Watches Blog Wrist Watch Reviews

In a recent video I recorded for Fratello, I introduced the Bvlgari Octo Roma World Timer. To date, that watch is my favorite model in the Octo Roma line because it brought a touch more visual complexity to the wearable and identifiable case shape boasted by the model line. If I thought that model was interesting, imagine my surprise when I first met the Bvlgari Octo Roma Carillon Tourbillon. This is one of the most complex watch movements ever added to the fast-becoming-iconic case design that evokes the architecture of Rome and went on to inspire the perhaps more famous Bvlgari Octo Finissimo a line of watches that we have, on these very pages, extolled as one of the finest modern sports w [...]

As promised, a hands-on review of the new Omega Speedmaster Chronoscope. This new 43mm Speedmaster collection was introduced a few weeks ago in Milan, Italy. However, we've been fortunate enough to have two of these watches in our Fratello offices and were able to give them some time on the wrist.Aside from the new 43mm case size and new movement (the hand-wound caliber 9908), it also brings a new dial design to the table. One with two additional scales to the existing tachymeter scale.Did you know that the Omega Speedmaster was the first watch to have a tachymeter scale on a bezel? Before its release, watches with a tachymeter scale had it printed on the dial. In 1957, Omega decided to come [...]

Just recently, all German watch magazines started to cover the new beauties from Ebel: the 1911 BTR collection, based on the 1911 series. Especially the chronograph is of my personal interest I always liked the Zenith El Primero driven Ebel chronograph, as worn by Don Johnson a.k.a Sonny Crockett in Miami Vice in the 1980s. The new 1911 BTR chronograph features an in house movement by Ebel, caliber 137. The case is 44.5mm in diameter and can either be choosen with a stainless steel or rubber bezel. The 1911 BTR also comes in a GMT model (caliber 240) and a perpetual model (caliber 288). Prices start at 3500 euro for the GMT with leather strap.I think that this step could bring Ebel back into [...]

In their Artelier collection, Oris regularly present limited editions of watch models that are dedicated to jazz musicians. Now I would like to explore one of their latest additions to this family together with you, which is dedicated to the drummer and bandleader Art Blakey. A dress watch, providing some surprisingly creative links to drumming.To me, this watch is of particular interest because I am a drummer myself. Even though I am not playing a conventional drum set, but a Djemb , and I am playing traditional African music instead of jazz, the design of the Oris Art Blakey Limited Edition offers some details, I easily can connect with. Furthermore, as drums form the base of the vast majo [...]

Is it the best blue in the world? I'm talking about the shade of blue IWC uses for the dials on its Le Petit Prince watches. I think it could very well be the best shade of blue; not too metallic, too light, too bright, or too dark. Anyway, IWC's signature royal blue also graces the dial of the Big Pilots Watch Perpetual Calendar Tourbillon Edition Le Petit Prince. Other than its color, there's quite some other good stuff going on too on the face of this watch as the name suggests. Before going into that, lets take a look at the history behind the watchs namesake novella.Antoine de Saint-Exup ry (1900-1944) was a pilot by trade and a writer by heart. He came from an impoverished French arist [...]

There wasnt much Longines news this year. After their move from Baselworld to somewhere else, it remained very silent and the somewhere else is yet to be discovered.Instead of somewhere else, we received an e-mail with some novelties: the new Master Collection. Downloading the press kit in English leaves us with a technical specification sheet in Turkish (bravo!). As I can read some German, Ive tried that one instead, and it worked. Enough with the complaining, but it just baffles me how a brand like Longines gets surpassed in professionalism by the average Kickstarter brand when it comes to these things.We received two new models, but apparently, there are quite some references available. T [...]

Omega Speedmaster Mark IIIHappy New Year everyone and Happy Speedy Tuesday We started Speedy Tuesday somewhere half-way 2012 and it has become the most popular topic here on Fratellowatches. We are very thankful for your enthusiasm and submissions This year, we will continue our Speedy Tuesdays and will have some great Omega Speedmaster related give-aways as a sign of our appreciation to you, our readers!In one of our recent Speedy Tuesday topics we asked our readers about the Speedmaster Mark III. One of our readers, Santosh, submitted a couple of photos of his much beloved Speedmaster Mark III with black dial.The Speedmaster Mark III (1971) was the successor of the Speedmaster Professional [...]

