Army Style Camouflage Accessories By G.L.C. Straps
Watches are the main focus of Fratello Watches. However with our monthly Strap Review articles and many similar articles we try to bring you some interesting stuff from the world of accessories. We have already introduced G.L.C. Straps for you guys not too long ago. Owner Massimiliano and his team?are known all over the world. They attend watch shows such as the Munich and Miami fairs. If you are at one of these events chances are high you will meet them. If you do so, make sure you check out the following items.CamouflageIf you want something special for your timepiece but afraid that with the camouflage pattern it looks too military even if the watch is not, don't be afraid. Camouflage is ...
13 Mechanical Watches Under 1000 Euro
Watches Under 1000 EuroA mechanical watch doesn’t need to cost you an arm and a leg. Although one could say anything above $50 Euro for a watch is ‘luxury’ anyway. According to some studies and reports on (Swiss) watches, everything above 500 Swiss Francs is considered to be a luxury watch. I don’t like the term ‘luxury’ very much, I just like to see – or own – a good watch. Preferably a mechanical watch.13 Mechanical WatchesAlthough I have watches in my personal collection that are way above $1000 Euro, I don’t mind wearing a cheaper watch. If it is a fun and good watch, why not? It is about the love for watches, not the love for money. ...
Roger Dubuis Hommage Monopoussoir H40 52Mondayz, week #31
From mainstream to a highly exclusive original Roger Dubuis. Do you know that feeling? After wearing a certain type of watch for some time, you look for something totally at the other end of the spectrum? This week I’m wearing what I consider one of the most beautiful watches in my collection.Roger Dubuis Hommage MonopoussoirThe Roger Dubuis Hommage Monopoussoir H40 on the wristA strange model indication isn’t it? Watches mentioned as ‘Hommage’ nowadays are very close to copy-cat watches, mostly of main stream high-in-demand watches. We all know these models from brands like Steinhart, Invicta and the lot.Made by Roger Dubuis himselfThis Roger Dubuis however is very ...
Watch Strap Review Part 30. Molequin
Belgium is known for the usual suspects: beer, chocolate, laces, waffles and Manneken Pis. Nowadays the country seems to have a couple of new additions to that list. More precisely; additions coming from the watch world. Belgium is the home of Belgian Watch Club, a group who share the love and passion for watches as much as they do for straps. Well, at least one of them. Michael, the name behind Molequin (one out of a few), is one of the corner stones of BWC. I met him a handful of times in the past, way before I even heard of his strap brand but could not connect the dots, until this year's Basel World. He sent me a few straps to check out and feature on Watch Strap Review and this is exact...
Q&A With Auctioneer Tom Tombeur
Where do you buy and sell your vintage watches? One great option is online auction platform, Catawiki. They host around 30 weekly Watches auctions and have some unique features that set them apart. Every auction is curated by a team of experts, so each of the 2500 watches up for auction every week is first reviewed by their watch specialists to ensure quality and authenticity. We spoke with one of their watches experts, Tom Tombeur, and asked him a bit about his expertise and his role at Catawiki.How did your passion for watches begin?I've been interested in watches for as long as I can remember; I loved the ones my dad and granddad wore. I remember getting a Mickey Mouse watch even before I...
White Nasa Watchband By Kizzi Precision Flightgear
After a rather long hiatus, Watch Strap Review came back in June with a very cool strap. As you might have read in the article; it was a strap that GLC Straps produced using original leather from a Mercedes 190 SL. Some of you asked me where could they find the exact same leather Mercedes used in the 50's? To clear up any misunderstandings, they peeled off the leather of the actual seats of a car that was being restored in a garage. The restoration included new interior and the old (original) red leather seat became surplus. This is what GLC Straps saved and turned into a limited run of beautiful straps. Today we have another unique strap for your consideration. Though I have to say it is mo...
Pre-Owned Picks 3 Porsche Design Watches
This week, I am looking at brands that have designed watches for the Stuttgart-based sports car brand, Porsche.I partly took inspiration from Tomas' #TBT article on the Porsche Design by IWC reference 3704 that you can read here. Scrolling through Chrono24, I found more awesome watches that co-branded with Porsche. Before Porsche Design became, well, Porsche Design.All watches are pre-owned and picked from Chrono24. Every week we pick a few pre-owned watches from Chrono24, the largest market place for wristwatches in the world - watches that we love ourselves, or think they will be interesting to you. So, to be clear, we picked the watches, Chrono24 only send us the images without their wate...
