New Book: A Comprehensive Gide To Vintage Swiss Watches
A little while ago, a copy of vintage watch collector Aashdin K. Billimoria’s new book landed on my desk. That name might ring a bell for you as he’s also the author of Nivada Grenchen Antarctic - The History of a Legend. And now he’s proudly presenting his book titled A Comprehensive Guide to Vintage Swiss Watches. It’s a book comprising 340+ pages with countless images of (vintage) watches.Aashdin K. BillimoriaA Comprehensive Guide To Vintage Swiss WatchesThis book, the author’s third publication on watches, will take you on a journey of discovery through vintage watches in all sorts of styles and covering a variety of themes. Of course, it’s impossible ...
Hands-On: The New Zelos Spearfish Dual Time
It may seem like an odd question, and knowing Elshan Tang's brand progression personally, I will not be asking it, but you might. If you're used to his tough budget-priced divers, this new Spearfish is a leap in price and style. Is the open-worked Swiss taste worth it?I love seeing small brands climb the ladder of success, especially when I know them from my early watch-collecting journey. Based in Singapore, Elshan Tang has evolved Zelos from microbrand dive-cool to Swiss-powered complexity, and this time, it has materialized in a charming Spearfish.The Zelos brandWith the Zelos Swordfish range, you can get a 38mm bronze-cased field watch with a meteorite dial for less than US$500 or 42mm s...
The Best Watches And Wonders 2025 Releases Mike's Picks
Watches and Wonders 2025 has left us, but did it leave an impression? The simple answer is “yes.” This was a much better show than the 2024 rendition. Proper new releases came to Geneva, and, overall, we left feeling satisfied. Without further ado, here are my picks for the best watches from the show.Patek Philippe 6196P - kicking off the best Watches and Wonders 2025 releasesSince I've become aware of and interested in Patek Philippe, I'm not sure if the brand has released anything that I've truly liked. Big, flashy pieces with loads of glitz have been the standard, and honestly, I haven't loved any of them. I've pleaded for a plain-Jane Calatrava, and one finally debuted this y...
Hands-On With The Baltic Scalegraph Tour Auto 2025
Watches and Wonders may have drawn most of our attention last week, but that doesn't mean nothing is happening elsewhere in the watch world. Baltic, one of the young guns making waves in recent years, announced a new limited edition. I got the chance to try it out. This is the new Baltic Scalegraph Tour Auto 2025 Limited Edition. It celebrates the brand's sponsorship of and participation in the yearly French Tour Auto rally.The Baltic Scalegraph Tour Auto 2025 Limited Edition is limited to 400 pieces. The watch costs $2,117.50 (including 21% VAT), and the limited run is available now. Let's have a closer look.Baltic and motorsportsDaan covered last year's Baltic Tour Auto edition, and Nacho ...
New: IFL Watches Bulova Super Seville Mural
The team at IFL Watches loves urban art. Quite a few of the brand’s hand-decorated dials are inspired by the colorful art that has graced New York City’s buildings, bridges, and metro trains through the decades. The iconic street art found its roots in NYC in the early 1970s and, from there, spread all over the world. So it makes sense that IFLW has picked the ’70s-inspired Bulova Super Seville as the canvas for its latest creation. The new Bulova Super Seville Mural pays tribute to New York’s iconic street art with a colorful dial. Let’s find out more about this latest 300-piece limited edition from IFLW.If you have paid attention to IFLW’s releases, you ...
More Basel 2008 Impressions
As Evert wrote in the last blog, seems to be stealing the Basel show. According to TimeZone member Imrankhan, who visited the Basel 2008 show, the booth was flooded with impressive watches! He wrote an excellent report on Basel (including a lot of images) in the Basel Forum over at TimeZone.Besides all the heavy weight of , also Omega had something to show. A nice looking white dial Speedmaster Professional wrist watch. Dedicated to the 1970 project called ‘ALASKA’. This project was initiated to develop an outer case for the Omega Speedmaster Professional to handle the extreme temperatures on the dark side of the Moon. A press release on this watch can be found here, posted by ...
Brand boutiques vs authorized dealers
Brand boutiques are popping up like mushrooms the last few years. I wonder how the authorized dealers feel about this and what the ideas are behind these brand boutiques. The authorized dealers are more or less required to buy a certain collection of watches from a brand, even if they know upfront they won’t be selling certain models. The boutiques however, can probably decide on their own what to buy, or it just doesn’t matter because they ARE the brand and can return the watches that don’t get sold back to Switzerland (for example).The authorized dealers have their own solution for this, which is selling or trading the watches that they don’t want to sell or canR...
