Watches Blog Wrist Watch Reviews

When, last year, Cartier announced the reintroduction of its Pasha collection, it was something of a special treat for the enthusiast. During the virtual Watches Wonders 2021, the French brand has launched new variations: the 41 Pasha de Cartier Chronograph and the 30mm women's version. For those who missed the sporty Chronograph, or wanted to get a smaller version, it's a real treat!?Well-known for its oval-shaped case, the 41mm Pasha de Cartier Chronograph is back. This time, however, Gerald Genta's design gets a little update. Before we dig into that, lets focus first on what remains unchanged. The two cabochon-topped pushers have the same size. Also, the dial features the same sporty-ye [...]

IWC introduced the stainless steel Ingenieur with integrated steel bracelet in 1976, designed by Gerald Genta. Last week, during the SIHH 2013, IWC again introduced the Ingenieur collection. One of them, Ingenieur ref.3239 comes very close to the original Genta designed Ingenieur, according to IWC. If you are a regular reader here on Fratellowatches, you can probably skip the next few sentences.Gerald Genta, one of the first dedicated and independent watch designers (he was on the OMEGA payroll for a long time) designed the Royal Oak 5402ST in 1972. Audemars Piguet asked him to come up with an all stainless steel luxury watch. Rumour is, that this was an overnight request and that he deliver [...]

The definition of ultra-thin just got a new meaning when Piaget introduced their Altiplano 38mm 900P timepiece earlier today. It is the worlds thinnest mechanical watch with a hand-wound movement. A watch that merely measures 3.65mm in height. The 900P reference finds it roots in the very first ultra-thin movement made by Piaget in 1957, caliber 9P.Piaget has a thing going on for ultra-thin watches, thats for sure. Since 1957, Piaget has developed and manufactured 23 ultra-thin calibres (out of the 35 movements that they developed and produced in-house). 12 of these ultra-thin movements has set new records for being the thinnest movement world wide.The skilled watchmakers of Piaget are const [...]

I found my grail watch In this series, each Fratello editor will share their grail watch. Its the watch they want the most, and sometimes its their exit watch. Heres my story.The word grail, of course, relates to the Holy Grail or the Holy Chalice, the cup that Christians believe Jesus drank from at the Last Supper. The quest to find the Holy Grail made its way from religion to fictional literature, cinema, and video games. Today, many places around the world claim to be the home of the Holy Grail. Whether or not the cup is real, whether it (still) exists, and where its precisely located are heavily debated questions. Valencia Cathedral in Spain is one place claiming to have the actual Holy [...]

The year 2020 has been tough on James Bond fans. It was a tough pill to swallow when No Time To Die was postponed for a second time. Like so many, I was more than ready to see Daniel Craig in action one last time as 007. And just when you thought things could not get any worse, the news came in on the 1st of November that Sean Connery passed away at age 90. The Scottish actor was the first and, to many, the best James Bond. In the light of Connerys passing, we decided to create a list of our 7 favorite Bond watches.Discussing a list of Bond watches is as much fun as it is incomplete. Sure, you could cough up all the watches we have seen in 25 official Bond films, but that would not start a d [...]

Even when youre not into watches, or into Speedmasters, it is nearly impossible that you have not been confronted with a gold coloured astronaut, a picture of the gold Speedmaster Apollo 11 50th anniversary or an advertisement of the Moonwatch.What did you expect? Omega has been keen on their role as the official supplier of chronographs to the NASA astronauts since 1965. The 25th anniversary was already celebrated with a special engraved steel Moonwatch (2500? pieces), a white gold Speedmaster Professional (limited to 500 pieces), a very limited run of 50 pieces in platinum and a special run of the steel Speedmaster Professional watch with a display back for the Italian market (999 pieces). [...]

Today on TBT, I'll take a look at one of my favorite watches: the Omega Speedmaster 105.003 Ed White. Yes, I know, this is two weeks in a row for me with a Speedmaster, but I figured that any time is a good time to speak about a straight-lugged Speedy. And?-this one has somewhat of an interesting background that's worth a listen.A Straight-Lugged SpeedmasterA few years back, I decided it was time to get serious about tracking down a premoon Speedmaster. At that time, vintage Speedmasters were nowhere near as expensive as today, but they were still not easy to find and, much like today, were often filled with replacement or incorrect parts. Still, I hadn't decided on what watch I wanted and [...]

