For a watch brand that has only been available at market for 13 years, Gronefeld has already left a remarkable imprint on the world of independent timepieces. The Dutch Horological Brothers, Tim and Bart Gronefeld, not only carry on their family tradition as watchmakers, but also, having become true masters of their craft, produce only grail-level material in extremely small numbers. In this next

The new Breitling SuperOcean is here, and it marks the culmination of a “rebirth” for the brand. The SuperOcean was amongst the last in the lineup to receive a complete remodel, but I think it’s fantastic. Let’s dive in!Yes, since the arrival of Georges Kern, Breitling has undergone a complete revamp. Essentially, everything that we knew from five years ago has been redone,

No doubt about it, summer is here. It’s about the highest time to put “the original” Excelsior Park into the spotlight. The last few weeks, it has been pretty hot in the heart of Europe where I live. The temperature climbed almost up to 40C, and I wished that I could go to the office naked. I have been wearing shorts with linen shirts or light T-shirts every single day for a few

Have you ever seen a watch online that you absolutely loved, only to then notice the “big mole” on its face? Or worse, have you ever bought one based on doctored photos, only to find it incredibly disappointing in real life? I’ve found myself in both situations, and man, what a letdown it can be! Especially when considering dropping significant cash on a watch, it’s best to

Oh wow. What a task I created for myself. The answers given to the question posed in this giveaway were truly some of the finest generated by this exercise thus far. I am impressed and I am grateful. With so many great stories and insightful comments to sift through, picking a winner has been hard. In fact, it’s been the hardest decision yet. So many of you deserved the top prize, but the Mi

It's time for another installment of Fratello EDC, where we're sharing our editorial team's everyday carry items. This time, the Fratello editor to share the contents of his bag and pockets is the viking. Does Thor pack woolly mittens and a flare gun to scare off polar bears?I’ll be honestly sharing what I bring with me when I am outside of my home office. I lead a double life, pretending to

I really do like watching the MotoGP races on television. But seeing those two-wheeled monsters and their riders taming them live is something else. So why not call up Tissot - the brand that is the official timekeeper of MotoGP since 2001 - and ask for two press tickets, one for Nacho and one for me? It was also the perfect opportunity to once again get our hands on the Tissot PRX Automatic Chron

When John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival said, “I see the bad moon a-risin'”, he was singing about an apocalypse, the end of days. Thankfully, there’s no apocalypse in sight in the watch industry right now. The lyric, however, is still appropriate for today, albeit with a slight tweak. I’m going with, “I see the badass moon a-risin'”. What on earth am I

Any news of a new dive watch is generally good news. When it comes to a new Monta Oceanking, though, we suspect that some fans have been eagerly waiting for quite some time. I’m happy to report that both those fans and potential new entrants to the brand should like what they see here.Wow! I was conducting some research for the new Monta Oceanking, which naturally led me to the prior version

It’s Friday, and that means another Top 5! This week’s topic is a follow-up to last week’s list. We decided to shake things up a bit compared to previous weeks where we focused solely on watches. Last week, we took a look at the five best watch brand ambassadors, so this week, we have compiled a list of the five worst. It was shortly discussed in the comments of last week’s

Space exploration was the greatest adventure of the 20th century. Humanity achieved the peak of manned space exploration over 50 years ago with Neil Armstrong's steps on the surface of the Moon, and one organization above all epitomizes exploration of the unknown - NASA. In this fourth installment of the Mission to Earth line, Awake pays tribute to NASA and its iconic logo with the Mission To Eart

Let's do this without any messing around today and get straight to the topic: my GADA watch is the Formex Essence 39. There, end of the article. In all seriousness, however, I love talking about GADA watches. My entire horological life revolves around GADA watches and the pursuit of the perfect one. I think back to the times when people actually needed watches and the fact they probably only owned

As I write this overview of the best summer watches, I’m looking through the window of my hotel on Mykonos. It’s quite picturesque, with an incredible view of the beach, some yachts, and those typical white houses on the hills. It could be worse, much worse. But this is still a working trip, and although I feel privileged to get to see some of the nicest places in the world, it's only

Some of us have had enough of vintage inspiration, while others can’t get enough, even after ’60s diver reissue number five. Spinnaker has just released some colorful takes on the Spence 300 Automatic, allowing the vast line to cater to both groups.The Spinnaker Spence 300 Automatic is a solid Miyota-powered wrist buddy that can go full-on retro. On the other end of the scale, it can b

One of the most whimsical timepieces we saw at Watches and Wonders this year was the Hautlence Retrovision ’47. Presented as a pice unique for the fair, this watch is far from your regular timepiece. The design takes direct inspiration from a late-1940s radio built by General Television & Radio Corp. from Chicago. It certainly brought a smile to the face of anyone who had a chance to ch

We have a rather special Sunday Morning Showdown for you today. For once, we aren't pitting two watches against each other. This time, it is up to two bracelet styles to fight it out. These are not just any two bracelet styles, mind you, but two of the most iconic ones to ever affix watches to wrists. This is the battle of the bracelets - Oyster versus Jubilee!Thomas will defend the ever-handsome

Project X Designs is a London based company, specializing in customizing [mainly ] wrist watches. You can order a regular wrist watch on their site, and tick the options to customize it entirely to your wishes. DLC (Diamond Like Carbon is quite popular since a few years, and since isn’t offering in their own catalogue, Project X Designs can do so for you! The DLC wiki sums it up as: “

In only a few weeks from now, the Fratello Watches team will be visiting Basel for the annual BaselWorld exhibition. Although it is a lot of fun to be there, it is also hard work. A full week of back-to-back appointments with watch brands with the five Fratelli?to bring you all the big news from Basel to your screen. From all the exhibitors (last year there were about 1500 of them), we only get to

Unlike the Daytona, where it is quite common to make a choice between a white dial or a black dial, the Speedmaster Professional comes with a black dial. Most of the time, that is. There are some limited and numbered editions from the past where Omega decided to use a white dial instead for the Professional. In all other cases, you need to seek for Speedmaster models that do no belong to the Prof

Jaeger-LeCoultre had a strong game this year during the SIHH in my opinion. It is actually one of the Richemont brands that didn’t seem to be searching for its own?identity, but did what it does best: design great watches using their heritage and impressive collection of in-house movements. The Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Chronograph is my favorite from their new collection. In this article, I w