Last weekend, I attended a get-together organized by the great people over at Bulang & Sons. Among the attendees, there were collectors of watches from all across the value spectrum. Some were focused on the more affordable side of things, and others definitely brought some high-end and rare watches. Of course, everyone got along quite well since we’re all in the same hobby in the end. A

If you were not yet convinced that micro/independent brands are innovative, perhaps you will be after reading this article. And it is the innovative nature of small/young/unknown brands that pushes me to write about them again and again. There are some gems out there that I would love for you to get acquainted with. Granted, what is strange and outside the box won't necessarily please everyone, at

Welcome to another Sunday Morning Showdown! This week, we have RJ and Thomas facing off. And this time, we have a battle of water-resistant chronographs with vintage vibes. In RJ’s corner, we find the Tudor Black Bay Chrono, while Thomas is defending the Zodiac Sea-Chron. There’s certainly no lack of wrist presence this week, Fratelli! These chronographs share vintage inspiration, a (r

Here's proof that you can learn something every day! I was under the (false) assumption that I was aware of basically every modern Speedmaster ever made. I have seen so many of them in my 25 years of collecting, including the ones some of you brought to the Speedy Tuesday events in the past decade. But when browsing the interwebs, I bumped into a Speedmaster I had never heard of or seen. It's the

Rugby fans worldwide are looking forward to the annual Six Nations Championship that kicks off on January 31st in Paris, France. This year’s tournament will end with a trio of matches on March 15th. It will be interesting to see whether Ireland can defend its title or if we will witness the crowning of a new champion for 2025. Breitling and Six Nations Rugby celebrate their fourth season of

Welcome back to another episode of?Fratello On Air! This week, we discuss a popular request from our listeners about traveling with watches. We’ve discussed this topic before, but it’s been a while since we last did so. For our listeners, we begin the watch content after 32 minutes.

In general, the watches on the Timex website are all quite affordable. You can get an Easy Rider for as little as $50, but even for the rest of the watches, $100C300 is often enough. However, that’s not true with the watches in Timex’s Giorgio Galli collection. The automatic S1 with a Japanese Miyota movement sold for $450. Then came the Swiss-made S2 with a stainless steel and titaniu

Today I spoke with my watch friend, and also watch maker, Gerton. He told me about this Girard-Perregaux Chronograph watch he has for sale, with an Excelsior Park 4 movement. When I googled on this watch, one??of the results was this ‘In Memory of Time’ website. A great website by this Japanese collector (TRS)??who has a number??of great (vintage) time pieces. Among them, the Girard-Pe

Omega proudly presents their latest in house movement, the Omega caliber 8500. It features a 60 hour power reserve, bi-directional winding, the co-axial escapement and it will be COSC (Chronometer certified) ofcourse! ?The new Omega De Ville will be the first watch equipped with this new movement.Congrats Omega! And now some attention to your Quality Control (Omega cal.330x) and After Sales (numer

Speedmaster MoonphaseIt’s Speedy Tuesday! Our weekly recurring topic on the Speedmaster has become one of the most popular topics here on Fratellowatches.This week, we have quite an uncommon Speedmaster for you. Only the shape and reference number reveals that it belongs to the Speedmaster-family. This OMEGA Speedmaster ref.3330.20 (case number 375.0034) is a stainless steel / gold chronogra

The fact that Longines decided in 1984 to stop producing their own movements and use ETA instead, does not mean they don’t have interesting timepieces for ‘techies’. As long as CEO Walter von K?nel is on board, this is not going to change (as he told us here), he is focusing on affordable main stream watches for a large audience. For the smaller group that we belong to, watch ent

January 2018: Inspired by passion and built by hand. ZOID Mastermind is a union of performance and edginess, this classic-chic watch for both men and women is perfect for all occasions. Looking for a watch to bring you from the board room to the party scene; ZOID has it.As a watch enthusiast and watch lover who appreciate great designed products, Andrew Oliver created the ZOID Mastermind. The firs

Under the bright booth lights at Baselworld, it's far too easy for a watch like the Omega Seamaster Titanium Tantalum to disappear into the ether. With its soft colors, the watch blends into the light earth tones that Omega employs within its confines (or did, as 2018 was the last year for the brand at the show). And so yes, I consider this to be a bit of an already-forgotten piece despite the fac

Origins matter. If a company or collection is built on solid foundations, it may be able to reach untold heights. The Linde Werdelin Spido series was inspired by an expedition to Mount Everest. Since then, new models are tested in extreme environments where only the brave dare tread.As you may have noticed (especially if you favor the annual calendar complication) it is now 2020. Most people agree

One of my best 2020 purchases was pretty unexpected. Prior to this watch, I didn't know much about Unimatic, only that it existed. Yet this watch and I have developed quite a relationship since last February. In fact, our bond has been strong enough to resist a few buy-out offers. Interested in how much I was offered? Keep on reading!?It all started with an email from Rob, our managing editor, ask

As many of you will know by now, I’m a big fan of Swedish brand Nezumi. I love the designs. I love the price. And a big part of me loves the Meca-Quartz movements employed by the brand regularly. But within the Nezumi catalog, there is one odd duck. On an island - an automatic island - stands the Nezumi Baleine Diver. It’s a model that’s been in the collection before, but took a

When it comes to re-editions or vintage-inspired watches, we've seen quite a few over the years. Some are truly awesome and well-executed where others are nowhere close to being as good as the pack shots want to make you believe. The Longines Heritage Classic Chronograph is one of those watches you would rush to hold when presented with it in real life.Although I gravitate toward a certain type of

Several of us at Fratello were rather impressed by the massive release of reworked marvels in the Royal Oak series, including one of my all-time favorite fume dials. But much of it fades when faced with the new Audemars Piguet Royal Oak open-worked trio.We conclude our AP coverage this week by delving into the new open-worked and long-named versions of the venerable octagonal-bezeled Genta creatio

We like to talk about vintage watches a lot within the Fratello team. Though most of what we write about is largely focused on the most recent releases and developments, for many of us, a lot of the fun can be found in the sometimes weird and often wonderful world of vintage watches. It’s a world full of history, remarkable watches, incredible stories, and quirky details. It inspired us to c

When I began my watch-collecting journey in 2006, forums taught me that Cartier was a “fashion brand.” Back then, the sentiment among (those) watch geeks was that Cartier was just a jewelry maker that also sold watches. Cartier’s timepieces, they told me, were reserved for fashion-minded suckers who could afford to spend big on watches but not on real horology. Well, as an impres