The Verax 420 V01.01 Meca-Quartz Is It Brilliant Or Bananas?
I've seen some wild things in my time. I don't even need to include my life outside of watchmaking in that statement for it to hold fast (and yes, I do have a life outside of watchmaking before any smartypants mention that in the comments - it just happens to be very small and stunningly uninteresting). Yes, a life spent at and around the bench has thrown some real treats and travesties my way. I've seen watches from big brands, small brands, brand-new brands, and reborn brands alike. I've seen classics and failed attempts at breaking through the sapphire ceiling in even measure. Until this summer, however, I'd never seen a Verax. Now that I have, I'm not sure I'll ever be the same again.Oh,...
#TBT The Top 10 Vintage Watches Featured In 2022
After four years and 200 #TBT articles, there is still so much to explore. We’ve discovered some fascinating vintage watches, especially this year. Which feature was your favorite in 2022? Was it a no-pusher chronograph, a watch with epic magnifiers integrated into the crystal, the “only” Bond watch, or a bezel-operated triple calendar??When I look back at the list of watches we featured on #TBT this year, I have to say that I am pretty impressed. I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to feed your curious minds with new vintage watches, but it seems my worries were unfounded. Even better, there are already discoveries lined up for 2023. Before we get to those starting next ...
Watch Strap Review 2022 A Year In Retrospect
The year is wrapping up in just a few days, and I have no new strap maker to present to you. Instead, I decided to reflect on the ateliers that we featured this year in the Watch Strap Review column. While we try to bring you a new company each month, sometimes it doesn’t work out for various reasons, so we “only” released eight articles in 2022. Still, it’s quite a lot, and there’s plenty to choose from.So let’s look at these companies and what each has to offer. Check out the articles (and strap makers) you’ve missed throughout the year.ArtemI got COVID in January, so my activity was limited. Thankfully, Ben took over the column that month and wrot...
Stop Calling It A Dress Watch And Just Wear One
We are seeing a resurgence in interest in the dress watch. It might just be the natural ebb and flow of trends. After a period of dominance for sports watches, we are moving on to the next thing. Still, many watch aficionados have a hurdle to take before getting into dress watches. They might feel they are too formal, too classical, or too old-fashioned. If you feel that way, let me try to convince you otherwise. There is a world of watch joy to gain.The dress watch really is a perfect everyday watch as long as you manage to keep yourself relatively dry. If you take your watch off before showering and stay out of hard rain, there is no reason not to wear a dress watch. Let's get into it.What...
Fratello Talks: The Definition Of A Dress Watch
This is only episode six or seven of Fratello Talks, and it’s already the second time we find ourselves talking dress watches. It’s clearly a hot topic, especially when Lex and Thomas get involved. It all started when Thomas chose his Omega Seamaster from the fifties as his go-to “dress watch.” Lex was stunned! How can a watch originally designed for water-based activities be considered a dress watch? Well, that’s exactly what today’s podcast episode is all about....
From Quartz To Bioceramic, 2023 Was The Year Of Bonus Watches
There’s no doubt about it: the watch hobby is an expensive one. Buying a luxury watch easily sets you back a few grand or, potentially, a lot more than that. Last year saw several acquisitions and changes within my collection, and, to make matters worse, my wife and I also bought a new house this year. So buying new watches wasn’t anywhere on my list of priorities in 2023. That was fine after such an eventful 2022, but as is the case for most of us, there were a few times that I couldn’t resist adding something fun to the collection. Let’s take a look at my bonus watches of 2023.If you read about my watch resolution for this past year, you could already tell that it w...
The Frayed Edges Of Good Taste In Watches
Gilles Lipovetsky is a famous French philosopher of aesthetics who, while recently talking to Spanish newspaper El Pas, said the following: Luxury used to be the rarest, most beautiful, and the most expensive. Today it is also bad taste, ugly, vulgar, and even obscene. But when does good taste turn bad? Let's examine the fringes of good taste in watches with photos of pieces from some well-respected, rebellious, and avant-garde brands.Lipovetsky recently published the book Kitsch in the Hypermodern Era. The word kitsch is of German origin and in English means worthless, trashy art - think of a velvet portrait of Elvis in a gold frame, a good example of bad taste, in my humble opinion. In Li...