Perhaps it has something to do with the universality of stainless steel dive watches, but whenever I see one for the first time, I can always picture it on my wrist immediately. There's something about the form-fitting lines of a purpose-made dive watch that naturally transports it to my wrist within my imagination. The Hamilton Khaki Navy Scuba is no different.It all comes down to points of reference. I enjoyed writing about the MBF Bulldog, but I had no concept of the wearing experience. However, the proportional scale of the Khaki Navy Scuba Auto allows it to adapt to any possible situation.Dive cred for under 700 EurosThe stainless steel bracelet has quite a bit more character than one m [...]

For 2020 Breguet has chosen to expand its Marine collection. In March, we saw the release of a new rose gold Marine Tourbillon quation Marchante 5887. Today sees Breguet adding another six new watches to the Marine collection. Although not technically new, they are very welcome additions.The Marine 5517, 5527, and 5547 have been familiar faces in the current Marine collection that was introduced in 2018. To expand the collection, Breguet decided to introduce them with full gold bracelets.my appreciation for the Marine collection had grown tremendously.Its funny how things change over time. As I mentioned in my article on the Marine Tourbillon quation Marchante 5887, for a long time, Bregue [...]

In 2021, Omega updated the iconic Speedmaster Professional Moonwatch with the caliber 3861 movement. A very good reason to update our Speedmaster Buyers Guide as well!This guide dates all the way back to 2014, and since then, a lot happened. Not only did we have our own way with Omega and the two Speedmaster Speedy Tuesday watches (in 2017 and 2018), Omega also introduced a number of interesting Speedmaster watches to the collection. What about the Speedmaster Calibre 321 from 2020, or the new Moonwatch Master Chronometer models in gold? Time for us to update this Speedmaster Buyers Guide.In this Speedmaster Buyers Guide, we give you an overview of the most important references of the Speedm [...]

Merriam-Webster's definition of a perfect storm is a critical or disastrous situation created by a powerful concurrence of factors. That sounds bad. And if you saw Wolfgang Petersen's biographical disaster movie The Perfect Storm, you know what it literally does and means. The term perfect storm was first used in 1998, and besides being used for catastrophic situations, it can also apply to something that works out extremely well. A perfect storm is when hype makes sense, you could say like James Bond wearing his Omega Seamaster 300M 007 Edition in No Time To Die. The man, the myth, the movie, and the watch together created the perfect storm.I started with a definition from Merriam-Webster, [...]

Whether were discussing Grand Seiko or Seiko, its clear that watch fans are on the lookout for a Submariner killer. Therefore, when I saw news of the new Grand Seiko Evolution 9 SLGA015 diver, I perked up and read the press material right away. Is this the all-conquering watch that we desire? Lets seeThese days, Grand Seiko and Seiko like to keep themselves separate, but for an old-school die-hard like me, thats tough. I love Seiko divers and I dont really care where they come from Ive managed to collect most of Seikos vintage divers, so Im always looking at what both brands have to offer when something new drops. Both Seiko and Grand Seiko play on lineage as much as anything, so its fun to [...]

Most people who know me know that Im not a huge modern day IWC fan. This week two incidents made me have the IWC Mark XVIII Le Petit Prince as 52Mondayz watch for this week anyhow.IWC Mark XVIII Le Petit Prince edition, ref IW3270 04C 52Mondayz, week 29The first matter was the news that Georges Kern stepped down from IWC and went to Breitling. Mr. Kern was one of the reasons that Im not such an IWC fan. After having seen his speech in front of a group of investors, I realised that IWCs philosophy didnt match mine. Something which was clear by IWCs watches of roughly the last 10 to 20 years as well by the way.Models which kept my interest throughout the years though were the IWC Pilot Watche [...]

