MARCH MANIA WINNER ANNOUNCED...
The final we predicted from the quarter-final stage came to pass. The winner, however, was foreseen by few. Even those who have ardently supported the model from day one - Jorg, yours truly, the brand’s good-humored CEO - doubted its ability to take down the behemoth that stood between it and the title. And yet, against massive odds, it did. Ladies, gentlemen, and trusty commenter Ron_W, I am stunned and thrilled to announce that your champion of Fratello’s March Mania 2021 is the Czapek Antarctique Terre Adelie.I’ve made no secret of my love for this model. Similarly, I’ve made no secret of my obsession with fairness, vote ratification, and backend security (always a...
Omega Aqua Terra Small Seconds In Beige Video Review
Timeless watches don’t have to be boring, no! They can even be fashionable. Such is the case with the Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra 150M Co-Axial Master Chronometer Small Seconds 41 MM, ref. 220.12.41.21.02.005.Spring and summer are just around the corner. Our mood brightens, and the desire to reflect our upbeat demeanor comes with it. At least that is the case with me. I always get the urge around springtime to put some bright and colorful watches on my wrist. However, wearing a bright statement piece can also lose its luster quickly. With such a strong presence, such a watch can grow tiresome before you know it. When that happens, it’s good to have a watch that balances classic st...
Top 10 Watches Under $2,000 Oris, Doxa, NOMOS, And More
Here at the Fratello offices, we constantly talk about the smartest ways of spending your hard-earned money on watches. Our readers also often send us questions about the best watches within certain budgets. In this article, we’ll dive into a very popular price bracket. We have picked some of the best available watches under $2,000. It’s a price bracket with many wonderful offerings from both big brands and smaller independents alike. So today, let’s take a look at what the market has to offer.When I started compiling this list, something quickly dawned on me. There is an absolute abundance of great offerings for the money. We truly are spoiled for choice when it comes to s...
York & Front Burrard Hands-On With A Strong Canadian Debut
Sometimes I feel jaded when it comes to microbrands, with each successive one playing on the same vintage-diver heartstring. My experience makes me notice little details that seem irrelevant, but ones that for a “watch journo” become deal breakers. A silly name or an unbalanced dial can be enough for my OCD to kick in. This Canadian debut, the York & Front Burrard, has me searching for faults, but they are annoyingly missing. I've written about this watch before, and in the metal, it has a smile-inducing instant fit.I love a fresh-colored dial or cool pastels to brighten up an outfit or even an entire day, but those don’t cut it in the long run. As I grow older, I find ...
Hands-On: The New Doxa Sub 300 Carbon Whitepearl
On the fifth day of Watches And Wonders, I managed to escape the magnetic pull of Palexpo for a couple of hours. That’s something that certainly seemed easier on paper than it was in practice, but which turned out to be well worth the shuttle ride back into town. Taking the elevator up to the second floor of the Beau Rivage hotel, I was greeted by some of the members of the Doxa PR team. After a quick greeting, we sat down around a tray with all of the recently released Whitepearl models. Yes, the Sub 300, the Sub 300T, the Sub 600T, and the Sub 1500T were all there. But without missing a beat, I went for the one that truly stood out. A great white shark amongst barracuda - the Doxa Su...
Hands-On: Abel Court's AC Signature Monaco
Regardless of whether we’re talking about watches or cars, typically, modified versions aren’t my thing. I almost always believe that the original is the best because, honestly, a small garage rarely has the resources to make something better than a huge company. Today’s AC Signature Monaco is a rare example where I like a modification as much as its factory counterpart.If you’ve never heard of Abel Court, take a few minutes to do some web sleuthing. You’ll probably end up at his site, Heuertime, but not before encountering loads of praise in articles across the “watchscape” from collectors who have entrusted their precious vintage Heuer models to hi...
A Brief History Of The Dirty Dozen Military Wristwatches
The “Dirty Dozen” is a series of watches from World War II that hardly require an introduction. Lately, however, we have seen a bit of a resurgence of the style for which they set the template. There are straight reissues from brands like Timor and Vertex. The still-popular IWC Mark series is another that can trace its roots back to the Dirty Dozen. Even the Formex Field Automatic that Vincent reviewed on Fratello last week is clearly built on Dirty Dozen DNA.So we felt it was long overdue for us to do a brief overview of the Dirty Dozen. The following may all be familiar to the more seasoned watch geeks among you, but it never hurts to do a little refresher course occasionally, ...
