Zenith Defy 21 Land Rover Special Edition Watch
With three special edition releases under their collective belt already, Zenith and Land Rover explore a new direction, dressing the Defy 21 model in an ultra-contemporary color scheme.It was way back in 2016 that Zenith first announced its partnership with Land Rover. The model that celebrated this collaboration was called the Zenith Chronomaster El Primero Range Rover Special Edition. It was quickly followed by the brands’ second effort (the Chronomaster El Primero Range Rover Velar), which was little more than a color update to the first. The third watch produced by these two powerhouses, however, was something rather special. The Zenith Defy Classic Range Rover special edition watc...
New Longines Heritage Classic Chronograph 1946
Entering in a new decade always breeds predictions of what we’ll see and experience for the next ten years: New technologies, new entertainment, new world events. At least one thing that carries over from the last decade is the vintage re-edition trend from luxury watch brands.Longines Heritage 1946Fresh from Longines is the Heritage Chronograph 1946. The 1946 pays tribute to a watch from the Longines archive.Although vintage fatigue set in for me towards the end of the last decade, I’ve always felt that the Longines Heritage collection has existed outside of the “fauxtina” fad. Possibly down to the everlasting designs of Longines that the timepieces seem contemporary...
Wrist Game Or Crying Shame: Seiko SBDB015 Landmaster
Welcome back to another installment of Wrist Game or Crying Shame. This week, we take on the audacious Seiko SBDB015 Landmaster. But first…Last week, I tried to appeal to your sporting intentions while attempting to throw a little celebrity endorsement your way. Neither offering was enough to send the TAG Heuer Tiger Woods Professional Golf Watch to the next Ryder Cup. The gallery was awfully rude and sent this to a 67% loss in this skins game. If golf isn’t your game, perhaps mountain climbing is more your style. If so, maybe you’ll take a shine to today’s Seiko SBDB015 Landmaster.The Seiko SBDB015 LandmasterThe Seiko SBDB015 Landmaster is a unique-looking watch. Thi...
The Most Unusual Watches Andreas Bought In 2020
We love to be surprised by little details in the design of a watch. We look for novel ideas that make a watch special to us. As such, we’re often drawn toward things that qualify as slightly more…unusual, shall we say.Some watch collectors like to focus on one style of watch and one style alone. Sometimes that could be a category of watches (like dive watches); sometimes it could be variations of one particular model (like Speedmasters, for example). I, however, buy all my watches to wear. Consequently, I prefer variety rather than collecting within a particular niche. It gives me much more versatility so I can match my watch to my mood, the occasion, or perhaps to what I’m...
Hands-on With The Moonshine Gold Omega Tresor On Bracelet
2021 has arrived and like so many of you, I have been thinking about what watch I should choose next. As you have probably noticed from my personal choices, I've never been an enthusiast for gold. In my opinion, steel rivals gold and two-tone watches. At least, that was always the way…until now. It's been tough to figure out what steel watch should be on my wish-list for 2021. Luckily, at the end of last year, Omega released its new Tresor collection, shining as it does a spotlight on Moonshine gold.Moonshine gold is nothing new for the Tresor collection. In 2019, just one year after the introduction of the Tresor line for women, the Swiss brand presented two new Tresors made of Moonsh...
Girard-Perregaux Richeville Chronograph A Well-Kept Secret
How many of you cruise through Chrono24 looking for undiscovered gems? In between trying to find a watch I'm actually looking for, I do random price or brand searches to see what pops up. Last week, the Girard-Perregaux Richeville Chronograph caught my eye, as it’s unusual and quirky-cool. One thing, however, is blatantly clear, and that is a necessary adjustment of my collecting mind. Even as a writer, a bonafide watch journalist (that's what I tell myself anyway), my perspective gets colored by Instagram. With the exception of interest groups, Facebook here in Scandinavia is pretty much dead. But the explosion of watches on Instagram is real.This is a good thing, right? Well, yes and...
