#TBT The Citizen 51-2273 Diver and a Welcome to the Brand
For all the stories we write about Seiko here at Fratello Watches, we spend that exact opposite amount of time talking about Citizen. There are some reasons for that: namely, they're a tough company to track down and they almost solely focus on non-mechanical watches these days (despite owning Miyota, one of the largest suppliers of mechanical movements). On the vintage side, we're guilty of having never featured a watch from the brand. There are reasons for that which I'll detail in the next paragraph, but we've held off long enough. Today, ladies and gents, we kick off our coverage of the other brand from Tokyo and take a look at the Citizen 51-2273 diver.Before we get into the details of ...
An Homage To A Great Seiko Figure: Tsuneya Nakamura
On the 25th of December 2018, the man who probably had the biggest impact on Seiko's modern history, and possibly the story of the modern watch industry in the 20th century, passed away.Tsuneya Nakamura reached the age of 95 years and a funeral service was held on the 4th of February in the city of Suwa, in Japan's Nagano Prefecture, where Nakamura san spent most of his life serving local industry and economy but also education and arts.Tsuneya NakamuraToday we would like to pay tribute to this emblematic Seiko figure by retracing the life of the man that orchestrated Seiko's phenomenal success in the 60s and 70s.Born on the 8th of March 1923, Tsuneya Nakamura joined Daini Seikosha Kameido (...
H. Moser & Cie Swiss Alp Watch Concept Black Hands On
A little while ago we took a closer look at some of H. Moser & Cie's 2019 SIHH novelties. I'm talking about the Endeavour Centre Seconds Concept Blue Lagoon, a beautiful and low-key albeit 100% Haute Horlogerie timepiece. If you are familiar with the brand H. Moser & Cie you probably know that they can be a tiny bit more daring from time to time. We all remember their huge marketing success/uproar the Make Swiss Made Great Again campaign. It stood for something that a lot of brands seem to have forgotten about along the way. Not to mention that those red hats were among the most wanted items with watch journalists for a while. The great thing about Moser is that even though their sto...
This Week in Watches returns with Grand Seiko, HYT, G-shock, and more!
What an installment of This Week in Watches we have for you. So much exciting news reached us this week. Let’s get to it! I’ll start with a watch which was presented last week, but exclusively in Japan. It must have taken the news a little while to travel to our region, but trust me, it was worth waiting for.Grand Seiko SBGA421We haven’t been able to find any official press information in English - quite understandable for a watch exclusively sold in Japan - but this watch is too beautiful not to show you. We’re talking about a limited edition Grand Seiko. In the year that Grand Seiko is celebrating its 60th anniversary, the AJHH - the Association Japon de la Haute Ho...
Inhorgenta Munich A Haven Of Independent Brands
As one of Germany’s most important watch and jewelry fairs, tickets for Inhorgenta Munich were hot property. A bustling atmosphere and fine array of brands ensured a stellar success for the organizers. Fratello deployed a trio of intrepid fair-goers to check out the novelties on show.And yes, we tried to photograph the pieces for you. As anyone who has ever been to a watch fair will know, taking good quality images on the fly is close-to-impossible. As the importance of on-the-spot reporting via social media channels grows, some fairs are starting to take note and provide special, well-lit areas for journalists to snap the products. While Inhorgenta Munich didn’t offer that, it c...
Hands-On Review: The Tissot PRX Has Convinced Me
The first time I saw the Tissot PRX, I was ambivalent. It looked exciting on the renderings, but the quartz movement was a turnoff. Since then, I managed to snag one for a few weeks, and my feelings have changed.I enjoyed wearing the watch, and the fact that it is quartz did not bother me at all. Furthermore, if you wished the PRX was a mechanical watch, don't worry, we have good news for you too. Keep on reading…HistoryThe new Tissot PRX's design takes inspiration from a 1970s Seastar model. Just like the modern counterpart, that watch was also available in several dial variants. Unlike the new PRX, however, the Seastar also came in a few different cases. The ’70s was the golden...
