We spend a lot of time talking about the Bvlgari Octo Finissimo on Fratello. Quite frankly, it’s because we love that line dearly. But the Octo Roma line has a lot to offer also. In fact, while the Finissimo is truly groundbreaking, for some people, its incredible thinness can be a bit too much. The Octo Roma has that same Roman flair, but with a bit more muscle backing it up. Let's take a c

When I started my watch journey 16 years ago, Hamilton was a brand to which I instantly felt connected. There’s no doubt in my mind that was thanks to my grandfather, who was a lifelong enthusiast of the American railroad. He was an honorary member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, and he had an unrelenting passion for trains and anything related to them. His entire Cl

There are some watches we know will come in 2023. Then there are a few we expect to come. And finally, there are the watches we hope will come out this year. On the first day of the new year, we will present you with a small list of predictions, expectations, and far-fetched wishes. There will be brand and watch models celebrating nicely rounded off birth years, for instance. The Omega Seamaster t

We're going to leave it up to you this time. You be the judge. To put the watch year 2023 to bed, we're going to present you with a selection of watches that caught our attention last year. Some are surprising, some are baffling, and others are both. In any case, these are watches that kept haunting us and creations that we can't quite put our fingers on. Are they brilliant or bogus? Strokes of ge

Happy New Year, everyone! I wish you and your loved ones all the very best for 2024, and hopefully, all of your wishes will come true. Before I give you an idea of what will happen here on Fratello in 2024, let me take this opportunity to reflect on 2023.In early 2023, I purchased one of my “watch resolutions for 2023” pieces, the Breguet 7027Goodbye, 2023Let me start by saying that 20

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you celebrated in style last night! As you may know, every year, we recap all the Seiko and Grand Seiko releases we covered here on Fratello. Last week, we published an overview of all the 2024 Seiko releases we wrote about. This time, we’ll focus on the Grand Seiko releases we covered in 2024. As we all know, with a stream of reference numbers as names, it c

With the new Ultra-Chron Carbon, Longines continues bolstering its already impressive lineup. Plus, the watch features the brand’s first-ever carbon fiber case. This is a beautiful dive watch with an outstanding movement.Longines reintroduced the stainless steel Ultra-Chron in 2022, and it was praised for its 36,000vph movement and design, which evokes the 1968 original. Now there’s a

Happy New Year! Let’s kick off this first Speedy Tuesday feature with some awesome photos done by our very own Bert Buijsrogge. We received the Speedmaster Co-Axial Master Chronometer Moonphase “Blue Side of the Moon” recently, and we thought it would be fun to show you some details.Blue Side of the MoonIt started with the Dark Side of the Moon in 2013, an awesome and surprising

Christmas is always that perfect time to wear a dress watch. Or better said, the time you realize you really need a dress watch in your collection. Last Christmas, I was actually prepared and instead of wearing my Speedmaster or Submariner, I found myself wearing a dress watch almost the entire holiday period. Of course, you don’t just purchase a (dress) watch to wear it during Christmas onl

Again a rather complicated issue, when should one service or overhaul vintage watches in a collection? Mark sent us the following question on vintage watch maintenance.You Asked Us: Is vintage watch maintenance necessary?From: MarkSubject: Vintage watch maintenanceMessage Body:Would you recommend a maintenance schedule for vintage watches? Even if they seem to be running fine and have not been ser

I read about this complication a few years ago, but never stumbled upon it. Until last summer, when I accidentally found a Buler in a Royal Oak-styled case.It's early 2020 and most of us are refusing to accept the fact that Christmas is over. So I thought I might take it easy on you and offer a bit of vintage fun. To cheer you up before getting ready to dive back into your daily job routines. Flip

The dressiest diver you can get. Limited edition Christopher Ward C65 Trident with an in-house movement that runs for five days. It looks as impressive on pictures as it does when reading the specs. Impressive enough to make me ask the Christopher Ward representatives to send us one of the 150 limited edition pieces for a hands-on review. They did send one and after 2 weeks on the wrist, I am just

Are you afraid I got heatstroke? Well, who hasn't these days… The moment I bumped into A Perfectly Useless Afternoon Watch, I fell in love. Despite the fact it's a quartz watch. The amazing lugs and a witty dial are a great reminder to overheat from all the hard work and to just have an easy time during this exhausting period. Let's take a break.When I met my wife, she already had two watche

My fondness for the Laventure brand is, by now, probably well-known. I’ve been an avid supporter of Clement Gaud and his watches since I first stumbled across the Laventure Marine on Kickstarter what feels like an eternity ago (it was actually June 2017). Buying off (mostly) renders as I was then, I had no way of knowing what kind of product I would receive. Would it live up to the lofty exp

Happy New Year, my dear Fratelli! I hope you have all had your fill of delicious food, good company, and perhaps even a cocktail or two. We find ourselves in the post-2021 hangover, and I, for one, am ready to get over this past year, hoping for 2022 to be a little bit brighter. Not that it was all doom and gloom, but I think we can all agree that 2021 was, globally speaking, a bit of a write-off.

We know Unimatic for introducing a wide variety of designs. In particular, the brand’s Modello Uno has seen many different iterations based on different collaborations, ideas, and concepts. It has been great to see how brand founders Giovanni Moro and Simone Nunziato have successfully created instantly recognizable Unimatic watches despite mixing things up rigorously. The brand’s lates

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the first modern diver’s watch in the world, the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms. We did a run-down of its history just recently (click here), so we will examine this new anniversary limited edition in this article without further ado.Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Series IAs Blancpain did in 2003 for the 50th anniversary of the Fifty Fathoms, the brand is now introd

The first rule for sticking to new year's resolutions is write it down! And that's exactly what I'm doing right now. Come 2024; you can hold me accountable for my watch actions just by finding this article and reading it back. My watch resolutions for the new year don't include buying a Patek Philippe or a . Yet they are ambitious but also attainable, practical, and, last but not least, fun. Becau

Buying a pre-owned watch is an excellent way to access watches that are (long) discontinued or just to let someone else take the hit on the retail price. In this series, our editors show you some of the pre-owned or vintage finds they found interesting. In this Pre-Owned Spotlight, RJ shares several vintage and modern Tudor watches that are being offered.There’s one Tudor that keeps calling

A few days ago, Chrono24 published a short overview of the best-selling watches on the platform in 2023. The three brands that sold best were , Omega, and Seiko. Quite surprisingly, Swatch ranks number four on the list. But Chrono24 also did a drill-down per model, and then it turned into a slightly different order.Chrono24 salesChrono24 has approximately 100,000,000 page views per month, and it s