In front of us is the 11th Laureus IWC special edition in the famous blue color: the IWC Da Vinci Chronograph?Edition Laureus Sport for Good Foundation.?Lets have a look.Laureus Sport for GoodThe Laureus Sport for Good (here after: Laureus) is a charitable organization that was founded by Richemont and Daimler in 2000. The goal of Laureus is to use sports to make the world a better place, without voilence, discrimination and disadvantage. Supporting over 100 programmes in approximately 40 countries, Laureus tries to make a social change. ?Since 2005, IWC has been a partner of Laureus. Every year they create a Laureus limited edition watch, of which part of the proceeds goes to support the sp [...]

Last weekend, the 24 hours of the Nurburgring were raced and Fratellowatches was there with Jaeger-LeCoultre and Aston Martin. Besides enjoying the race and the finish of the Aston Martin team, there was also some time and room to view the Jaeger-LeCoultre collection and follow a short master class in watchmaking.Before entering the Aston Martin terrace in the Dorint Hotel at Nurburgring with the most perfect view on the racing track, I followed the short master class on watchmaking given by one of Jaeger-LeCoultres watchmakers from Le Sentier. They brought their work bench to the racing track and with the sound of super sports cars in the back ground, I tried disassembling and assembling th [...]

Wow. What a rollercoaster. There have been more back-and-forth tug-of-war contests in this World Cup than anyone saw coming. Thanks to thousands of voters, though, we now have our finalists locked and loaded and ready to roll. The Omega Speedmaster World Cup is just 7 days away from its conclusion and we need YOU to help us decide a winner.When this World Cup began, I had high hopes for the format. Sports tournaments are real annual highlights for me and, in the absence of Euro 2020, I wanted to create something similar but with watches. We settled upon Speedmasters as a team, and what a choice that turned out to be!We all had our favorites, but we didnt necessarily get to argue for them (in [...]

The vintage Omega Constellation is the watch that basically started it all for me. The passion for watches that is. A number of relatives of mine had (and have) an Omega Constellation and it were these timepieces that got me interested in watches in the first place. I inherited a nice vintage Omega Constellation from 1968 which I truly cherish as it has been on the wrist of my grandfather for over 40 years (on a daily basis).?I also bought some Constellation watches myself as well through the years.So, it is about time I give the vintage Omega Constellation a bit of well-deserved attention here on Fratello Watches. A few months ago, we (Bert Buijsrogge and I) visited a collector of rare and [...]

Yo, yo, yo. We made it to Edition 2 of WASP, the hotly-anticipated sequel to last weeks pod-column debut. The sweet hosting vibes of RB (Rob and Balazs) take over Episode 41 of Fratello on Air to bring you your weekly round-up of sports news. Today, we welcome our first phone-in guest to the show, establishing a segment, which we hope some of our dear readers will partake in one day soon!Ranting Robbie enters the smooth booth and unloads about the recent controversy surrounding Bill Belichicks legacy. Its a brutal monolog, but the riposte is worth waiting for so hang tight.The greatest podcast segment in historyThis week, were talking about great coaches and great locations to play pro sport [...]

Last Sunday we were invited to join the introduction event of TAG Heuer and their Max Verstappen 2017 Special Edition timepiece. Although Max Verstappen lives in Monaco these days, he considers The Netherlands to be his home country. The event took place in Amsterdam and for the occasion, Max Verstappen was flown in to receive the very first Formula 1 No.33 Max Verstappen 2017 Special Edition watch.Max VerstappenMax Verstappen Special Edition WatchesAbout a year ago, we saw the very first Max Verstappen special edition watch from TAG Heuer being introduced (also in Amsterdam). However, this year, and a few F1 Grand Prix richer, there is a new watch for Max Verstappen. This time, no orange el [...]