Depthmaster By Nivada Hands-On With The Iconic Pac-Man Watch
The last time we heard about Nivada, everything was about the Chronomaster. It was the first model the resurrected brand released to the market in many iterations. Now, it is not a secret that in the foreseeable future, we’ll see some more renditions of iconic models from Nivada’s past. This week the Depthmaster, a classic diver from Nivada, will hit the shelves.For most of us, the Depthmaster name is equivalent to Pac-Man, but that model is only one version. Nivada will come out with a few variations of the Depthmaster, just like the brand did with the Chronomaster.The original Pac-ManNivada launched the Depthmaster in 1965 as “probably the world’s most waterproof wa...
Zelos Spearfish Featuring A New La Joux-Perret Movement
You may have recently read my collector’s week article from last weekend. If you did, you’d know that I got into this hobby by collecting microbrands, and I still follow the microbrand sector very closely. Why? Well, there are some great brands out there making excellent watches and having a positive impact on the industry as a whole. One of those brands is Zelos. Today, I am looking at the Zelos Spearfish, the latest model in its collection with an exciting new movement.When it comes to microbrands, Zelos is one of the more prominent names in the game. The Singaporean brand has built up a very loyal following over the years, and many collectors have built up vast collections of ...
Sharing Two Readers' Speedmaster Stories
Our recent article about one of our readers and his Speedmaster Mark II inspired some others to share their stories with us. This week, we feature stories from Stuart Lees and Mark Talbot about their Speedmaster Professional watches.Both stories have one thing in common: it took quite a while before both authors finally purchased the Omega Speedmaster. But it was due to very different reasons, I must add. Stuart bought a number of other Omega watches first, as he didn’t find the Speedmaster an appealing watch in the beginning. He even found it a bit of a boring watch. But when he saw one isolated from any other watch, it enabled him to admire it without any distraction. He then pulled ...
Lange & Berkeley The Ultimate Watch Roll For All Wrist Sizes
As watch enthusiasts, we all know and understand that transporting our precious watches can be logistically challenging. Watches are generally tougher than we give them credit for. Nevertheless, they can easily sustain aesthetic or superficial damage if not properly protected. Most of us wouldn't just throw a watch into our backpack unprotected; keys, pens, coins, and other objects could potentially scratch it or cause greater damage. Luxury watches are expensive, and as expensive objects, we tend to treat them with a little more care. Luckily for us, there are about as many accessories for watch transportation as there are watches, including pouches, clamshell cases, boxes, and rolls. Perha...
Sinn, Orfina, And Breguet Answering A Reader Question
Your weekly installment of Fratello On Air is here. This time, Balazs and Mike handle a reader question about a few rather different chronographs....
NEW: Seiko The Black Series Limited-Edition Divers
Seiko’s “The Black Series” is back, now featuring four of the brand’s $1,000+ professional divers. The first three in the new lineup are the Mechanical Diver’s Modern Re-interpretation models SPB253J1, SPB255J1, and SPB257J1. The watches take inspiration from some of Seiko’s classic diver’s watches from 1965, 1968, and 1970 respectively. The fourth and crowning piece is the 1970 Mechanical Diver’s Modern Re-Interpretation SLA061J1, a recent, fully reinterpreted design with Seiko’s caliber 8L35. Who knew that what the world needed was more black and orange? Seiko did.Seiko has done it again. By done it, I mean the brand has made some radic...
Equation Of Time Simply Explained
As a watch aficionado, you must have noticed that the Equation Of Time (EOT) is found on some of the most complex and expensive watches, so it must be important, right? Unfortunately, when googling Equation Of Time, one finds dazzling formulas and lengthy pieces of scientific text. But what does it mean to those of us without a degree in astronomy? Although I must admit the foundation is complex, let me try to explain the Equation Of Time simply.Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Equation of TimeEquation Of TimeWe think of a day on our planet as 24 hours, but that actually depends on how “a day” is defined. A solar day is indeed around 24 hours. Our planet turns, and it takes exactly 24 h...
Available Now: Fratello Aquastar Deepstar II Limited Edition
Whenever Fratello works with a brand partner on a limited edition, it’s always something with a story of how and why it came to be. Fratello is a business at the end of the day, but we don’t treat watch collaborations as purely commercial enterprises. All of us on the Fratello team are watch lovers and watch enthusiasts like you, the Fratelli. That enthusiast-first ideology helped create the Fratello Aquastar Deepstar II Limited Edition, available today in the Fratello Shop.The Deepstar II is a modern cult classic and a continuation of the vintage Aquastar Deepstar design. The brand’s resurrection and the Deepstar II model come courtesy of industry veteran Rick Marei, who h...
