Grail Watch 3: Trilobe Une Folle Soiree "Wild Night"
Wei Koh, the founder of Revolution and The Rake, is proud to unveil his third Grail Watch collaboration. Meet the Trilobe Une Folle Soiree “Wild Night”.One of my favorite watches of 2021 was the Trilobe Nuit Fantastique Secret. The brand allows customers to customize the dial with a depiction of the night sky from a location, date, and time of their choosing. As you can imagine, this could make for an incredibly meaningful gift or commemorative piece for one’s own collection. But during Watches and Wonders 2022 in Geneva, the folks from Trilobe showed us the Une Folle Journee. This beautiful new watch featured eccentric rotating and floating rings. The brand has now teamed ...
Wearing The Rado DiaStar Original 60-Year Anniversary Ed.
“Retro done differently.” This is my impression of the Rado DiaStar Original 60-Year Anniversary Edition. It n is a revamped iteration of a 1960s futuristic classic that honors the past in a contemporary way. And in a world of reinterpreted tool watches, the DiaStar stands out because it's more like a jewel - one with excellent material and functional qualities, that is. It is probably an acquired taste, but so is coffee, isn't it? And since we’re on the topic of deviant styles, what do you think of the H. Moser & Cie. Endeavour Centre Seconds Genesis with its 3D-printed parts? How about the Jaquet Droz The Rolling Stones Automaton with its revolving stage including min...
Omega Constellation "Manhattan" Pre-Owned Spotlight
The 1980s and 1990s Omega Constellation watches are from an era in which watch collecting almost didn’t exist. If someone did collect watches, it was incredibly niche, and these watches were never aimed at collectors. Rather, they were bought because customers just needed a nice, reliable watch. With the updates that came in the 2000s, these Constellations became thick and bulky. In a way, that’s a pity because, with the thinness of the cases and their integrated bracelets from the prior two decades, they would have been perfect in today’s watch world.Omega Constellation “Manhattan” from 1982The good news is that the models from the 1980s and ’90s can be f...
Parmigiani Fleurier's La Rose Celeste Minute Repeater
Parmigiani Fleurier unveiled one of its most highbrow projects in 2021 to mark its 25th anniversary. La Rose Carree was a pocket watch based on a century-old grand sonnerie caliber from Louis-Elysee Piguet. This unique piece then led the brand to create the five-piece Les Roses Carrees Collection Grand Feu. Earlier this month, on founder Michel Parmigiani's birthday, the Swiss brand launched La Rosa Celeste, the first wristwatch in this top-end collection. The unique minute repeater is a piece of metiers d’art featuring Grand Feu enameling in the founder's favorite blue color.At the very top echelon of watchmaking, the creation of a timepiece transforms into a painstaking, passion-driv...
Hands-On With The New Forstner Bullet Bracelet
Aftermarket bracelets - whether you absolutely love them or your feelings are mixed, they are certainly here to stay. Personally, I enjoy the option of having an affordable way to change the look and feel of a watch without always relying on straps. Today, I'm checking out the Forstner Bullet Bracelet, the brand's latest offering. It is inspired by a 1960s OEM bracelet manufactured by Forstner’s former owner Jacoby Bender for the Bulova Accutron Astronaut. It is also rather different from what you might have imagined if you had Breitling's bullet bracelets in mind. Cast that aside, and picture something closer to Omega's 1479 bracelet but with a rounder profile. The result is not dissi...
Omega SpeedyMoon 345.0809: The First Moonphase Moonwatch
A few weeks ago, I attended a Speedmaster get-together with like-minded watch enthusiasts, and I took some Speedmaster references with me to show to the others. One of the watches among them was a Speedmaster Professional Moonphase 345.0809, also known as the “SpeedyMoon.” I was a little bit surprised to see how popular this watch was among the guests. But it was equally surprising that some had never seen or heard about this edition before.The Speedmaster Moonphase 345.0809 combines two of the complications I love the most - the chronograph and a moonphase indicator. It makes the dial a bit more cluttered, but the beautiful moon and stars on a disc make up for that. The SpeedyMo...