Fortis Stars In "Microgravity How Earth Can Benefit From Space"
Taking a watch meant to go into outer space and actually testing it there only seems logical, right? That’s exactly what the ambitious people at Fortis thought. It’s why they embarked on a mission to test watches in space. The brand was part of the Swedish Space Corporation’s SubOrbital Express 3 rocket mission, space testing 13 special Fortis Stratoliner Supernova watches. That unique journey was filmed and is part of the new documentary Microgravity – How Earth can benefit from Space, now streaming on Amazon Prime. We talked to Fortis Marketing Manager Andreas Bentele about the documentary. He also unveiled the next steps for the brand in creating a timepiece that c...
Dirty Dozen Watches As Interpreted Affordable Microbrands
We often hear statements like, This watch is a true classic, or This is a timeless design. Typically, such statements refer to big names in the watch industry, such as and the Submariner, Omega and the Speedmaster, or Audemars Piguet and the Royal Oak. That’s either because their designs are simple and indeed timeless or because they were novel and odd when they first came out. What they all have in common is that they age well like a classic car, a well-tailored suit, and a good pair of sunglasses. But with those terms, we generally refer to the entire product, not just the design. It's a package - the brand, the materials, and the wrist of the star who wore it best. The 1945 Dirty D...
Sunday Morning Showdown: Our Favorite Battles of 2024
Sunday Morning Showdown has become a Fratello tradition. Every Sunday morning, two Fratello writers go head to head, fiercely defending the timepieces of their choice. In 2024, we have seen lots of heated battles and even more heated debates in the comments section. The series seems to be a trigger for some strong opinions fueled by the writers’ picks and the arguments that accompany them. That’s why it’s great fun for us to write and read the articles and comments. In this overview, we’ll look back at a small selection of the most remarkable battles of 2024.While most Fratello writers are taking a much-deserved holiday break, it's nice to look back at where we've bee...
Mark V
Although Chuck Maddox wrote that the only true Mark V is a Speedmaster Mark V with caliber 1045 movement, I hereby add the German Special from 1982 with caliber 861 movement to ‘Mark V’ as well. ??Yesterday (and today) a fellow from a large ICT company configured a server for one of the companies I work for, I noticed at lunch that he was wearing a Speedmaster ‘Mark V’. It slipped my mind that it probably would seem a bit ‘sick’ to start about his watch, but on the other hand, this watch probably cost him quite some money, and since it is quite scarce, I decided to go ahead.He bought this watch in 1982 (which is the only year Omega produced it, for the Ge...
What to think of Maurice Lacroix?
Since Maurice Lacroix introduced their Masterpiece series (around 1990), they are able to compete with brands like Chronoswiss, Omega, Ebel and probably some more established brands. Maurice Lacroix is a relatively new player (1975) and in 2006 they introduced their manufacture chronograph movement. Maurice Lacroix produces 150.000 watches per year, of which 40.000 watches have a mechanical movement.How come that Maurice Lacroix gets so little attention from serious watch collectors and afficinados? Their price setting is really competitive and I have yet to see some complaints about the quality of these watches. One of the few things I can think of, is that Maurice Lacroix ruins their credi...
White Dial Omega Speedmaster 1985 German Market
Today, on the last Speedy Tuesday of 2014, we feature one of the rarest Omega Speedmaster watches you’ve seen so far here on Fratello Watches.During our visit to the Omega Museum in November, we were shown this beautiful white dial Omega Speedmaster. On first sight, this watch looks a bit like a customized white dial Omega Speedmaster (like the ‘modding’ of Speedmaster watches we discussed here) and in fact it is.White Dial Omega SpeedmasterAlthough only little information is available on this white dial Omega Speedmaster reference DD 145.0022, our favorite book on the topic – Moonwatch Only – describes it as special made for the German market. Basically, this w...