#TBT The Angelus Medical With A Magnificent Magnifier
When you say “medical watch,” I always see just one watch. It’s the Angelus Medical that takes the crown. It stands way above all other medical watches, even ahead of 1960s Longines or my favorite watch from Universal Genve, the Medico Compax.Pulsation scales on dials have always enamored me. The reason is simple: I see a medical watch as the finest and most noble complication ever integrated into a watch. A power reserve, moonphase, minute repeater, or any other from the long list of crazy complications I have been introducing over the last few years on #TBT are all useful and creative inventions. But the ability to read a heart rate is just so human. It reminds me of the...
Strap Check: A Perfect Vintage Leather Strap For My Speedmaster
Welcome to Strap Check, a new column here on Fratello where our editors showcase their favorite watch/strap combinations. We all know the feeling. When you've been wearing a watch for weeks on the same strap, there comes a time when the excitement starts to fade a little bit. Maybe that's the time when you start looking. But looking for what? A brand new watch? Sometimes the answer lies not in the watch, but the strap on which you wear it! From the classic to the unique. From cheap NATOs to bespoke leather and special bracelets. This is where we get excited about perfect combinations that make you feel like you've got a brand new watch on your wrist. So tune in every week for a new combinati...
Watch Trends For 2023: Our Top 5 Trends For This Year
It’s time to start making predictions for this year! With LVMH Watch Week 2023 already in full effect, it might seem like we’re late to the game. Still, it’s always fun to share what we hope and expect to see in terms of watch trends. What will brands hit us with this year? And will the new introductions actually have the power to influence us? It will be fun to see what the industry will deliver and what hits we won’t be able to pass up. In that light, we thought we’d make a list of our expected trends for 2023. Some of them build on the trends we saw last year or the last few years, while others might turn out to be too far-fetched.But before we jump into this...
What Should You Do With A Watch You Inherited?
Every once in a while, my friends or even random people send me pictures of a watch they inherited. As I’m more into watches than they are, they ask me questions about what they’re dealing with and what they should do with it. I think that the last one is a very personal decision, but you do have a few options, of course. As I expect there are more people out there with the very same questions, I thought it would be nice to go over the possibilities here. Hopefully, this article will help you make up your mind about what to do when it happens to you. Alternatively, it might encourage you to finally do something with that watch you inherited that’s just lying in the back of ...
Hands-On: Omega Seamaster Diver 300M James Bond 60th Anniv.
Last November, with a great spectacle in London and in the presence of Daniel Craig, Omega introduced the Seamaster Diver 300M James Bond 60th Anniversary edition, reference 210.30.42.20.03.002. It's a special version of the Seamaster 300M with lots of interesting elements. Omega sent us this watch for a review several weeks ago, and I've gathered some thoughts about it that I'd like to share with you in this article.For the 60th anniversary of the James Bond movie franchise, Omega decided to come up with this special Seamaster 300M. It is special because it uses design cues from past models and because it has an animation of the opening sequence of the 007 movies on the case back. When I fi...
Underwater Watch Photography With The OM System TG-7
Living close to the ocean has meant that I’ve always had an affinity for watches that can handle a little seawater. It’s no surprise, then, that I seem to gravitate towards dive watches. And for even longer than I’ve had an active interest in watches, I’ve been fascinated by photography, not only as an integral part of my day job but also as a personal passion. So it seems natural that I started experimenting with underwater photography last year, using a Nikonos-V film camera with a 35mm lens. This was the perfect film camera for holidays and camping trips because of its robust build and the joy of shooting film. With the wait and anticipation to see what sort of ima...
Mike's 2024 Watch Resolutions: Simple Watches, Max Enjoyment
Now that 2024 is here, it’s time to look forward and predict the unpredictable. I say that because, really, who knows what will happen in the next 12 months? Somehow, though, it’s still fun to think about what will come and what we desire for the year. When it comes to our favorite subject, I’ve been heavily into simple watches for over a year now, and my interest in them shows no signs of abating. In 2024, you will likely find me even further down the rabbit hole!“Simple watches” - yet another nebulous term in our hobby. For me, the definition roughly describes mechanical, typically smaller watches with little to no complication and a modicum of water resistanc...