Visiting The Herms Manufacture: Serious Watchmaking On Show
I know Herms isn’t a brand you immediately associate with watchmaking. The French maison is better known for its high-quality leather goods and silk scarves. However, the brand’s watches with striking designs, such as those in the H08 and the Arceau collections, certainly stand out from the crowd. I was invited to take a look behind the scenes at the Herms manufacture. There, it became clear to me that the same care and attention that go into designing the watches are also present when making them.The first Herms watch was made as early as 1912. Actually, it was more like a pocket watch housed in a leather wrist strap. It was made as a gift for Emile Herms's daughter Jacqueli...
Our Vintage Integrated-Bracelet Picks
Yes, Fratello On Air is here for you during the holiday period! In this episode, we talk about some wild watches with integrated bracelets that stray from the norm. Folks, there are loads to choose from at all price levels! Pour some mulled wine, and enjoy the ride!...
The Best Watches Of 2024: Lex's Picks
Lists - don't you just love em? Well, I don't. I don't want to sound like the Grinch, but the avalanche of end-of-the-year lists - whether about music, movies, or sports moments - that comes during the holiday season doesn't exactly give me a warm and fuzzy feeling of remembrance. I prefer to look ahead. I'm more interested in watches to come than regurgitating has-beens. Yet despite my objections, I present you with The Best Watches Of 2024 - Lex’s Picks. I chose watches from Omega, Echo/Neutra, and Tudor that immediately made my heart jump when I put them on my wrist. Yes, this Grinch does have a heart; how about that?Since I've already been brutally honest about year-end lists, I th...
Fratello Talks: Non-Swiss Watch Brands That We Love
Welcome back to Fratello Talks. Everyone knows Switzerland is home to some of the world’s greatest and most renowned watch brands. But plenty of brands outside the Alpine region - and even outside Europe - produce high-end mechanical timepieces that can stand shoulder to shoulder with their Swiss contemporaries. Some of these non-Swiss brands have garnered the fervent interest of collectors, who have formed communities around them. Some even rival Swiss manufacturers that have long held their place in the pantheon of horology. In today’s episode, Nacho, Thomas, and Lex highlight more than a handful of these brands, from the entry-level value propositions we know and love to the v...
Buying Watches On-Line: Pros and Cons
Are you buying watches on-line or rather do it the old school way? Just over a month ago, I visited the Dubai Watch Week (here’s my report) and one of the panel discussions was about e-commerce. The title was “E-commerce – Perfect storm or the silver lining“. At first, I could not believe that this is still topic of discussion in 2017. Already in 2000 this was the topic of a panel discussion during the BaselWorld show, where our editor Gerard was actually one of the speakers (click here). Now, the sad thing is, that we are still having the same discussion 17 years later. The good thing is, that a lot of brands adapted to the world of on-line business. A lot of smaller...
#TBT LeJour PVD Chronograph Value Still Exists
Today on #TBT we'll go back to some relatively old school Swiss goodness with a look at a LeJour PVD Chronograph. This watch isn't especially rare, valuable, or on the radar of most collectors, but I think it's worth a view. Good looks, a cool movement, and attractive pricing make this LeJour rather attractive indeed. Let's have a look.This LeJour PVD Chronograph isn't the first watch we've covered from the brand. We took a look at an earlier radium-dialed Valjoux 72-powered chronograph and a 60's Superman diver.For certain, the French brand is known well as the export name for Yema, but it seems that the brands were separate and LeJour did their own thing from time to time and often contrac...
Wearing The New Laco Scorpion Amazonas
During our visit to MunichTime 2018, about which we reported?here, we learned about Laco’s new Squad watch models. These new models are named ‘Scorpion’ and come in 4 variations. Amazonas, Atlantic, Mojave, and Himalaya. All four of them are available with a rubber strap or metal bracelet, while even more styles of straps are separately available.We brought Laco’s latest Squad watch to the test, the Scorpion AmazonasWhile the introduction of this article might have left you a bit puzzled already, Laco makes it even somewhat more complicated. I mean, with 4 models in one model series, with all two strap or bracelet options, we’re already looking at 8 variations. ...
Sharmila's Favourite The Jaquet Droz Grande Seconde Chronograph
As a journalist specialized in watchmaking, I often get that simple yet annoying question: What is your favorite brand or worse What is your favorite watch.It’s impossible for me to answer the second one since I always have like at least 10 watches I’d like to buy in mind. And to the first question, well, I always try to get around it… Honestly, several companies are dear to my heart, but this year, I don’t know why but I’ve decided to stop avoiding that dumb question, answer it frankly and mostly be true to myself. Yes, I can say it out loud, write it in black and white, engrave it on my front door, tattoo it on my arm: my favorite brand is Jaquet Droz. I disco...