Zenith Manufacture Visit Report by Fratello Watches
Just before year-end and thus before the 150th anniversary of the Zenith Manufacture, Bert and I visited the impressive and big building in Le Locle (Switzerland) to see with our own eyes what Zenith is about these days.A friend of mine collects (mainly vintage) Zenith El Primero watches and I’ve always been very interested in their classics like the Chronomaster (with moon phase) and their El Primero Rainbow Fly-Back from the 1990s. When Zenith was headed by CEO Nataf I lost interest in the brand to be honest and only after his successor Dufour put Zenith back on the horological map for enthusiasts (a.o. with the introduction of the Zenith El Primero Striking 10th) my interest was tri...
Hands-On REC P-51 "Mustang Watch" Review
P-51 rang a bell with me, as I read a lot of Buck Danny comic books when I was younger and I have a dad with a huge interest in WW2. However, when Jonathan Kamstrup (CEO of REC Watches) told me this watch had a dial made of a metal sheet from a 1960’s Mustang car, the use of the P-51 type confused me a bit. According to REC Watches though, the designer of the original Ford Mustang car compared the sleek profile of that 1960’s car with the North American P-51 Mustang plane. It was because of this that Ford’s lead designer at the time,?John Najjar Ferzely, proposed the ‘Mustang’ name for the first concept car.1966 ‘Ford Mustang’ and World War II ‘...
2016 Watches A Recap
With only a day to go, 2016 has come to its end. It was a very interesting year for the watch industry and for watch collectors. The watch industry is currently going through a rough time, but still managed to come up with some very interesting watches this past year.State of the watch industry2017 will likely be an even tougher year for some brands, which means we haven't seen the end of the crisis in the luxury watch market yet. The trend will now be all about how creative brands are with their new collections and, just as important, the value proposition. In my belief, for many watch enthusiasts it has become more important that you indeed get a bit of value for your money instead of buyi...
An Interview with Yvan Arpa (founder of ArtyA)
What good can come out of sending a vintage watch nerd to interview a modern independent artisan?There are not many international watch events in Slovakia, where I am based. None, actually. This changed, however, when ArtyA organized an introduction event in Bratislava as they will be officially represented in Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, and Austria. I was asked to join this event and I immediately said yes. If Yvan Arpa decided to pay a visit to Slovakia, least I could do was show up. You don't meet a former Hublot executive every day. I had no clear expectations or particular feelings towards the ArtyA brand, just a notion that I was going to meet an interesting character an...
The Best Watches Of 2019 From Our Editorial Team
The best watches of 2019 according to our editorial team, an overview of over 30 different watches!We’re looking back at a very successful year for Fratello. We grew tremendously, not only in reach but also in the quality and quantity of our content as well as the number of contributors to Fratello. We hired a head of operations, Daniel, who’s responsible for almost everything besides the content you see here (yet we asked him to chip in as well for this article, as he is a watch guy after all), we did a total redesign of our online magazine, we started with our podcast series, we opened our shop, we started to have our articles translated in other languages (live early 2020) and...
Casio G-Shock Bamford Watch Department Hands-On Review
Old Bamford’s been busy this year, but despite his interesting work with LVMH, his own brand, and our friends at Time+Tide, he found time to collaborate with Casio on one of my favorite G-Shock limited editions of recent times.Funny story: I am so anal about my watch collection, I decided that I needed exactly two more G-Shock squares in my collection to fill one row of six cushions in my Casio storage case. Prior to Bamford and Casio announcing their collab, I had four. As soon as I got wind of the new release, I placed an order (with real money) and took delivery of my very own Bamford Casio GW-M5610BWD20-1ER shortly before it launched.…see what I thought about it long-term.Ala...
The Five 2020 Articles That I Loved Writing Most Seiko, Sinn, Casio, And Omega
It points out that, in 2020, here on Fratello, I wrote 38 articles. I’m writing because I’m passionate about watches, so I liked writing every one of the articles. But there’s liking and loving. Some of them I enjoyed probably only a tiny bit more than others. Looking back on this strange year, I noticed that I love to write in-depth articles about watches that I really know well. More than about watches that were just introduced or presented, I’m not such a news-junky anyway.Five 2020 Articles I Loved Writing MostIn ascending order, here’s my 2020 Top-5 list of articles that I loved to write just that tiny bit extra over the others:5. Seiko 5 Sports Brian MayBy...