Summer Special: Hands-On with the Orient Kamasu
Summer is here and that means divers are in; we take a look at the Orient Kamasu.With the Orient Kamasu, we have a serious contender for best inexpensive automatic diver.? It just so happens that this watch, like the Seiko SKX007 and Citizen NY0040, also hails from Japan, where making affordable bulletproof divers seems to be an everyday affair. Orient, up until very recently, was seen more as the oddball/insider’s choice when compared to its better known Japanese rivals, but better marketing and watches are changing that standing.? So, does the Kamasu have what it takes to dethrone either of the two icons?? We once looked at the SKX007 versus the NY0040 in this popular article, but it...
How I Ended Up With The X-33 As My First Speedmaster
For years I thought my first Speedmaster would be the classic Speedmaster Professional Moonwatch as it is the watch with the most incredible story of all watches.And obviously, it is the watch the Speedmaster legacy has been built on so it seemed only logical that a brand new Speedmaster Professional or a Speedmaster Professional from 1977 the year I was born were the go-to models for me whenever I had to decide on my first Omega Speedmaster. But as you can read from the title, it didn't quite go as planned. My first Speedmaster turned out to be an Omega Speedmaster X-33 from 1998. And it turned out to be a great first choice that only made the Speedmaster legacy more significant for me and ...
Bert's Top 10 Most Photogenic Watches
Through the years, we’ve seen many incredible watches. But some of them certainly love the camera more than others do. Cases, colors, reflections, you name it. All manner of things can affect a watch’s performance in front of the lens. To commemorate my favorites, I’ve put together this list of the Top 10 most photogenic watches.Being able to capture them in all their beauty is always a pleasure. But not all watches photograph that easily. Needless to say, these watches were a pleasure to work with. Especially because some watches seem to been deliberately designed to make the life of a photographer extra tough.A. Lange & Sohne Datograph Lumen.With Lange, it is really t...
Norqain Independence 20 Watch Marks Partnership With Kenissi
I regard myself as an enthusiastic cynic. I don’t like much, but what I do like, I love. The Norqain independence 20 watch has some elements that really speak to me and others that don’t appeal personally. Fundamentally, though, this watch heralds a brave new dawn for the brand as it raises the curtain on the Kenissi era. And if first impressions are anything to go by, it’s going to be a good one…We’ve known this was coming for a while. The partnership with mechanical movement manufacturer Kenissi was hot news earlier this year. It threw Norqain’s relatively new name into contention with a lot of established and resurging brands using and about to use the ...
#TBT Three Interesting Quartz Watches Casio, Zeno, And Audi
A tough Casio MQ-30W from the 1980s, a quirky one-hander Zeno Solo from the 1990s, and a promotional “lugless Audi from the early 2000s. Open your mind and have fun with three special picks from my collection.It's listed in the 1984 Casio catalog. That makes it just one year younger than me. Coincidentally, it shares its birth year with my 1984 VW Golf II. The Casio MQ-30W is hidden in a section called “Analog Water Sports (50m water-resistant)”. It sits next to a white-dialed companion and is described as Tough'n'smart. Blame the classy sector dial and unique protective bumper, I guess.Hunting “Mad Max” CasioTo land this tough resin-cased gentleman is not so ea...
Seven Divisive Brands Doing Unexpectedly Worthy Work (2021)
Some luxury watch brands don't get talked about nearly enough. It's a real shame because some of them are actually working their socks off to contend with the bigger names in the industry yet barely getting a pat on the back for doing so. Does this then mean that it all really hinges on the name on the dial anyway? Whilst the leading names of the watch industry have certainly earned their hype in a number of ways, I think today is as good a day as any to give some love to the underdogs that deserve more attention than they are currently getting.It really surprises me just how many of the following manufacturers are widely overlooked. You’ll probably even have a few of your own to add t...