The Zodiac Super Sea Wolf GMT Returns In Two Versions
The Zodiac Super Sea Wolf GMT has long been one of my favorite GMT watches. Not only do I like its functionality and overall design, but I also appreciate how Zodiac has never been afraid to use some amazingly bright colors for the GMT bezels. As a result, the Super Sea Wolf GMT has always stood out for me. I have considered buying the Sherbet and Neon limited editions multiple times. However, the one GMT from Zodiac that got away was the then-called Aerospace GMT from 2019 with an orange and blue bezel. It shows that the Zodiac has mesmerized me more than once with its colors. Now the brand does it again with two new Super Sea Wolf GMT colorways powered by a new movement. It’s time to...
Watches And Wonders 2024 On Fratello
It’s that time of the year again! The Fratello team is in Geneva to bring you all the latest from Watches and Wonders 2024. This year, the fair takes place from the 9th until the 15th of April. It’s arguably the most exciting time of the year for all watch enthusiasts. Over at Palexpo in Geneva, 54 brands will showcase their latest releases. In town, other parallel events will occur, adding to a long list of novelties. Rest assured, we’ll be covering it all here on Fratello. So prepare for a week full of watches (and wonders), and stay tuned for everything you want to know about some of the year’s most hotly anticipated new watches.Much like last year, this year’...
Hands-On: Breitling Aerospace B70 Orbiter
The introduction of the Breitling Aerospace B70 Orbiter celebrates the 25th anniversary of the first nonstop balloon flight around the world. It does so with a smoky orange dial and a piece of the history-making balloon on the case back. But more importantly, it's a completely new watch. The 2013-introduced Aerospace Evo now has a successor in the Aerospace B70, which aligns more with Breitling's Professional collection. I recently got the opportunity to try out the newest Aerospace and find out how its three pushers work and the newly designed, bigger case fits the wrist.In 2024, Breitling is celebrating its 140th anniversary by remembering some of its firsts. Think “the first watch o...
The Best Watches Under $1,000: G2's Picks
I’m glad to realize that choosing these three watches was difficult for me. For less than $1,000, there’s a boatload of options. Even though I’m the last one to contribute to this sub-$1K series - there were seven colleagues and their lists before me - I didn’t pick any of the watches that had already been chosen. My preferences might be a bit out of the ordinary, and one is even controversial. But investigating how I would spend the given imaginary budget was great fun.Finding the best watches under $1,000Defining “best” is subjective, of course. Best for what? Well, in this case, best for me. It’s even more challenging, if not impossible, to find a...
Best Watches And Wonders 2025 Releases: Lex's Picks
Watches and Wonders 2025 might be done and dusted, but some watches continue to haunt me. Patek Philippe is always impressive, but this time, it wasn't something complicated that struck a nerve. Rather, it was the introverted Calatrava 6196P, a classic with a contemporary twist. The Chanel J12 Bleu collection surprised me in the metal - sorry, the ceramic - and the tourbillon version impressed me. At Roger Dubuis, it wasn't the 45mm Grande Complication that stole the show but, instead, the 40mm Excalibur Biretrograde Calendar with its semi-historical appearance and soft touches of mother-of-pearl on the dial. Read on to find out more about the best Watches and Wonders 2025 releases according...
The New Eberhard Contodat Chronograph And Automatic
We're back with another set of releases from Watches and Wonders 2025. We’re here to fill you in if you missed these in all the coverage you've read. The new Eberhard Contodat watches are straight out of the ’70s, yet they're anything but kitschy. These were some of my favorite novelties.Eberhard is a plucky Swiss brand with Italian flair. Indeed, Italy is still its most popular market. Still, with online sales and several retailers, it is possible to find and try the company's offerings. The latest additions to the catalog warrant closer inspection because they're good - really good. Balazs and I were fortunate to check them out at Watches and Wonders, and we snapped some hands-...