Hands-On: The New Vacheron Constantin Historiques 222 In Steel
Get ready for a year of special Vacheron Constantin creations. To grab your attention, the brand’s 270th-anniversary celebrations kick off with a watch you knew was coming - the Historiques 222 in steel. The much-anticipated watch made it to Fratello HQ ahead of the embargo. It was a perfect way to experience firsthand if the revamped 1970s icon in steel lived up to all of our high expectations.If you're a Vacheron Constantin fan, 2025 will be a year to remember. This year marks the 270th year of the Maison, which has made a name for itself by creating complicated, innovative, and elegant timepieces. What better watch to get the party started than the 222, a watch created in 1977 to ce...
Deke Slayton's watch
Jason Oliver at TimeZone posted a message that the Speedmaster Pro owned by astronaut Deke Slayton was sold at some auction. You can find it here.Here is a picture of the watch:I hope the buyer puts on a new strap! ?? The buckle seems to be original Omega (and in the right time-period). I really doubt if I would ever sell such a personal belonging as a watch that joined me on spaceflights....
A Decent Watch Under 1000 USD, Check Motoring Exposure!
Yesterday, I published an article on MotoringExposure about buying watches under 1000 USD. There are a lot of offers, but which one satisfies the watchfreak?Browsing the internet and going through several annual catalogues, I came up with the Glycine Incursore ‘Black Jack’, the Sinn 656 and the Tissot PRS516 Automatic Chronograph. All three very different watches, but are all ‘serious’ timepieces under 1000 USD and follow my own 5 defined rules for this quest:1. It should be a (respected) Swiss or German brand2. A mechanical movement (Swiss/German origin), ETA2824 or ETA6498 for example3. No plastic parts on the outside (excludes Swatch for example)4. Stainless steel ...
Omega Speedmaster Mark II 327.10.43.50 (Re-introduced)
A bit of pre-Baselworld 2014 news on this Speedy Tuesday! Although Omega already gave a few hints on their official Facebook page not too long ago (and enthusiasts immediately guessed it right), today came the announcement of the new Speedmaster Mark II (327.10.43.50) re-edition that Omega plans to introduce during Baselworld 2014. We are looking forward to it!As you can see, the new Speedmaster Mark II comes in two flavors, one with a racing dial and one with a white luminous dial. Just like the two versions that were introduced in 1969. In essence, the Mark II was a newer version of the famous Speedmaster Professional with its hand-wound caliber 861. The same movement, but with a more mode...
Omega Speedmaster '57 Review For Speedy Tuesday
It’s Speedy Tuesday! This week we present to you our review on the Omega Speedmaster ’57 Co-Axial Caliber 9300 Chronograph that was introduced to us last year in Basel. A modern Speedmaster that we already compared to the original Omega Speedmaster from 1957 and the Omega Speedmaster ’57 Re-edition (click here). This review talks about this straight-lugged Speedmaster ’57 with its subtle nods to the original Speedmaster timepiece. We had it on our wrists for quite some time and we’d like to share our thoughts and experiences with you.Omega was so kind to lend us this Omega Speedmaster ’57 reference?331.22.42.51.01.001, the stainless steel and red gold comb...
#TBT Universal Geneve Polerouter Jet
Dress watches can provide the new or seasoned collector with a great opportunity to pick up a high quality vintage watch for a fraction of the price of a similarly aged sports specimen. Case in point, vintage Datejusts ok, they're not that dressy are typically undervalued by multiples when compared to similarly dated Submariners and GMT's. All the goodness is there from a build quality perspective and, of course, the movements are in-house. Vintage , though, is certainly not the only haven for this type of opportunity. No, we've covered areas like King and Grand Seiko and Robert-Jan has shown us some amazing Omega Constellations. The fascinating thing with these latter examples is that they...
The Facebook Diver's Watches Group the Power of Social Media
It's true that when Gil Scott-Heron wrote in 1970 that, the Revolution Will Not be Televised, he wasn't referring to the watch industry. With what we've seen lately, though, it's looking more and more like the revolution is likely to take place via Social Media or perhaps we're already in the thick of massive changes in the way watches are marketed and sold. We saw just this past week the Omega Speedy Tuesday Limited Edition sell out in record time all with clicks or finger taps an experiment that had never really been tried before by such a large and prominent brand. But what about the grass-roots movement? Is there anything happening out there aside from the continued surge in online-only ...