Watches I'd Buy With Infinite Money And Purchase History
Does anyone know the infinite money cheat code for us watch geeks? I cannot recall how many hours my best mate Tim and I played GoldenEye on the Nintendo 64. It was the 1990s, and we had nothing but time. The system of cheat codes was one of the many great things about that game. We looked up complicated button combinations in gaming magazines - L+left, L+R+right, L+right, R+down, and so on. And boom! You had infinite health. A second code all weapons!Today, I am releasing my inner child once more. I am activating the code infinite money, and I am going on a watch shopping spree around the world. And just because life is too short to beg, I am also entering the cheat code infinite purchase h...
I Borrowed A Patek Philippe Aquanaut For A Week
“Hey Daan, instead of only reviewing brand-new watches, wouldn’t it be cool to also review pre-owned watches every now and then?” said a guy to me at a recent get-together. And then he went on to say, “Why don’t you give it a go with my Aquanaut that you’ve been wearing for the past 45 minutes?” It’s not every day that you get such an offer, so, of course, I told him it was a great idea and that I’d be very happy to accept. And that’s exactly how I ended up with his 2001 Patek Philippe Aquanaut reference 5065A on my wrist for a week. Keep reading to find out what that was like.I tried on a lot of “heavy-hitter watches” a...
Hands-On With The Brand-New Baltic Prismic
Baltic is on a bit of a roll with its releases. The young brand seems to have its finger firmly on the pulse of the horological community, continuously offering affordable alternatives to vintage watches with modern build quality and sharp pricing. Better yet, Baltic’s designs have a type of “effortless” style that seems to resonate with a large audience. So when I heard about the release of the new Baltic Prismic, I wanted to get hands-on with these watches. I did, and here is how we got along.The new Baltic Prismic comes with a choice of four dial colors as well as a leather strap or a mesh bracelet. It is priced at $990 (ex. VAT) on leather and $1,050 on the bracelet.Bal...
#TBT The Sicura Smoke Watcher
The Sicura Smoke Watcher has been around for five decades, but I discovered it only a few months ago. At first, I thought it was a joke, but it’s not! The Sicura Smoke Watcher is one of the most peculiar 1970s weirdos I have seen so far. And I have seen quite a lot of them…Let’s frame the story with some context. During the 1960s and extending into the ’70s and ’80s, smoking was widely accepted and permitted in various settings, including workplaces, hospitals, schools, bars, restaurants, and even public transportation like buses, trains, and planes. However, as scientific evidence highlighting the health risks of secondhand smoke emerged during the 1970s and 19...
Introducing: The Casio Casiotron TRN-50 Limited Edition
It’s funny to think that, at one time, digital displays were seriously advanced technology. On top of this, items that featured such readouts, like calculators and watches, were incredibly expensive and seen as a luxury. Today’s new Casio Casiotron TRN-50 pays direct homage to this period because it’s a 50th-anniversary reissue of a similarly named watch from 1974. If you’re into Casio or digital watches, this one looks like a guaranteed hit.I still remember my dad sitting down at the dining room table every weekend, going through the bills. Along with his checkbook and trusty Parker T-Ball Jotter, there was a funky little machine standing at the ready. It was a navy ...
Hands-On: Ace Jewelers Christiaan Van Der Klaauw stAriadne
Christiaan van der Klaauw (CvdK) is a brand known for its astronomical complications. Its watches feature miniature planetaria, small three-dimensional versions of the Moon, and entire star systems on the dials. More often than not, the celestial bodies on CvdK’s watches are part of an ingenious complication. That’s still the case on this new limited-edition stAriadne developed in collaboration with Ace Jewelers. This time, however, a few more stars have been added to the dial to give it a little something extra. And that’s exactly the exciting touch you’d expect from two true watch enthusiasts like Pim Koeslag and Alon Ben Joseph.Pim, CEO and master watchmaker of Chr...