Watches Blog Wrist Watch Reviews

When Breitling first announced its partnership with Outerknown back in 2018, it seemed, to me at least, to be a seminal moment for sustainable products working their way into the luxury industry. With the two brands' latest collaboration, the Outerknown series gets a massive boost from the inclusion of the handsome (and widely praised) Breitling Superocean Heritage '57 automatic dive watch.Outerknown is a company dedicated to producing stylish, sustainable clothing, founder by world-famous surfer, Kelly Slater. Slater was already a member of the Breitling Surfers Squad so the union felt pretty natural. But beyond the marketing sense of pairing Slater's growing label with an established watch [...]

Bvlgari is on a roll with its Octo Finissimo The Octo Finissimo collection receives a blue dial version as well, in satin-polished stainless steel.I recently shared my experience of wearing the Bvlgari Octo Finissimo in satin-polished steel (here). As I commented, I believe it is one of the coolest luxury sports watches available at this moment. For me, the Bvlgari Octo Finissimo in steel is the one to buy and I even prefer it over some other hyped G rald Genta designs out there. And that comes from deep down inside my soul, as I am a big fan of the Royal Oak and Nautilus.But which one to buy? The choice just got a lot harder. Enter the Bvlgari Octo Finissimo in satin-polished steel with a b [...]

I suppose that I could be faulted for featuring the rather newish Rolex GMT-Master II 16710?in a TBT article, but I'll live with it.I've covered a couple newer pieces in this series such as the Rolex Explorer 14270 and, more recently, the IWC Mark XII, so I'm more on the side of featuring what I'd call classics instead of purely vintage. Definitions aside, the Rolex 16710 is definitely a classic and one that continues to be on the acquisition list of many people; let's find out why.The Rolex GMT-Master II 16710 was around for so long nearly 20 years that its still hard to believe its goneThe Rolex GMT-Master II 16710It's awfully hard to believe that the Rolex GMT-Master II 16710 has been [...]

As we announced last week, the three gold Omega Speedmaster Professional watches have been presented to the three winners at the Starmus Festival in Trondheim yesterday evening (local time).This came in very late yesterday evening (thanks James for forwarding us the press release from the US agency), so it missed our regular Speedy Tuesday day. We always try to bring you Speedmaster related news on a Tuesday, but sometimes it doesnt work out. Anyway, without further ado.Winners of the Starmus Festival are musician Jean-Michel Jarre (no further explanation needed), Neil deGrasse Tyson (might not ring a bell for people outside the USA immediately, but he is an American astrophysicist, author, [...]

Jay Pritchett in Modern FamilyThis man really needs no introduction, but you might know Ed ONeill better as Al Bundy or nowadays as Jay Pritchett in the successful sitcom Modern Family. He starred in all 263 episodes of Married With Children, that aired from 1987 till 1997. His movie and TV career started much earlier, but his Al Bundy character was my first encounter with Ed ONeill.During and after Married with Children he featured in a couple of movies and TV shows. But to be honest, I couldnt see him apart from his role as Al Bundy. That changed with the ABC sitcom Modern Family, which I truly enjoy watching. Together with his?beautiful?(young) wife?Gloria Delgado (played by Sofaa Vergara [...]

Everything king Midas of Phrygia touched turned to gold. It was his wish come true after doing a good deed. The god of wine Dionysus made it happen, but to Midas horror, his wish wasn't as glittery good as he hoped. When he wanted to eat, his food turned to gold. Even his beloved daughter Marigold (ironically) turned into a gold statue after he hugged her while trying to comfort her. If Midas visited a modern-day manufacture he could turn steel watches into gold ones. He would create watches that reign supreme in yellow gold from Cartier, Breguet, Casio G-Shock Rolex, Patek Philippe, and Omega.Before I present you with six watches that look best in yellow gold, I must first tell you how the [...]