Fratello On Air: At Watches And Wonders 2025
Welcome back to a special episode of Fratello On Air! This week, we bring you a compilation of recordings from Watches and Wonders 2025. We patched together several segments and even had a guest! Enjoy this inside look at the world’s largest watch event....
Hands-On With The Anoma A1 Slate
Last year, Anoma founder Matteo Violet-Vianello launched his first watch, the A1. The triangular timepiece earned quite some hype on social media, and he sold many A1s to the lucky people who pre-ordered one. A few weeks ago, Matteo presented the Anoma A1 Slate, a refined version of the same watch with a brushed, engraved, and lacquered dial. We briefly had the watch in the office, and I got a chance to go hands-on with it.My mother’s triangular Ventura, which she still wears every dayTriangular watches have a special place in my heart. For as long as I can remember, my mother has worn a triangular watch with the Ventura brand on the back. It’s part of a series, and each watch re...
Speedy Tuesday Shane's Custom Speedmaster Paramedic
It’s Speedy Tuesday! As promised, something special for today! Or should I say something customized? Where there are products with fans, it is only a matter of time before the first ‘modded’ products will show up. Shane is one of our readers that took the liberty of creating his own version of the Speedmaster, using all original Speedmaster parts of course. Anyway, I asked Shane to do the talking.Vanilla Speedmaster 3570.50I wanted to write about a single watch, my first Speedmaster. It started out as a vanilla 3570.50 but it wouldn’t stay that way, or any particular way, for long. It’s a nice case study of what drives me to customize watches, of the differences...
#TBT Vulcain "Blue Panda" Chronograph
Honestly, sometimes you get lucky. If you're like me and make it your lunchtime or evening pastime to comb through forums or eBay to look at vintage watches on offer, you're greeted with an absolute smorgasbord of pieces. Some are awful, some are overpriced, some are great and some are mysterious. I tend to go down the mysterious route more and more as I like to think that I know how to cull the herd when looking at grainy, often terrible, pictures in a listing and, besides, this is where decent deals can still be found. Granted, I gamble selectively and normally with low stakes; vintage Seiko's are my usual game.Normally, when I receive these gambled upon pieces, I'm greeted with a watch co...
Hands-On: Breitling Navitimer 1 B01 Chronograph In 43mm
Although the new Breitling Navitimer 8 has been in the spot light for months now, it is time to have a look at the revamped Navitimer 1. The most important version for the purists. Michael already gave a short introduction to all the new Breitling collections during BaselWorld (click here), but now it is time to go hands-on with my personal favorite: the?Breitling Navitimer 1 B01 in 43mm.The?Breitling Navitimer 1 B01 43mm would be my personal pick from the entire 2018 collection. This model comes in several variations: steel with a leather strap, steel on steel, gold with a leather strap, gold on gold, gold and steel on leather. For this hands-on article, I picked the full steel version with...
Speedy Tuesday An Omega Speedmaster CK2915-2 On Auction Today
Wait a minute? Didn’t Bukowskis?auction a CK2915 before for a record price?Yes they did, and we reported about it here. We also published an interview with the collector who bought that CK2915-1 for a whopping?$275,508 US dollars (including buyer’s premium). You can read that interview here.Speedmaster CK2915-2So now, it is time for another CK2915 for them to auction. This time, the 2nd iteration of the Speedmaster CK2915, indicated by a ‘-2’ designator. Interesting enough, the first CK2915(-1) and this 2nd iteration CK2915(-2) are pretty similar to each other. The first generation Speedmaster CK2915 was only in production for a very short time, and during those first...
#TBT: Seiko 6215-7000 Vintage Diver
#TBT is here with a look at the Seiko 6215-7000, a vintage diver that paved the way for future designs from the storied brand.A few weeks back, I pulled my normal Saturday morning routine. I woke up, made my wife and I strong cups of coffee using my handy dandy AeroPress, grabbed a yogurt, and plopped down on the couch to see what was what. I checked our site and stumbled upon Balazs’ cool barn find article and it got me to thinking about my newest acquisition, the Seiko 6215-7000. I’ll get to the buying process, but let’s first drop a little history.(l to r) The Seiko 6215-7000 and the 6217-8000The Genesis of the Seiko 6215-7000If you’re not familiar with the history...