Why The World Needs More Purple Dials Omega And More (2021)
Guys, we need to talk about something. The watch industry is facing a crisis. A crisis of color. It may not seem like it, but trust me, it’s true. After all, in recent years, we’ve been thrown into an ocean of blue dials vaster than the Atlantic itself. We’ve seen so many green dials, you’d think a squadron of laughing leprechauns launched the world’s largest dye bomb into the very heart of Geneva. I could even name a plethora of brown, red, yellow, and orange-dialed watches in a swath of price brackets right off the top of my head. But one color remains largely absent from the modern watch world: purple.“Purple?!” I hear you cry. “Who wants pu...
The Seiko Prospex 1959 Alpinist Re-Creation SJE085J1 Finally Reaches The Summit
The wait is finally over! The Seiko Prospex 1959 Alpinist Re-Creation SJE085J1 has finally reached the summit. In other words, it's out as of today. Keep in mind that only 1,959 numbered pieces of this watch are available worldwide at a retail price of $3,000. So, now I ask: is this relatively faithful reissue of the first-ever Alpinist model from 1959 worth it? Let's dive deeper into the psyche of this peculiar adventure watch in our quest for answers.When Seiko announced its release of the Prospex SJE085J1 “The 1959 Alpinist Re-creation”, our very own Michael Stockton wrote about it. You can read the full article here. I want to touch on a point from Michael’s article bac...
Introducing: The Bulova "Parking Meter"
Ah, Bulova. A brand with 145 years of watchmaking history and releases that are hit or miss. From collections honoring the iconic American motorcycle brand Harley Davidson to neat WWII re-creations, Bulova has a knack for releasing contradictory collections, some of which are subpar and others objectively cool. The brand jumped on the bandwagon of leafing through old catalogs to see what would be cool to reissue. After releasing an updated Oceanographer - the ubiquitous Devil Diver - and the Surfboard, the brand just released a re-creation of its 31008-6W Parking Meter from 1973.Before we get into the review, let me ask you something: what do you actually use your chronograph for? To time ho...
Cuervo Y Sobrinos Historiador Hemingway Limited Editions
Cuba may be an unlikely place of origin for a luxury watch brand. One such name, however, indeed originated from the Caribbean island all the way back in 1882. For a long time, Cuervo y Sobrinos was one of the most prominent jewelers in Latin America. Located in the heart of Havana, the prestigious boutique would count distinguished figures as faithful patrons, including Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein, and Ernest Hemingway. In a twist of fate, the now Swiss-owned Cuervo y Sobrinos has engaged in a partnership with the family of the latter. The result is a new watch model named after the American literary icon, the Historiador Hemingway.Once-forgotten legacyCuervo y Sobrinos may be a new ...
Hands-On With The Vaer Meridian And Arctic Dive Watches
Today's review is quite a special one. Gerard and I took on the task of reviewing two Vaer dive watches, the Arctic and the Meridian. To do so, we decided to work together but also split up. I'd stay here in The Hague and wear the Vaer Meridian in my day-to-day activities at Fratello HQ. Gerard, on the other hand, would take the Vaer Arctic to Croatia for a week of scuba diving. I know, I know It hardly seems fair. But I agreed to take up the desk-diving mantle while Gerard jetted to the Mediterranean. This way, we'd be able to fully cover the usage cases of these watches and see how they'd perform both in their intended work environment and in a more realistic daily scenario.You might remem...
The Battle Of Breguet Classique Vs. Breguet Tradition
This is the battle you knew that was coming. Both RJ and Daan fell in love with Breguet at a get-together late last year. It only took them a few months to add the watches they admired to their collection. And now that they’ve had the time to wear them for a little while, it’s time to put them up against each other. Today’s Sunday Morning Showdown is probably more a matter of taste than anything else. And we know RJ has a big following here on Fratello. But let’s see if Daan can persuade some of you to vote for his Breguet Classique, reference 5907, and not for RJ’s Breguet Classique 7027.That’s right; this story is about how two watch enthusiasts fell int...
The Doxa Army A Brilliant Dive Watch With Great Heritage
Close your eyes and imagine a watch; what do you see? Chances are it probably has a few general characteristics: it's round, worn on the wrist, and fairly monochromatic. Many of us might think of something like a Submariner or a pilot's watch (I think of something close to my IWC Mark XV when I perform this mental exercise). But few would probably think of a Doxa dive watch like the Army model when performing this mental exercise. The diving watch brand has a unique design aesthetic at a market point that sits beneath Tudor and Omega. However, the brand’s history matches that of those brands in terms of interest and richness. This makes Doxa somewhat of a black sheep in the market tod...
