The 2024 tennis season is getting started, and Zenith is ready for it with a new titanium version of its Chronomaster Sport. The lightest and most robust version of the Chronomaster Sport is a great match for the highly intense and entertaining Ultimate Tennis Showdown (UTS) championship. Zenith is the main sponsor and official timekeeper of the championship, in which time (pressure) plays an esse

This week, Fratello On Air returns with an episode featuring a hypothetical question. This is a recurring series, and this time, we ask what would make us buy a new Seiko. We’ll cover more than just sports watches and settle on a few key asks to one of our favorite brands. Enjoy the show!

Watches can get expensive - seriously expensive. There are no two ways about it. Luxury watch brands naturally aim their efforts at an affluent clientele. I have noticed, however, that most watch aficionados I meet have pretty regular jobs. And with pretty regular jobs come pretty regular incomes. So, if you are into watches but not on a Wall Street banker’s income, are you treading on thin

Today, we won’t talk about the latest release from Atelier Wen. We will briefly discuss a new venture from the Chinese marque called Inside the Atelier. This is a behind-the-scenes look at the various suppliers supporting the brand’s watches. It focuses on the people, their inspiration, and where they work. The first episode is out, and it’s a highly satisfying way to spend 25 mi

Buying an engagement ring for my now-wife was not a problem at all. That’s because I never intended to do so. I have often had problems with stereotypes and boxed solutions, so it’s no wonder I was looking for something different than an engagement ring. Guess what…I google a lot. I google watches a lot too. When I think of a gift for someone dear to me, I try to put his or her n

The first Speedmaster to hit retail with a six-figure price is here! Well, that’s if you don't count the complicated Speedmaster Chrono Chime. Omega introduces the platinum Speedmaster Calibre 321? with a material-matching flat-link bracelet, and at our local AD in The Hague, the price of that most prestigious Speedy is $107,500. If you're in the United States, the price is still expressed i

Hello, and welcome to Fratello Talks. In today’s episode, we’re taking on the challenge of building a $15,000 watch collection. Nacho, RJ, and Lex have crunched the numbers and leafed through the catalogs and each selected three modern (currently available at retail) watches that they would buy if they had a $15K budget. It’s a hypothetical exercise and meant to be just a bit of

Note: Yes, we know, the Vacheron ‘222’ was not designed by Gerald Genta but by Hysek. We stand corrected.Since the early days of my watch addiction (I admit), I am a sucker for the designs of Gerald Genta in the 1970s. Most of the time, I neglect the Vacheron and drool on pictures of ‘his’ Patek Philippe Nautilus, Audemars Piguet Royal Oak and IWC Ingenieur SL.I always foun

Urwerk is one of the manufacturers of haute horlogerie with the most futuristic timepieces you will find today. This manufacture from Geneva, lead by Baumgartner and Frei, introduces the UR-110 Torpedo timepiece. Or better yet, timemachine. Having seen a few in the flesh in Singapore and during the BaselWorld shows, creations from Urwerk always give me the same euphoric feeling regardless how ofte

For a long time, it was assumed that the Speedmaster became ‘Professional’ after the watch was certified by NASA. However, the earlier use of the ‘Professional’ addition has been discovered some time ago. An example is this early bird Omega Speedmaster Professional 105.012-63 from 1964.Speedmaster Professional 105.012-63Yesterday, one of our readers and Speedmaster enthusia

My first encounter with a Cartier Santos was in my late teens (early-mid 1990s). The owners of the local cafeteria annex snooker place were completely Cartier powered. Cartier Santos on the wrist, wearing Cartier glasses, fingers covered with Cartier rings, and on the other wrist Cartier bracelets and so on. I knew about this watch, but I can’t recall where this specific knowledge came from.

It's now been well over a year since the arrival of Georges Kern as CEO of Breitling.? The first releases after his arrival fell into the new Navitimer 8 series and while they were nice, some felt that they were a touch plain.Personally speaking, I like them and I think the neutral reception from most was based more upon the shock of seeing Breitlings that weren't in the vein of the blingy Bentley

For the first time in my watch collecting life, I wasn't sure if the watch I just bought will work. It wasn't the traditional stress that the watch might come dysfunctional or broken somehow. My concern was related to the construction of the watch, the way it was supposed to be operated and the movement itself. I couldn't imagine the watch functioning as a daily watch based on its description. Why

This week’s pre-owned line-up is a bit of a bold combination of watches - Vintage and new, dress and sports. I even included a watch I’d never seen before: The Jaeger-LeCoultre chronograph from the 1970s.Every week we pick a few pre-owned watches from Chrono24, the largest market place for wristwatches in the world - watches that we love ourselves, or think they will be interesting to

It seems to be new release season for much of the Swatch Group and with the announcement of the new Union Glashutte Belisar Datum Sport, the German maker has also gotten in on the act. Today’s focus just happens to be a large 45mm diver with strong legible looks and an approachable price level.The Belisar Datum Sport Comes in One VariantAs of now, the Union Glashutte Belisar Datum Sport is o

Originally known as the “wristwatch with double stopwatch,” ?no one could have predicted the rise of the now-legendary 158 pilot chronograph. Back in the 1980s and early 1990s, it wasn’t a bestseller. As with many classic models, it needed more time. ?Among collectors, it is now one of the most sought-after watches ever produced by Sinn.Behind every good watch, there seems to be

MeisterSinger is welcoming a new model to its line-up. Building on the success of the recent Lunascope, the MeisterSinger Astroscope keeps the focus well and truly on the skies above.I like MeisterSinger for its uniqueness, but I often find it hard to get excited about the watches themselves. Why? The single-hand concept is cool (and brand-defining) but, for me, it is too limited for many noveltie

In our Sunday Morning Showdown, two of our writers go head-to-head in an epic showdown for the ages. Strong opinions and hysterical hyperbole are welcome (so feel free to join in with the fun in the comments section below). And don’t forget to let us know which watches you’d like to see torn to shreds/effusively exalted next week. This week sees us (mosh)pit two quartz-regulated titani

When Piaget created the Polo in 1979, the aim was everyday sophistication. But the new Piaget Polo Skeleton Diamond Paved is anything but an everyday watch. Could I wear this delectable Piaget? That is the question of the day. I am a 6’2 Norwegian with a beard, just back from hacking big lumps of ice and snow from my car (feel free to stereotype me). I'm not a big fan of the term “metr

A white gold case, a gray dial with day, date, and month indicators, and the added bonus of a moonphase give the Vacheron Constantin Traditionnelle Complete Calendar its name. Traditional in its layout and fashionable in its dial color - slate gray is the new black - this white gold Vacheron appears both complicated and understated.Let's talk calendars before going deeper into the Vacheron Constan