All right, the moment is here. My time has finally come to choose and tell you about my “go anywhere, do anything” watch. I’ve tried to postpone this decision because I feel it’s a very difficult one to make. After all, I feel like different occasions ask for a different watch on the wrist. That’s exactly why I and so many others don’t own just one but various t

Over the past couple of months, we have seen quite a few new Casio G-Shock introductions that celebrate the 40th anniversary of the brand. It’s been great to see the creativity in all of these new watches. But in the end, it’s all about the biggest icons that the brand has produced that make for the greatest anniversary models. For this special Remaster Black series, G-Shock came up wi

We love our straps here at Fratello and offer a wide variety of great options. But what about essential watch tools? Is it worthwhile to spend more for a higher-grade strap-changing tool, and what is a good starting point? This article will introduce the basics. Read on.I don’t know about you, but when I first got into this hobby I was daunted by the prospect of changing a strap or a bracele

This week, I wrote the introduction article for the new additions to Seiko’s Marinemaster collection. To prepare myself, I read through the comments below Thomas’s article on the initial release of the updated Marinemaster last November. The number of comments below that article was quite surprising in itself. We certainly don’t get nearly 80 comments on a release article that of

The green production process of the watch manufacturer in Schaffhausen, is something to be proud of. Not only IWC, but a lot of other companies seem to embrace durable entrepreneurship and corporate social responsibility. One of IWC‘s projects is to support projects like David de Rothshild‘s Plastiki Expedition. David de Rothschild and his Adventure Ecology organization built a 60 foot

The story starts, not with my 1978 Speedmaster 145.022 but on a July day in 1961 in West London. Three months earlier Yuri Gagarin's Vostok One took the first man into space. Now aged 7, I stood with my Dad in the crowds lining the streets near our house in Hounslow. As Gagarin's car drove past towards London Airport he waved and even today I get butterflies just thinking about that moment. On Yur

The Omega Speedmaster Moon 345.0809 or “Speedy Moon” is one of those grail watches of mine. It’s not the small production of 1,300 that makes it so desirable for me, but rather its complications combined with the classic Speedmaster design.It is no secret that the Speedmaster is my favorite chronograph. I love the design of the case, the clean and readable dial, and the history o

In the olden days, long before Covid-19 swept the globe leaving a trail of heartbreak and disruption in its wake, I used to have friends. Really. Well, at least, I knew people who would willingly spend time with me if there was beer involved. One of the places we - the founding members of @RedBarMcr - used to meet to discuss our next group meetings was The Moon Under Water on Deansgate. In the ego

Wrist Game or Crying Shame is back again and it’s time to go “glamping.” That’s right, we are going to add a high-end touch to something normally very casual when we look at the Swatch Tresor Magique. But first…Oh, what a time we had last week when I dangled the Bulova Royal Oak in front of your beady eyes. An astounding 79% felt that the $3,900 asking price was akin

When I “rotated” the one and only watch on my wrist back in the day, I remember how obsessed I was with its accuracy. Every few days I set the time against a known source to be sure I always had the most precise time possible.? ?Since more watches have entered my collection, I?seldom wear the same watch for a few days in a row. Even if a watch comes for review, I?switch it during the d

It's been a while since we've had a straight-up giveaway on Fratello. That's entirely my fault. Furnished with a handful of cool and quirky watches to hand over to the Fratelli, I've been working through this stash in between my frequent travels. To many of us on the team who have become more than accustomed to heading into the office (or staying at home) throughout Corona and having the opportuni

I passed on the Seiko Think The Earth wn-1 a few times before. But my curiosity about bizarre watches multiplied by encouragement from peers (hello, Mike!) made me pull the trigger on this wonder from early 2000s. And I couldn’t have done any better. It doesn’t look very wearable. It even doesn’t look like a watch that can display the time. These were two major reasons why I held

Last year, Cartier surprised us with a most unexpected launch of three colorful Tank Must watches. I must admit, I found these pieces so amazing and charming that the series had already sold out before I could even make a choice. It was quite noteworthy that Cartier announced that the pre-launch of the Tank Must would take place in Europe, while the global release would happen a few months later.T

It’s funny how when we first start our journey into watch collecting, many of us have no intention of collecting straps too. I’m sure most people who eventually amass an alarming number of watch straps probably never set out with that goal in mind. But, one day, we all wake up, look at the sheer number of straps before us, and wonder how things got to be this way. I don’t know ab

Another Friday, another Top 5! In this series, we take one watch or watch series and choose our five favorite references ever produced. Today, it’s time for the last of three articles on the Seiko 5 line. Last week, I focused on our favorite Seiko 5 Sports limited editions ever produced. The result was a colorful list of Seiko 5 Sports references that show the great diversity of the line. Bu

The Air and Space Museum is located within Paris-Le Bourget, Europe's leading business airport, and it was the perfect venue for the introduction of the new Breguet Type 20 and Type XX watches. Two massive Ariane rockets, a gigantic Boeing 747 jumbo jet, and an even bigger Airbus A380 dominate the scenery. It's inside the terminal building with its elegant Art Deco architecture that the worlds of

I have probably given the Porsche Design Chronograph 1 the best possible chance of impressing me. I tested it in its natural environment, a Porsche 911. And then Porsche let me loose with that watch/car combination on the Grossglockner-Hochalpenstrasse, the natural environment of the 911. Admittedly, I am not the biggest fan of press trips. Some may look glamorous, but they often involve a ton of

The answer to these questions is probably - spoiler alert - to earn money. But apart from that, what do brands typically expect when they launch new collections or additions to their portfolio? Yes, sure, in the end, it’s all about selling more of their products, but there can be different underlying motives as to why brands release so many watches.In the realm of luxury watches, with a seem

In this week’s episode of Fratello Talks, Nacho, RJ, and Thomas discuss the matter of in-house movements. What is an in-house movement? Which brands produce/use them? And how much do they matter to the guys when buying a watch? If you want the answers to these questions, listen to the episode below. It’s a hot and much-discussed topic among our audience.

Today, we’ll look at a charming little Omega CK976. It’s a lovely watch on the outside, but the inner workings are just as notable if not more so. This tank from 1939 is equipped with the caliber T17, a movement worthy of a place in anyone’s vintage collection.When considering vintage Omega watches and their movements, calibers 30T2 and 321 tend to dominate the narrative. It make