The July 2024 Fratello REM Strap Lunar Crater
It’s the last Tuesday of the month, which means?we’re introducing a new Speedmaster strap in collaboration with the Swedish brand REM. We decided to choose a leather color we had never used before and feature an engraving of the lunar surface in a contrasting shade.The inspiration behind the Lunar Crater strapLunar craters are circular depressions on the Moon’s surface created primarily by the impact of meteoroids and asteroids. An impact like this occurs at high speed, causing an explosion that displaces and excavates the lunar soil, forming a crater. Unlike Earth, the Moon lacks an atmosphere and weather, so craters remain relatively unchanged over billions of years. Howe...
Introducing: The Mu:n Orion
What better way to celebrate astronauts going to the Moon than with a watch? To honor the Artemis II Space Mission launch, which aims to send four astronauts to the Moon by 2027, the Mu:n Orion is getting ready for its send-off in September of this year.Allow me to clarify: the Mu:n Orion is not a tool watch, so the four astronauts set to travel to the Moon by 2027 will not wear this watch as a backup instrument aboard their Orion spacecraft. Still, the ultimate goal of the multinational space program is to establish the first inhabited base on the lunar surface. Maybe during a scarce moment of relaxation, future Moon inhabitants will want to wear something dressier than their functional wri...
Thinning Out The Watch Collection
Welcome back to Fratello On Air! This week, we discuss thinning out our watch collections. It’s a tough topic because only one of us has ever sold a watch! We’re happy to take on the subject, though, because it’s easy to pile up watches that see very little wrist time. For our listeners, the watch content begins approximately 23 minutes into the episode....
New: TAG Heuer Carrera Tourbillon Chronograph European LE
At last year’s edition of Watches and Wonders in Geneva, TAG Heuer introduced its new Carrera Chronograph collection with the so-called “Glassbox” design. We are big fans of the regular 39mm version in its blue and black/silver configurations. Maybe that’s why we didn’t dedicate too much attention to the 42mm blue-dial tourbillon version that came out at the same time. Thomas already made up for that somewhat by introducing the teal version to you in January. Today, I’ll also contribute by introducing a new European limited edition of the TAG Heuer Carrera Tourbillon Chronograph.The first Glassbox version of the Carrera Tourbillon Chronograph was quite clo...
New & improved WatchUSeek
Since a few days, WatchUseek, one of the bigger watchportals on the internet, lead by Ernie Romers, just got improved and restyled. A few months back, WatchUSeek installed new forum software which makes it easier to post and manage your threads, and now, the whole site got restyle by a U.K. web design company. See for yourself and make sure to register and post!...
Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean On Your iPhone
2011 is the year of Omega’s Seamaster Planet Ocean. Although this company from Bienne also introduced an interesting new Speedmaster Chronograph (more on that one here), their focus is clearly set to the new line up of Seamaster Planet Ocean watches. The introduction of the Seamaster Planet Ocean on Capri (Italy) in May this year, was more than impressive (click here for a?lengthy?report with over 100 images) and just a few days ago, Omega released a new version of their iPhone application with a nice feature of the Seamaster Planet Ocean Chrono.Besides a nice and useful catalogue with Omega watches (divided into Gents and Ladies), news about Omega (watches and events) and videos, ther...
BALL For BMW A Review By Bexsonn
We love BMW but we’ve to admit that we aren’t that familiar with BALL watches. Since a while, BMW has a partnership with this watchmaker from the USA who has its roots in the world of rail roads. Timekeeping was very important in those early rail road years, to prevent terrible accidents from happening (again).Our friend Christopher Beccan from Bexsonn (watches x whisky) wrote an excellent article on BALL for BMW and put the spotlight on two different models: GMT and Classic. Our preference? The GMT. Why? It’s purity and clear ‘engineered’ inspiration. The case and bracelet reminds us a bit of the discontinued IWC GST.We do feel that this watch has some shortcom...