Its time for another episode of Fratello On Air, and wow, do we have news In fact, we have so much news that our New-Watch Rundown will consist of two episodes. Enjoy the first one!Tis the season for all the debuts. Balazs and Mike are here with a new-watch rundown Its not just Watches Wonders 2022 here, though, because a plethora of brands have come to the table.Mission to SaturnHandgelenks KontrolleAs always, the duo kick things off with a bit of banter about Balazss trip to Miami with Maurice Lacroix and then move on to the Handgelenks Kontrolle. Mike is wearing his fresh-off-the-delivery-truck Aquastar Deepstar Mid-Size chronograph. Stay tuned for a hands-on review Balazs takes a trip t [...]

Today we have a common example confirming how difficult the purchase of Rolex Submariner 5513 might be. Or how quickly it can become a nightmare for a neophyte collector.Don't read this article?on?Rolex Submariner 5512 vs. 5513 that?Robert-Jan wrote some time ago. It still brings me to tears. Especially the intro. RJ recounts how he paid 1,800 for the first GMT-Master 1675 he bought in 2003. Or the other one he bought 10 years later for 4,500. We are in 2020 today and Corona seems to be fading slowly. What next months will bring is still uncertain, but prices of Rolex GMT 1675 seem hopping comfortably above 10k mark. The vintage watch market clearly cares very little about the troubles faced [...]

Although the Rolex novelties leaked one day before the official release, it is still good to see the watches in the flesh before commenting on them based on just one picture. That said, Rolex didnt make it easy for us.Rolex doesnt make it easy for anyone at the moment. The official explanation is that due to high demand, they cant fulfil all orders because Rolex does not want to make concessions regarding quality. Meaning, if you want a Rolex GMT-Master II Batman or Pepsi for example, you will only get a smirk from your authorized dealer (really, we tried, we received a smirk). It would not be so frustrating when there are more than 350 brand new Rolex GMT-Master Pepsi and Batman watches for [...]

When A. Lange S?hne present their novelties they always do so with a modest amount. This year was no exception apart from the fact that they announced to launch a new Lange 1 each month up to its 25th anniversary in October. But as those are yet to be released, so lets have a look at their other novelty, the new Zeitwerk Date.Another anniversary for A. Lange S?hneBesides the Lange 1 there is another occasion for A. Lange S?hne to celebrate. This year is the 10th anniversary of the Zeitwerk, which was first launched back in 2009. Where A. Lange S?hne is known for their big date, the Zeitwerk is one of the few watches out there which comes with a large digital time display. It looks beauti [...]

They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder and such seems to be the case with the out of production Omega Speedmaster Tintin. Even though the watch was only introduced at Baselworld 2013 and then cancelled after roughly one to two years of production (it depends who you ask), I thought it was a good time to take a look at what has occurred around this controversial Speedmaster and why it's a watch worth watching. Also, since I own one, I'll throw my own 2 cents into the mix.The Speedmaster TinTin is a wonderful study in contrastSpeedmaster Tintin IntroductionAs mentioned, Omega very quietly introduced the Speedmaster Tintin in 2013 at Baselworld as ref. 311.30.42.30.01.004. I actually [...]

We love those Speedmaster stories appearing in our mailboxes. This week on Speedy Tuesday, we have two more for you. One about a Speedmaster that helped someone with a problem with his hearing, the other one about getting that perfect daily wearer (a Speedmaster 3250.50 Mk40).The first story is submitted to us by Marcus from Switzerland. The land of watches and chocolate, but apparently only the latter applied to Marcus for a long time. Lets find out why.Speedmaster Professional Pre-Moon from 1969Marcus: I am Swiss. So it is very difficult to avoid watches. But I did so successfully for the first forty years of my life. However, that was suddenly changed. An accident flipped the script: in a [...]

There's no horological fun left with Rolex since it has become impossible to buy one at an authorized dealer. The new clientele doesn't care about the Parachrom hairspring, the Cerachrom bezel, or the historical importance of the Oyster case. The majority of current Rolex buyers follow a hype that causes prices to surge to unreasonable heights on the secondary market. On watch forums, it's all about the money when Rolex is involved. But it wasn't always like that. What if I tell you it is possible to buy Rolex technology and heritage for a fraction of the price, and without a waiting list because I'm talking about Tudor? Same company, different brands. But is todays Tudor yesterdays Rolex?Th [...]