Hands-On With The Montblanc Heritage Monopusher Chronograph Watch
There is something magical about salmon-colored dials. It’s not a dial color you see very often, but the love for them amongst enthusiasts is palpable. I also love a beautiful salmon dial. So I was more than happy to see Montblanc add the Heritage Monopusher Chronograph to its collection. With its vintage aesthetic and great salmon dial, this might just be the most stylish piece in the catalog.We have seen a stylistic growth from Montblanc over these last few years. The brand uses the vintage looks of the Minerva watches from the early 20th century to develop its own style. Minerva professional tool watches from the 1920s and 1930 inspired the 1858 collection; the Heritage collection i...
Hands-On With The New RZE Valour Titanium Chronograph (2021)
I’ve been a part of the Fratello team for the better part of 10 months now, and despite the Speedmaster expertise in the ranks here, I think I was the only team member who didn’t have a chronograph, let alone a Speedmaster. Just don’t tell RJ, or I’ll probably be in trouble! Despite still not having a Speedmaster in the collection, I have finally added a chronograph in the form of this RZE Valour. It’s a great affordable watch that offers a decent bang for your buck. Let me tell you a little bit more about the watch that filled the chronograph gap in my watch box.Watch collecting is obviously near and dear to our hearts. You wouldn’t be reading this articl...
How Watches Work: The Annual Calendar Is A Fine Complication
When it comes to practical complications, it’s difficult to argue against the everyday usefulness of the calendar. Sure, complications like the minute repeater or rattrapante are romantic, awe-inspiring displays of watchmaking prowess. But are their functions of any real consequence to most of our daily lives? Likely not. The calendar, on the other hand, affects us all whether we like it or not. Without the ability to keep track of the day, date, month, and year, our modern societies would collapse. From the humble and economical date complication to the regal perpetual calendar, these complications offer some of the most useful timekeeping information outside of hours, minutes, and se...
Buying Guide: The Best Breitling Watches From The 1980s (2021)
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 come up with a series of articles focusing on the best watches per decade from a select group of brands. Some of them are priceless, some of them still affordable. In this installment, we will take a look at the best Breitling watches from the 1980s.While the 1970s were a decade filled with tremendous chang...
Photo Report: The 2021 Goodwood Festival Of Speed
After what feels like a lifetime, I’m back penning an article for Fratello. Did you miss me? Did you even notice? I won’t be offended if it’s the latter. Mainly as the team at Fratello has been pumping out solid content all summer. On my side of things, a couple of significant events occurred that required my full attention. A job promotion and a house move in tandem profoundly impacted my free time, consequently pushing aside my hobbies. But when things began settling down again, I had one pastime that I wasn’t going to let slip by. In July, I attended the Goodwood Festival of Speed in the south of England. And now, I want to share my experience through lens and lite...
Dear Seiko, Bring Back The Motorist
When I set out on an hours-long drive, I always have a 12-hour chronograph on my wrist. If I had to make an exception, a wild card would go to the one and only Seiko Motorist. If there were one, that is…A time-only watch doesn’t belong behind a steering wheel. When I read what I just wrote out loud, it sounds hard to believe, even to myself. Well, what I can do when I feel it that way? I don’t care what’s on my wrist when driving to the office. The drive is not the purpose, but rather, a necessary action to get to the office. When I set out on a three-to-five-hour trip, however, the time behind the wheel is a part of the experience. Do I need a ...
Hands-On With The Titanium Sinn T50 Dive Watch
Sinn is consistently praised for its ultra-functional timepieces. Watches are developed to serve a function first, and the form must serve that function. But there is no denying that Sinn has also developed an instantly recognizable style in that quest for functional excellence. A style that many people, including myself, love. With the new T50 line, Sinn introduces the titanium brother of the brand’s U50 range. Besides a different material, the aesthetic has a significantly more toned-down feel. It makes this new T50 the brand’s potentially best modern daily diver.When I first saw the new titanium Sinn T50, the watch felt familiar. Maybe even a bit too familiar. But put it next ...