Rolex, the most popular watch brand in the world but unaccessible for the majority of people. Of course. However, we show you the 5 most accessible and (relatively) affordable Rolex watches in this article. We notice a lot of people buying a (high) number of cheaper watches, but really long for a Rolex. It might be wise to refrain from buying all the cheaper watches you come across, and save up for something big. Something Rolex.Five Affordable Rolex WatchesWe show you five different affordable Rolex models, from really accessible models like the Oyster Perpetual to the classic Explorer?and Datejust II and specific watches like the Milgauss and Air-King.There is no reason to speak of entry-l [...]

Breitling's newest elegant but sporty timepieces are moving the womens watchmaking towards a new kind of youth-influenced, minimalistic aesthetic. The latest Navitimer 35mm collection perfectly captures classic codes which are true to Breitling's DNA, while taking a modern approach to the brands signature model.The Breitling Navitimer Automatic 35 comes with four different dials: mother-of-pearl, blue, copper, and silver. The case available in stainless steel, 18-karat red gold, and also a mixture of the two measures 35 mm in diameter and just 9.92 mm thick. The case itself is sporty and modern, while the size makes the whole design more feminine and elegant.Flowing from the case middle are [...]

We see Rolex watches go up for auction all the time. But it doesnt happen that often that we see the legendary Rolex Submariner ref. 6200 go under the hammer. Live bidding for a 1954 Rolex Submariner ref. 6200 is currently underway at the English auction website Watch Collecting. With the auction ending today, the highest bid is currently a little over 150K in British Pounds. Its a remarkable figure because the Watch comes without a bezel insert or the original bracelet. Lets have a closer look.Whenever one of the first Rolex Submariner references comes up for sale, its usually big news within the watch bubble we live in. When a Submariner ref. 6200 shows up; thats even more special. Submari [...]

When thinking of Bell Ross many relate the company to the popular and conspicuous designs of the BR Instruments. It is pretty obvious that these square watches were responsible for exploding the manufacturers popularity, but Bell Ross was very active even before the BR timepieces existed. Bell Ross had built a solid collection of more traditional watches, of which one of the best sellers was the Vintage 123. The Vintage 123, attracted many watch enthusiasts thanks to its palpable high quality, simple and clean design, and great value. These are all reasons why it is still in demand today.Presently the Vintage 123 is attracting many clients, albeit different from those who are attracted to [...]

A few months ago, I wrote about the non-fitting NATO strap on James Bonds watch in the Goldfinger movie (click here for the article). I also stated that I really dont like NATO straps on Rolex watches.Still from GoldfingerIn one of the comments by Dell Deaton (THE James Bond watch authority), he more or less wrote me that I shouldnt be so harsh on NATO straps Live and let live. Perhaps he was right, as I got a few NATO straps a few days ago from UK Watch Strap and I am slowly getting used to wearing such a strap on my t-dial Rolex Sea-Dweller.The straps start at 5.99 UKP (add one pound for the striped models) and are of excellent quality. Attaching them is a piece of cake and they feel quite [...]

When it came out in 2012 BaselWorld was buzzing because of it. The buzz kind of died and so did BaselWorld, but that's an entirely different matter in the nine years that followed. The flagship model Rolex presented as some kind of uber GMT, but it never quite make it to the top of people's wish list. Partly because it all started with models in various precious metals with hefty price tags. But also because a complicated annual calendar with dual time zones is very un-Rolex. But still, the Rolex Sky-Dweller is the misunderstood genius you need in your life.I declare 2021 the year of the Rolex Sky-Dweller. And that's because since this year the ostentatious Sky-Dweller in steel with a wh [...]

And it is awesome. It may sound like it has a slightly anachronistic name, but rest assured its origins are savory. Famed for its starring role on the cover of Manfred R?sslers book, The Zenith A3818 Cover Girl with its identifiable minuterie is a stone-cold classic thats been given a red hot makeover.I say makeover, but its really more like necromancy. The Revolution ?bZenith A3818 Cover Girl watch became part of brand lore when it was featured on the cover of R?sslers retrospective. As one of the best watchmaking books ever written (seriously, it contains a wealth of interesting brand information), the famous facade fell into legend almost immediately.Vintage vibeThe models case, which wa [...]