We brought you quite the handful in #TBT this year. To help you decide which vintage watches you should push higher on your bucket lists, I?created 10 interesting vintage watch categories and nominated my winners. Looking back through our weekly Thursday vintage boost, I am proud to say that it was a great mix of watches. They ranged from previously unseen pieces and $100 bargain to bizarre quartz

I have always had a soft spot for both independents and microbrands. The microbrand genre is an ever-evolving one, spanning everything from budget-friendly $150 Submariner-ish divers up to meticulously crafted watches over $3000. But one thing marks this refreshing part of the #watchfam, and that is personality. Going hands-on with the Celegin Draken merely confirms my theory, with its suave perso

Every year, we see watches not getting the attention we think they deserve. In 2021 again, some watches were underrated. But what does that mean - underrated, underestimated, or undervalued? These words all seem to indicate that a watch is not appreciated highly enough. But in what sense? Are its technical specifications on a higher level than is generally believed. Is its price lower than the act

It’s time for the final list of 2022! After a long year full of great releases, it’s time to put together a list of the ten best watches of 2022. After have compiled our individual lists, this is Fratello’s list of best releases of the year. What does that mean? These are the ten watches we were most impressed by. Call them the most relevant, impactful, talked about, or simply th

Within the last decade, the term “microbrand” has become commonplace. Before that, we had big, small, and even smaller brands. But now we are dealing with micro brands as well. And did you just notice something? Yes, the complexity of a microbrand already starts with how to write it.Is it indeed “microbrand,” or should we write “micro brand”? Technically speakin

In 2000, I got a Chronoswiss Regulateur (later dubbed “Regulator”) watch. It is a beautiful 38mm piece with a silvery-white dial and blue hands. It has the classic dial layout that Chronoswiss founder Gerd-Rudiger Lang introduced in the mid-1980s as one of his first designs. The watch came in a beautiful wooden box with a green interior. The papers were signed by Gerd-R Lang himself wi

It’s not the first time we mention it. Seiko and Grand Seiko reliably grace us with numerous brilliant releases every year. We decided to create an overview of the watches we covered on Fratello over the past twelve months. In this first of two articles, we will start off with Grand Seiko. The brand had another year full of great releases. Part of the new releases was centered around the 55t

What does a 1960s skin diver have in common with a modern $500 diver? How about hiking and a quartz field watch or, better yet, Art Deco and a Flieger? What all of these random things have in common is the fascinating world of micro and independent horology. Those who have created your favorite watches in the past 10 years were inspired by something they saw, or they wanted to convey their very in

Fratello celebrated its 20th anniversary this year. That’s right; two decades ago, RJ started his very own watch blog from his neighbor’s garage…or was it his girlfriend’s attic? Anyway, that in itself is very exciting. Other than that, in 2024, we launched our very own wrist butter for your perfectly hydrated wrist shots. But most importantly, we also had more readers than

It’s hard to believe that 2024 is just a day away from being over. Yet, as quickly as these last few weeks have flown by, in hindsight, it’s been a big year for watches. As is now tradition, the Fratello team takes turns sorting through the best watches of 2024 and sharing our favorites with you. Today, I have the privilege of playing us out. So, with just one brief word of context com

Like last year, a word of thank you to my sponsors Steiner in Maastricht, Henrik at SubGMT, Squiggly and Blancier watches. For 2008, 121Time will be added as well.Next, thanks to all contributors (special thank you to Gerard Nijenbrinks for posting some messages while I was away) and all people who used to comment button ?? Also, to all people who mailed me with hints or suggestions for new topics

Here in The Netherlands, the year 2008 is almost over. Only a few hours left of a very stirring year. I use the word stirring, because a lot of stuff happened in 2008. The two most important events of 2008 are in contrast with each other. The first one is the loss of Speedmaster and chronograph legend but most of all a greatly appreciated (watch) friend – Chuck Maddox.The second important ev

Dear readers of this blog,We are only few hours away from 2011! I am pretty sure that 2011 will be an exciting year for (haute) horlogerie. In 2010, we’ve seen a lot of new watches that were really out of this world, such as The Palace by Jean Dunand, the Rebellion T-1000 and Max Busser’s HM No.4. Besides these, we’ve seen re-incarnations of classic time pieces such as the Explo

It’s Speedy Tuesday! On this very last day of 2013, we thought it would be nice to do a side-by-side article on three different Speedmaster ’57 models. One of them is the very first Omega Speedmaster from 1957, reference CK2915 with caliber 321 movement. The holy grail to a lot of Speedmaster collectors and enthusiasts. The other two are homage watches to this very first Speedmaster CK

In just a few hours from now, we will be toasting to the new year and wish each other all best of luck and happiness. Before doing so, we want to share our Top 10 watch articles from 2014 with you. This top 10 watch articles overview is based on the number of views it received.Now, you might think that Speedy Tuesday might top the list – and it is surely in there – but it still seems t

It is the last day of the year, time to share with you the Top 10 best read articles on Fratello in 2018. In total, we published just over 450 posts on watches.2018 was a very important year for us, as we made a number of important decisions for the future of Fratello, which we will tell you more about soon. Also, of course, there was the release of another Speedmaster ‘Speedy Tuesday’

Once the preserve of the critics and connoisseurs, independent watchmaking is becoming a thing' on the horological map. It has attracted worldwide attention from those seeking fresh and exceptional discoveries off the beaten track.If you are missing out on this winning category, or it's just a blur to you, fret not. We have been charting the rise of the Independents over the decade. Let me give yo

2019 was an amazing ‘Speedmaster’ year, not only because of the 50th anniversary of Apollo XI and the Speedmasters celebrating this, or the re-introduction of the famous caliber 321 but also because of the many Speedy Tuesday events we were able to organize.Together with Omega, we hosted 8 events from January 2019 till December 2019. We visited Japan, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, the U

Velle Alexander might be a young brand, but they have a clear vision and determination that will take them a long way in the business.Let's have a look at some of the most notable names coming from Minnesota. To start, we have legendary American fiction writer and novelist F Scott Fitzgerald, who was born in the state. The Los Angeles Lakers from the NBA were once called Minneapolis Lakers the nam

There is hardly a better indicator of timeless design principles than the continued existence of those principles in the modern world. Here we have a watch that certainly gave the German manufacturer Junghans worldwide recognition. In today's #TBT we have the OG Junghans Max Bill.An architect, painter, sculptor, writer, typographer, graphic designer, and also an industrial designer. You can hardly