Checking Out The 34mm Tudor Royal With "Cheese"
Do you know what they call a sporty, chic, steel Tudor with yellow gold accents in Switzerland? No. What do they call it? A Royal with cheese.' If you’ve ever watched Quentin Tarantino's legendary movie Pulp Fiction, you will get this loose paraphrase of a famous dialog between Jules Winnfield and Vincent Vega. Need me to refresh your memory? The scene in the car in which Vincent, who had to lie low in Holland and France, told his partner in crime Jules about the peculiarities of the European countries with the metric system after returning to the job in LA. Anyway, I got my hands on the latest 34mm Tudor Royal with its 18ct yellow gold bezel that looks as tasty as Gouda cheese and san...
Are Neo-Vintage Blancpain Watches A Bargain?
Blancpain is a brand with a rich and complicated history. Founded in 1735, it revolutionized the dive watch and reached sales of 100,000 watches per year by the late 1950s. The brand disappeared in the 70s to be revived in the 80s. The watches from that early revival era are now surprisingly affordable. Something we should probably have a closer look atI speak specifically of the 1990s, and 2000s neo-vintage watches from the fabled house. Let's see how these watches fit in with the larger Blancpain story and what you may be able to find at unexpected prices.The Fifty FathomsWhat Blancpain is best know forThe Blancpain revivalYou may have heard of SSIH (Societe Suisse pour l’Industrie ...
The Rado DiaStar Original Skeleton With A Ceramos Bezel
Swiss watchmaker Rado, known for its use of high-tech materials, has a rich back catalogue of diverse designs, including the funky spaceship-shaped DiaStar 1 from 1962. Today, the modern incarnation has been outfitted with an open-worked dial and a Ceramos bezel, resulting in the DiaStar Original Skeleton. This new model lays bare a variant of the R808 automatic calibre, now entirely coated in an anthracite hue for aesthetic enhancement.It might be interesting to note that the boom in UFO (Unidentified Flying Object) sightings, which captured the Western world’s imagination, also began in the 1960s. Perhaps it’s no pure coincidence that the original DiaStar’s unusual case s...
Hands-On: Cuervo Y Sobrinos Hemingway Icnico
Cuervo y Sobrinos does a fantastic job of bringing back the charm and spirit of a pre-communist Cuba. You probably all know the stories about how Havana was the lively capital of the Caribbean region. One of the city’s most famous inhabitants in the 1940s and 50s was American novelist and journalist Ernest Hemingway. On top of that, the Nobel Prize-winner was a regular visitor of the Cuervo y Sobrinos boutique in those days. To celebrate his writing achievements and enjoyment of the island's easygoing lifestyle, the brand has released two limited edition Historiador Hemingway Icnico Models. Time to go hands-on with these stylish pointer date models.It’s been only a week since th...
Hands-On: Vulcain Skindiver Nautique GMT LE
Since Vulcain decided to focus more on models outside of its bread-and-butter alarm watches, we have seen an array of new models coming to the market. Primarily based on vintage timepieces, the new Vulcain models include chronographs, time-only watches, and divers. The last of those is an exciting line consisting of the Nautical Heritage alarm diver and the Skindiver Nautique, a simple three-hander in various case and dial iterations. Today, we are going to take a look at the Skindiver Nautique GMT, the very first multi-time-zone piece in Vulcain’s collection.The new Vulcain Skindiver Nautique GMT is a collaboration between the brand, Italian watch YouTuber TOC, and Gioielleria Rosaspi...
New: Fears Brunswick 38 Midas II With A Gold-Plated Case
English brand Fears introduces a new version of its core model, the Brunswick. This new version reintroduces gold to the collection after the Midas version was discontinued in 2018. The new Midas II features a gold-plated 38mm cushion case and a beautiful bead-blasted dial.Additionally, the Fears Brunswick 38 Midas II comes with two straps - a pale blue Alcantara and a dark blue Barenia option. The set is priced at $3,400 (excluding VAT) with your choice of an exhibition or all-metal case back. Let's have a closer look!The Fears Brunswick 38 Midas II and its vintage inspirationNicholas Bowman-Scargill of Fears recently acquired a vintage gold-plated Fears watch from the 1970s for his archive...