Roger Dubuis let us know it is the(ir) year of the Astral Skeleton and comes with a range of new pieces. One of the Roger Dubuis watches we saw here at the SIHH in Geneva that we love best is their Excalibur Spider Skeleton Flying Tourbillon.The impressive case of the Roger Dubuis Excalibur Spider is only 45mm, but definitely looks (and wears) bigger on the wrist. This watch is not for the faint h

It is Speedy Tuesday! No SIHH or EurCHF-crisis can do anything about that! Today we show you one of the very last Omega Speedmaster Professional 145.012 models. Introduced in 1967 as a successor of the Speedmaster 105.012, with new pushers and a new case back (non stepped). Besides the 105.012 (Armstrong and Aldrin’s watches), the 145.012 was worn by Apollo astronauts (Apollo 11’s Mich

I have a soft spot for the Royal Oak, Nautilus, Ingenieur and Overseas. Only the first three were designed by the late Gerald Genta, the Overseas’ predecessor was designed by Hysek. The ‘222’, as it was called, was introduced 40 years ago already but the Overseas as we know it today, was introduced in 1996.This year, Vacheron Constantin came with a number of new Overseas models,

To be brutally honest, this newly introduced Panerai Luminor 1950?3-Days, or PAM 663, is already one of my all-time favorites concerning modern Panerai watches. It probably was a question of time when they would come up with a Panerai Luminor 1950?with a stunning vintage looking brown dial and a plexi crystal.This brown color should remember you of the discolored dials of vintage Panerai models (l

Some of you may know that I like to crunch numbers, talk statistics and discuss the watch market. Chrono24 is the largest watch market place in the world, and shows us some statistics in the wonderful infographic. Amongst others, it shows the Top 15 of brands with the highest demand in 2016 on their website. A website that received well over 200,000,000 clicks last year on the offered 300,000 watc

As devastating bush fires continue to rage in Australia, local online magazine Time+Tide Watches is mobilizing a group of concerned companies from around the industry for a very good cause.You love koalas, right? Sure you do. Everybody does. Well, the koalas and their fellow Australians are facing one of the worst bush fire crises in memory, and they need your help. Time+Tide Watches is launching

This week I’ll be wearing my last acquisition of 2019, the original and first Seiko Darth Tuna with reference SBBN011. Bought December 29th, 2019, but while out of the country I couldn’t take delivery of it until last week. I’m very happy to have it on my wrist now, and here’s why.Seiko Darth Tuna SBBN011 1000m Saturation DiverA bit of Tuna background first: In the late six

When the Zenith El Primero A384 Revival hit the market to celebrate the iconic movement's 50th anniversary in 2019, it was a sight for sore eyes. While the strap last year's model arrived on was nice, the newly-released ladder bracelet takes this offering to another level.Pun intended. And to clarify before I forge on, A sight for sore eyes is a good thing. It means a salve, a remedy, a tonic for

With all this talk about the new Speedy, Wrist Game or Crying Shame reviews the Omega Speedmaster White Gold Moonphase. But first…Last week, we reviewed the unorthodox Seiko Landmaster Spring Drive. This watch was incredibly polarizing in the comments section, but the supporters won out and gave it a 64% Wrist Game win. It turns out that entry level Spring Drive is still Spring Drive. Today&

The design of early “three-hander pilot watches never spoke to me. They just looked too much like a dashboard instrument and not enough like a watch. Farer however took that design and transformed it into something that really grabbed my attention. Let's take a closer look at the new shiny Farer Bradfield and the more subtle Farer Morgan.Farer often launches as many as three models at a time

You guys seem to enjoy our Top 10 articles, so we thought it would be interesting to do another one. This time we would focus on watches below the 2k mark. But here’s the twist: instead of just listing ten watches that I love, I decided to open this up to the team. Our editors got one choice and one choice only. Let’s see what they’d spend their $2,000 on…I asked nine of ou

I don’t know about you, but I’m a music fan. In particular, I prefer rock and metal music. As a guitar player, I love music that’s driven by the sweet sound of distorted riffs and crunchy solos. Naturally, growing up as a guitar-loving teenager, I found my way to the music of Metallica and “The Black Album”. The album sold more than 600,000 copies in its first week, h

The Pierce Chronographe is the?result of persistence and curious genius. It's important, yet underrated, unusual, but cute. It is an original and pretty timeless watch. But, it's also a watchmaker's nightmare…It has a striking arrangement of sub-registers that stood out from miles away in the late 1930s. From today’s perspective, the double-pusher Pierce Chronographe also introduced a

October 7th, 2021, 6 pm CET. That is the exact date and time when Baltic began its takeover of my Instagram feed. It was also the exact moment when the scrappy French independent released its latest watch, the MR01. I say that Baltic took over my Instagram feed because, for days after the release of the MR01, it took a noticeable presence. Both in posts and stories, these watches were everywhere!

Way before the Speedmaster, my very first Omega chronograph was a caliber 1040. It was the gold-plated Seamaster ref. 176.005, the watch that many call the “Jedi”. Well, it is neither a Jedi nor a “flat Jedi”, but that’s a story for another day. That Seamaster was the watch that spawned my interest in 1970s Omega chronographs. Many years and a good few purchases later

We didn’t have to wait long to witness the continuation of 2022’s watch collaboration trend. It’s month one of 2023, and we already have our first release to combine the efforts of two independent British brands. Maybe it has been the mantra since the pandemic that companies are “stronger together,” but it’s always exciting to see the creation of combined effort

There, I said it, and mean it. I do believe that the Laurent Ferrier Grand Sport Tourbillon is a splendid piece of Haute Horlogerie, and I’d have it over a Nautilus. Obviously, I can say whatever I want as this is altogether immaterial and way out of my budget. But still, there is a reason the latest LF releases end up on my virtual desk at Fratello. Does that make me biased? Well, probably,

Zenith has done it again, surprising us with another great classic from its archives! This new Zenith Defy Revival A3691 is the second modern reissue celebrating the unique style of the original Defy series that debuted in 1969. For this new Defy, Zenith reintroduces the brilliant look of the reference A3691 from 1971. The watch combines the unique design of the original Defy with a beautiful deep

Now, I have to admit, when I signed up to write for Fratello, I did not expect to ever write about Sir Elton John. But here we are! Granted, it’s for a good reason. Christie's is auctioning a plethora of items from his Atlanta mansion, including a watch collection. And what a watch collection it is! At first glance, this is exactly what you might expect Sir Elton's watches to look like if he

When you read the name Zenith, what comes to mind? Radios? Televisions? Well, at one point in its history, the watch brand Zenith was owned by the Zenith Radio Corporation of America, so that's not completely weird, especially if you're American. But for non-US citizens and, in particular, watch-focused ones, Zenith means El Primero - the movement that was (or wasn't) the very first integrated aut