Only Watch auctions have seen impressive growth in results ever since the start in 2005. The first edition offered 34 lots that fetched 1,907,000 in total. This years 2021 edition brought us 53 lots totaling 28,210,000. Adding up, the Only Watch initiative, in nine editions, raised almost 100,000,000 for research against Duchenne muscular dystrophy. An extraordinary achievement indeed!Only Watch 9th edition Auction ResultsOf course, Patek Philippe didnt disappoint; theyve been the star of almost every Only Watch auction so far. This years entry, lot 41, a complicated desk clock, outclassed its C rather misplaced C estimate of max CHF 500,000 by CHF 9,000,000 and fetched CHF 9,500,000.99% [...]

Last October, Chopard introduced their Alpine Eagle, a new watch with a familiar face. We decided to use our hands-on experience with the Chopard Alpine Eagle for an episode of our 52Mondayz feature.To be honest, I was a bit surprised to see the return of Chopards 1980s model called St. Moritz. The Chopard St. Moritz was a watch designed by the then 22-year old Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, now CEO of Chopard. A sporty luxury watch aimed at a new type of clientele at the time, young and successful men and women who enjoyed a somewhat jet set-ish lifestyle. A bit like how St. Moritz is, a luxury alpine resort town which was (in 2014) the second most expensive place in the world for tourist and bu [...]

Today marks the return of the Breitling Top Time, a legendary vintage chronograph from the 1960s.If you were hoping for some fun news during these different and difficult times, we think Breitling has taken a good shot at answering the bell. With the new Breitling Top Time, we see the return of a fabled name and the use of a dial design thats bound to excite both collectors and lovers of chronographs. The watch also debuts a new Arianee blockchain certificate program to help prove authenticity and to transfer ownership of a watch should it be sold to a new owner. You can read more about this on Breitlings site.The Breitling Top Time ReturnsThats right, the Breitling Top Time returns and the [...]

Yo, yo, yo, weve gone decimal I knew there was a reason we had those funny old episode numbers. Now we finally know why. The long-planned episode 10 has been delayed because for the first time this year both Balazs (Fridge) and Rob (Freezer) are in different countries (whaaat?).Thats right, episode 9.1 (the second installment of our mailbag series) sees the Podcast come to you from Dresden (Germany) and P cs (Hungary). Our intrepid international impresarios have watches from Omega, Artya, Armin Strom, and more for your listening pleasure.This week, we touch on Murderball (correcting an error in last weeks episode), Ice Hockey (the Olympics), the Isle of Man TT, Stamford Bridge, and Baseball. [...]

The TAG Heuer Aquaracer series has become interesting over the past couple of years. The popular divers now look higher-end than prior iterations and come with a lot of nice features. A ceramic bezel, a micro-adjust buckle, and more are some of the details that have brought this watch into the modern age. Today, we get three new Aquaracer models and theyre all quite different from each other.The TAG Heuer Aquaracer first came about in 2004, and wow, were these popular amongst friends of mine who were early in their careers. They were solid divers with strong looks and loads of different options. After that mid-00s period, though, I sort of lost track of the Aquaracer until last year when the [...]

Sometimes, I feel bad for certain watch brands. Theyve created amazingly beautiful watches, but due to the unknown name on the dial, the price, or bad marketing efforts, they never really made it. Today I want to share with you 5 watches that never (really) hit the big time.Perhaps unbelievable today, but that is basically how the Nautilus and Royal Oak also started out. Nobody cared. Look at them now. Another example is the Aquanaut. When it was introduced in 1997, as the new Nautilus for a younger generation, it was barely picked up. I am not saying the watches in this overview will be picked up at some point and become the investor pieces the aforementioned watches have become today, but [...]

Yes, believe it or not, were barreling into the festive season once more. With Halloween in the books, attention shifts towards the gift-giving portion of the calendar. Hamilton has kindly provided us with some decidedly joyous images of the brands big hitters for your consideration. In this holiday run-down we have some of our favorite pieces released in recent times. Including the Hamilton American Classic Intra-Matic Chronograph H, the American Classic PSR Digital Quartz, and the Khaki Field Mechanical Bronze among others.While its rare that yours truly receives a watch from my friends or family, I am a fanatical giver of the ticking marvels that occupy my life and mind. I enjoy sharing t [...]