Ligure Scuba Diver Watch Tartaruga Series
I must admit that at Fratello, we don’t cover all well-meant watch start-ups by far. Crowdfunding platforms Kickstarter and Indiegogo seem to provide an almost continuous flow of new watch projects. But if it comes to start-ups from The Netherlands, we prove to be quite chauvinistic, and then we often pick up our pens. No surprise here with the new watch brand Ligure Scuba Diver that introduces their first three models on Indiegogo.It started with long-time Seiko watch aficionado Rob van Herpt contacting us with an idea to bring his own watch brand. Rob runs a Seiko online shop - Monsterwatches a.k.a. Robokies, and for ages, he supplies the world with Seiko watches, exchange-, and modd...
Omega Speedmaster World Cup The Winner, The 321 Ed White
So I won the Fratello Speedmaster World Cup 2020. Actually, I didn’t win anything; it was the watch I was assigned to as custodian for this competition’s length. Is it my merit that we came out first? I doubt it. It has to be the charm of the 321 Ed White.One thing is for sure; I have not written so much, so many times about one single watch than I did about the 321 Ed White. So this article will be my victory lap. Let’s how a look at each piece now. We’ll pay tribute to my amazing teammates who took up the glove (and failed), one after the other ???Group E: Balazs and 321 Ed WhiteI presented my four Speedies pretty late in the World Cup, being in?Group E. More came a...
The Echo/Neutra Averau 39 Moon Phase Is A Matte Black Delight
Do you know what the world needs more of, besides love? It needs more moonphase watches in it. Truth be told, it needs a lot more. Fewer modern watch brands attempt pulling off this complication than you would think. Fewer still do it in a way that feels fresh and modern. A lot of us “luna-tics”, as I call anyone as obsessed with the moonphase complication as I am, are totally over the crescent-shaped aperture display commonly found on dress watches. Double-moon displays, showing both the northern and southern hemispheres feel hyper-modern in comparison. That’s exactly what Echo/Neutra brings to the table today in this hands-on review of the PVD-coated Averau 39 Fasi Lunari...
The Fast And The Fratelli: Victory Lap For The Speedmaster 321
In a no less dramatic way than the Formula 1 season, The Fast And The Fratelli came to an end last week. Our mission was to find the best racing chronograph of the last decade. We saw many contenders, including some true legends compete for the crown. However, in the end, the Fratello love for the Omega Speedmaster came through, and the Calibre 321 took the win over the Zenith El Primero A386 Revival at the last moment. The Zenith, a no less impressive contender and worthy opponent, did its best. But in the end, without the need of intervention from the Fratello Inspection Authority (FIA) and after an impressive bit of driving, it succumbed to the Speedy's veteran racing skills.No less fraug...
Hands-On: Casio G-Shock GMW-B5000PB-6 Tokyo Twilight
I'm sorry to disappoint, but today I won't be talking about some Japan-based spinoff of a popular series of books turned movies. On the bright side, you won't be subjected to sparkly pale men (other than in the wrist shots) and some of the most hilariously bad acting and special effects ever to hit the silver screen. Instead, what you will be subjected to will be the very special G-Shock GMW-B5000PB-6 Twilight Tokyo. This limited-run model was introduced at the start of October, and it caused quite a splash at the time of release. Its unique mix of color both on the dial and bracelet was quite unique and charming. But the question remains, does the watch hold up in person and on the wrist?Fi...
Rob's Top 5 Watches Of 2021 Czapek, Fortis, Bvlgari, And More
I try not to complain too much about my job (because that would be pretty ridiculous), but when our newly minted Managing Editor asked me to pick my Top 5 watches released in 2021, I felt obliged to whine a little bit given my unusually hands-on involvement with a trio of releases this year…“So I can’t put the Czapek in there?”“Well, maybe an honorable mention…”“No Minase either?”“Rob, it’s too transparent…”“Come on, man. You’ve gotta let me put the NOMOS on the list.”“No. Not a chance. Pick someone else’s watches, for goodness’ sake.”Alright, Nacho. You’ll get your w...