on luxury items. They were all over on tv-series and movies, though, and advertisements. Rolex is known to have some pretty fantastic ads, and many of them included the famous Rolex Day-Date, featuring people like Arnold Pal [...]

Goedendag, this is The Week in Watches for September 28th, 2019. It has been a busy week, for a lot of brands, so here we go.The brands picked up the pace again in September, with new releases from big brands and some smaller brands.?We saw several beautiful and important releases this week that we didnt get to cover in separate articles this week. Without further ado, here are some of the releases you shouldnt miss.Hublot Big Bang Unico SORAIThe young Hublot company (1980) collaborates with a lot of different initiatives, from Ferrari to Berluti to Orlinski and a lot of others. And now with SORAI.Ricardo Guadalupe (CEO Hublot) and Kevin Pietersen (SORAI)Hublot teamed up with Kevin Pietersen [...]

We like to talk about vintage watches a lot within the Fratello team. Though most of what we write about is primarily focused on the most recent releases and developments, for many of us, a lot of the fun can be found in the sometimes weird and often wonderful world of vintage watches. Its a world full of history, remarkable watches, incredible stories, and quirky details. It inspired us to come up with a series of articles focusing on the best watches per decade from a select group of brands. Some of them are priceless, and some of them are still affordable. In this installment, we will take a look at the best Panerai watches from the 1990s.This week we will continue our journey through wat [...]

Yesterday Oris presented their Movember Edition of the popular original 40mm Sixty-Five Diver in The Hague Netherlands. As Official Watch Partner of the Movember Foundation, Oris herewith continues the company's Change for the Better campaign. And I was invited.Contents of the Oris Movember Edition setOris Movember EditionThe Movember Foundation was founded in 2003 in Melbourne, Australia by Adam Garone, Travis Garone, Luke Slattery, and Justin Coghlan. Meanwhile, its a multinational charity organization that aims to raise awareness for mens health in general. The foundation is active in 21 countries and has a global workforce of 130 people. It has funded more than 800 programs focusing on p [...]

Today on TBT, we'll take a look at one of the more legendary tool watches in the Glycine Airman. It's a watch that I've always desired, but, for one reason or another, never purchased until only recently. Even then, I wound up with the watch before you by accident more on that later but boy am I glad I did. The Airman is a great watch and for a piece so well known, it's still relatively easy to find and shhh it's downright affordable Let's take a look The Glycine Airman Special advertisement (photo credit: forums.watchuseek.com)History of the Glycine AirmanMuch has been written about the history of the Glycine Airman, so I won't recount the gory details. The long and short of it, th [...]

Inspired by the iconic Memovox Polaris, a watch that was initially produced between 1965 and 1968 and aimed at the USA market, Jaeger-LeCoultre now introduces the Polaris Date.This watch is being launched exclusively for the US market until October 1st. Jaeger-LeCoultre speaks about a pre-launch, but I am not convinced you can talk about pre-launch when youre launching a new watch. Anyway, the watch will be available for the US market only at first, and then the rest of the world will follow. In total, there will be 800 pieces of this Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Date.Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris DateAs you can see, Jaeger-LeCoultre used beautiful tones of blue for the dial. The dial consists of mul [...]

Here at the Fratello offices, we get a lot of questions from you, our readers. Probably the most-asked questions are centered around the topic of what to buy for different budgets. The most popular budget question is what watch to buy for under 5,000 in different watch categories. That's why we decided to set up a small series of articles focusing on the best watches that you can buy within that budget. In this installment of the series, we will look at the best two-tone watches available for under 5K. Let's see what the best options are if you want to add a bit of color to your stainless steel.The first thing that comes to mind when I think of a two-tone watch is obviously a steel-and-gold [...]