Jaeger-LeCoultre Deep Sea Chronograph Cermet Also For Patina Fans
Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Extreme Deep Sea Chronograph CermetDuring the SIHH 2013 exhibition in Geneva, I already put on-line some pictures of this watch on our #instagram account. However, there was no time yet to write something decent about the Jaeger-LeCoultre Deep Sea Chronograph Cermet watches. Undeserved.I love chronographs, especially vintage ones. This Jaeger-LeCoultre Deep Sea Chronograph has clearly been inspired by their 1950s Memovox Deep Sea models. Although I like the alarm complication, I rather have a chronograph watch to be honest. This Deep Sea Chronograph Cermet comes in two different models. The one pictured above and the ‘Vintage’ edition (pictured below). The...
Rory McIlroy Leaves Audemars Piguet And Joins OMEGA
Golfer Rory McIlroy (we featured him here in the past) just signed up with OMEGA and left Audemars Piguet. OMEGA immediately captured him in an advertisement for the Aqua Terra collection, which they link to the golf sport. In the past, OMEGA has been sponsor of golf legend Ernie Els and during the years, added players like Greg Norman, Davis Love III, Sergio Garcia and Michelle Wie to their list of ambassadors. And now Rory McIlroy.No worries for Audemars Piguet though, they still have some golf players in their stable of ambassadors. What to think of Belen Mozo, Bud Cauley, Christie Kerr, Louis Oosthuizen, Miquel Angel Jimenez and even more. A number of big watch brands want to be associat...
Omega Speedmaster Professional Apollo 11 45th Anniversary 311.62.42.30.06.001
It’s Speedy Tuesday! Every 5 years, Omega introduces a commemorative edition of the Speedmaster Pro with regards to the Apollo 11 mission in 1969. In 2009, the 40th Anniversary edition of this Speedmaster Pro Apollo 11 was a slightly modified version of the standard Speedmaster Pro 3570.50 model. A beautiful silver medal patch on the sub dial on 9 o’clock and a big Eagle on the case back. We covered it in one of our Speedy Tuesday articles, of course (click here).Omega Speedmaster Pro?311.62.42.30.06.001It wasn’t a surprise to anyone that Omega introduced the 45th Anniversary Edition of the Speedmaster Professional Apollo 11 this year. However, I guess that nobody expected ...
Fratello Watches Talks To Mr Hattori, CEO of Seiko
Since last year, Fratello Watches started to do more coverage on (Grand) Seiko watches. As we realized there is – besides an ever increasing demand from markets outside Japan – a lot of pride and craftsmanship in their Grand Seiko watches and due to the fact that Seiko has an incredible history on watches, we decided to finally give them the attention they deserve.During BaselWorld 2015, Fratello Watches sat down with Mr. Hattori, the CEO of Seiko. A wonderful opportunity for us to see if we can get a glimpse of what’s happening at Seiko and to ask him to explain a number of things to us regarding the Seiko collections. We felt honoured that Mr. Hattori was willing to do th...
Hands-On Linde Werdelin Oktopus Moon Carbon Review
Even in those early days of watch blogs (we’re here since 2004!), when a lot of brands didn’t even want to put us on their mailinglists of press releases, Linde Werdelin was already a bit different from the others. They understood the influence of on-line media and were very early with having an on-line boutique for their timepieces. Not only that, but they offered a trial of a week (or 5 days) to have a go with their watches. An interesting approach to make people familiar with – and convinced of – your watches. Founders Morten Linde and Jorn Werdelin can be certainly seen as?guys who do things differently, in the world of luxury watches.Now, years later, the Linde W...
Czapek & Cie Place Vend?me Tourbillon GMT
Czapek’s highest-end Place Vend?me model, featuring a tourbillon and GMT function, was released in two new versions during Baselworld 2019. Ombres and Etincelles, or shadows and sparks.?During the fair, we were able to take a closer look at the Ombres model and are happy to share our findings.A closer look at the Czapek & Cie Place Vend?me Tourbillon GMT OmbresThe new Czapek Place Vendome Tourbillon OmbresSome historyFranciszek Czapek was a Bohemian-kingdom-born young man who emigrated with his family to Poland in the early 1800s. From Poland, because of the collapse of the Polish uprising, he fled to Switzerland and became as?Francois Czapek a successful?watchmaker. Francois start...