This past week, the Tudor Royal had its international debut. We break it down and ask whether its a worthy consideration versus the Rolex Datejust with a slight twist.A few months ago, we covered the release of the new Tudor Black Bay Fifty-Eight Blue. Despite the fact that it was just a simple color addition, it was met with rave reviews. But keen observers also noted that there was another release from the brand. Something called the Tudor Royal was shown. Unfortunately, it was only released to the Asian market until now. In this odd year, Tudor waited a few months to reveal it to the rest of the world and we actually think its a neat watch (well, some of us). But is it a worthy, less exp [...]

Back for their sixth Geneva watch auction season, Aurel Bacs Livia Russo in association with Phillips auction house are on a pretty impressive winning streak. They are returning from a world-record shattering result (for a wristwatch) of $17.8 million when they sold THE Rolex Paul Newman Paul Newman Daytona in New York at the end of October. I specify wristwatch as to not offend Patek Phillipe's overall record in the watch category with the $24 million reached for the Graves Super complication pocket watch sold in 2014 at Sotheby's Geneva.I was lucky enough to be in New York to witness this historic moment and was amazed by the rest of the overall performance as well. For their first sale i [...]

Earlier this year, during the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie in Geneva, Jaeger-LeCoultre introduced their new Polaris collection to the world. Weve been raving about them a number of times, including this hands-on review of the most popular one: the Polaris Memovox. Today, Jaeger-LeCoultre introduces us to the new Polaris Geographic WT limited edition, where WT stands for World Time. Of course.Inspired like all the others on the 1968?Memovox Polaris watch, Jaeger-LeCoultre now comes with another practical complication in their Polaris Geographic WT. Ive been a sucker for world timers since years, and the regular Geographic models (be it Master or even Master Compressor) are wat [...]

When I was a young watchmaker, the industry seemed enormous. There was so much I didn't know. There were so many options available to me. It seemed impossible at the time to choose. My career and collecting habits could have gone in any direction. And while those habits have evolved over time, I will never forget where they began. They began with a Hamilton Khaki Aviation X-Wind Automatic Chronograph and the honest belief that complexity was king.If you were to open my watch boxes now and assess the fare within, you might well accuse me of being a bit boring. Perhaps a bit safe. Several NOMOS watches, a demure Speedmaster, a selection of dive watches that do not stray too far from any of the [...]

When it comes to those I surround myself with, I'd guess that I'm like a lot of watch-crazed addicts. I have friends who suffer from the same affliction, friends who are mildly interested in timepieces, and those who truly couldn't give a rip (funny, this latter group is generally comprised of folks who can easily afford a great watch).Those who have slightly more than a passing interest are the ones who often ask me questions about why I am so fascinated by watches and they generally turn into the type of person who asks about what nice watch they should buy when considering their first significant purchase. Sometimes they know the brand or the style/category of watch they want, but often t [...]

Breitling Navitimer All BlackToday on TBT, we'll take a look at an all-time classic, the Breitling Navitimer All Black. It's a watch that I never thought I'd have a chance of owning, but thanks to fellow Fratello member Gerard, and especially to my wife, I've been fortunate to add a beauty to my collection. It's funny, it was almost a year ago this time that I wrote about another Navitimer that I had sourced: it was a rare transitional reverse panda model purchased from Rene. So, once again, it seems that Autumn is Navitimer season C and with that, let's take a look at a very special chronograph.Adding the Breitling Navitimer All BlackWhen I picked up the aforementioned transitional Navitim [...]

Omega Speedmaster Professional Broad Arrow MoonphaseThis week's Speedy Tuesday pick is a Moonwatch with a Moon complication of one of our Italian fans. It all started in 1987 when Omega decided to put a moonphase Speedmaster on the market. In the end, they started up introducing three different Speedmaster models with a Moonphase: Two teutonic' models (1986) and one Speedmaster Professional Moonwatch' (1985) version with a moonphase complication. All three had the famous caliber 861 as a base movement and a moonphase module added to it, also known as the caliber 866 movement.As you can see, a beautiful composition of stainless steel, a silver dial and an 18 carat white gold bezel.Later on, i [...]