Long-term Test Monta Oceanking
In order to truly get a feel for the quality of their watches, I recently had the opportunity to wear and use the Monta Oceanking for an extended month-long period.? ?Monta, as a brand, has undergone more changes in its brief 3-year history than most brands encounter during multiples of such a span.? Designing and selling a line of watches began as a non-obvious step for the team behind the well-known Everest straps that adorn so many today.? The first watch, the Monta Oceanking, was met with some of the most polarizing comments from readers of popular online sites.? Journalists, including ourselves, sang the praises of the upstart company despite high pricing of around $3,500 because the o...
Wrist Game or Crying Shame: Movado Museum Watch
Wrist Game or Crying Shame returns with a look at an iconic timepiece in the Movado Museum Watch. Let’s see if you’d like to become a supporter of the arts with your vote. But first…Last week, I showed you a decent but potentially altered Doxa SUB 300 Professional for $3,500. After some hemming and hawing, you folks saw it fit to award the old salt a 62% Wrist Game win. Orange you glad you voted? Now that’s enough of the jocularity. It’s time to get all sorts of “nose in the air” like a proper patron of the arts. You know the type. They’re the snooty folks who proclaim to see something deep and profound from a piece of “art” that lo...
Boldr Expedition Eiger Watch Lit Up My Week
I’d been keen to go hands-on with the Boldr Expedition ever since I saw it launch on Kickstarter. I vacillated on whether or not to back it at the time, but with many options to choose from at the time, I let it slide. Having spent a few weeks with it as part of my daily rotation I can say this: I should have pulled the trigger the first time I thought about doing so.I’ve noticed I’m starting to sound like a broken record when it comes to these microbrand watches. Normally, I’ll start off by saying I didn’t expect much and then close on a positive note. Maybe I’ve become skeptical in my old age. Or maybe I’m just realistic. Having worked on all sides...
New Breguet Marine Tourbillon equation Marchante 5887
Breguet introduced the Marine Tourbillon equation Marchante 5887 at Baselworld 2017. Back then they did so in platinum and rose gold. Breguet has added another rose gold version to the 5887 lineup. A spectacular slate-grey dial gives this model a distinct character.For a long time, I thought Breguet watches were too classically-styled for my taste. Despite this, they keep growing on me. Every time I take a closer look at the Breguet collection, I find myself attracted to a growing number of incredible watches. I have had a soft spot for the Breguet Type XX line but I have started to appreciate more watches from the brand’s catalog. Maybe it’s an age thing? Maybe, now I’ve h...
Hands-On With the NOMOS Glashutte Metro Neomatik 41 Update
Can you make the really well-balanced minimalist NOMOS designs bigger without losing their edge? As it turns out, you can. I had a chance to go hands-on with the all-new Nomos Glashutte Metro Neomatik 41 Update that was introduced during Watches & Wonders 2021. The watch sees an update to the in-house DUW 6101 movement, and as a result, the brand had to increase the size of the Metro Neomatik. It’s an increase that turns out to be a great update, and it’s why the name could not have been chosen any better.Straight out of the gates, I have to say that I love NOMOS Glashutte, which might not come as a surprise. I have loved design ever since I was young and worked in the world ...
Watches & Wonders 2021: Arnold & Son Goes Mythical With The Dragon & Phoenix
Arnold & Son drops some hard rock on its classy Ultrathin Tourbillon range. And just like the lyrics from any rousing heavy metal song, it includes references to mythical beasts. Within Arnold & Son’s case are the Phoenix and the Dragon miniature sculptures that cast a foreboding shadow over the dial.Off-centered dials are nothing new to Arnold & Son. Its ancestral English watchmaker, John Arnold, famously crafted marine chronometers in the 18th Century. Marine chronometers typically split the functions to the north and south portions of the dials for legibility on the high seas. The movement itself stretches back to 2013. At that time, the hand-wound caliber A & S8200 ...
Zenith Releases The Defy 21 Spectrum Series A Celebration Of Color And Light
Colors have become a bit of a thing in watchmaking over the last year or so. This is something I am very much for. Colors are fun, and watch collecting should also be equally as fun, therefore watch collecting should be colorful. I’m not a mathematician, but that makes for a pretty compelling argument in my books! The new Zenith Spectrum series is a perfect example of this.Some brands have embraced this comeback with arms wide open, and Zenith has to be commended for being one such brand. The Swiss brand has happily used colors in various ways across its DEFY line in the past few years. We’ve seen colored ceramic cases and different colored dials, and even movements. We’ve ...