We bumped into a beautiful second-generation Omega Speedmaster, also known as reference CK2998. There are quite a few iterations of this reference, and this is the CK2998-62. Omega produced this watch on April 30, 1963. That happened to be Queen’s Day (Queen Juliana) here in the Netherlands, so perhaps it was a double celebration for the original Dutch owner.Omega Speedmaster CK2998-62 - Ima

Bernard Arnault, the 74-year-old French entrepreneur with a staggering estimated net worth of around US$200 billion, is the driving force behind LVMH. He runs one of the most successful businesses in the luxury industry and rubs shoulders with presidents and other people in the highest places. The man that took over his father's construction-turned-real-estate business when he was 30 built a luxur

Swatch dropped another little bomb today! Meet the Swatch MoonSwatch Mission to the Moon with a Moonshine Gold seconds hand - or better said, the Mission to Moonshine Gold. This watch is exactly the same as the MoonSwatch Mission to the Moon but with a little Moonshine Gold twist.Mission to the Moon with a touch of Moonshine Gold!Our prediction article from last Sunday definitely ruffled some feat

Fratello On Air is back with another rollicking episode. This time, we cover dress watches and ask, in the face of all the hoopla, if dress watches are making a comeback. We think not, but there are a few caveats. Stick around - we recorded this one on a Friday night after a long week, so it’s bound to be good!

We’re still in the relatively early stages of 2023, and that means the best is yet to come. With Watches and Wonders right around the corner, the big brands will unveil their new watches for 2023 in a couple of weeks. But at least as exciting are the watches of the smaller independent brands, or microbrands, if you will. Over the past couple of years, we have seen a huge increase in the numb

Audemars Piguet is making sure its 5134 caliber gets a proper goodbye. The successor of the legendary 2120 movement is being discontinued…but not just in any watch. None other than John Mayer had the honor of coming up with one last dial and case design for a limited-edition Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar. In addition to that, the brand showed us many other new references during its 2024 Socia

I don't know if there are any left today. Late-19th-century biorhythm theory, which got another 15 seconds of fame in the 1970s, is the pseudoscientific idea that people’s daily lives are significantly affected by rhythmic cycles with periods. There is a 23-day physical cycle, a 28-day emotional cycle, and a 33-day intellectualcycle. In the 1970s, Certina created the Biostar watch to help we

After many months in the making, the VPC Type 37HW is here, and I have the distinct pleasure of penning this hands-on introduction. We often ask ourselves, “Is it impossible to be original when endeavoring to design a new watch? Have all paths in crafting this functional object truly been taken? Have we seen it in all its imaginable forms?” Today’s launch of the VPC brand’s

With the revival of watchmaking in the British Isles, the Alliance of British Watch and Clock Makers announces its first exhibition. The British Watchmakers’ Day will take place on Saturday, March 9th, 2024, at Lindley Hall (Royal Horticultural Halls) in Westminster. The event is dedicated to showcasing over 30 new and old member brands within the Alliance.Since its founding in 2020, the?All

The Seiko SPB143 is a veritable fan favorite among lovers of Seiko dive watches. And that’s for good reason. It combined the mid-range quality we know from this level of Seiko offerings with subtle, timeless dive-watch aesthetics. Today, Seiko releases the spiritual successors to this watch. These are the standard-production SPB451 (blue dial) and SPB453 (black dial) as well as the special-e

Welcome to this week’s episode of Fratello Talks. Today, you join Nacho, Morgan, and Thomas, who join forces to discuss a number of their watch pet peeves. The guys are feeling particularly grumpy today, so they decided to go on an extensive rant, listing some of the things watch brands do that rub them the wrong way. There are plenty of groan-inducing factors to consider, whether it’s

What brand do you turn to when you're looking for a watch with a classic design? Well, to be honest, there are many such brands out there. But one brand that certainly comes to my mind is Seiko. It looks like the people at Seiko think similarly about their watches because, today, the Japanese watchmaker is launching the Classic Series. For now, it’s a collection of five watches that all shar

Casio announced the release of the new and updated Mudmaster in September of 2023. The highly anticipated new series of Mudmasters promised not only a new case construction but also some firsts in terms of functionality. We had a chance to go hands-on with two new Mudmaster GWG-B1000 models in green and red. After reviewing the Rangeman and Mudman recently, it was nice to see if the new Mudmaster

Are you attending the 2025 British Watchmakers’ Day in London tomorrow? If so, I guess you already have your ticket ready because the ones for club members and the general public are all sold out. I considered attending the event this year, and that was mainly because of the Gimlet, a very attractive special-edition watch that Studio Underd0g and Fears presented. Like most of the other speci

I need gold. My watch collection lacks precious metal, so with that in mind, I started looking for gold watches on a budget of $5K. Please enjoy my gold choices from Audemars Piguet, IWC, and Minerva. And yes, my colleagues told me I cheated by choosing the steel-cased Minerva, but I responded that the gold details on that chronograph with a GMT function were simply irresistible.Going for gold on

Ask a random watch enthusiast about the great diving watches in history, and the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms will be on the tip of many tongues. In 2023, Blancpain celebrated the 70th anniversary of its legendary Fifty Fathoms in three acts. With a trio of completely different releases, the brand gave us a good idea of the variety of the Fifty Fathoms. The one that left the biggest impression on me wa

Some guys over at the Sinn Forum @ WatchUseek.com took part in the Sinn factory tour in Frankfurt on the 23rd of February 2007. Sinn has a big share of fans over at WatchUseek and the watch internet portals in general. Personally, I am not a????fan of most of their designs because????Sinn is focussing a bit too much on pure functionality of a watch (in my opinion). Anway, I always look at their wa

A few weeks ago, we were invited to visit the Girard-Perregaux manufacture in La Chaux-de-Fonds. The factory tour was given by Willy Schweizer, who has been working for the Girard-Perregaux company since 1986.We received an impressive ‘peek’ into the kitchen of this La Chaux-de-Fonds manufacture and ended the day with a product presentation. In the near future, we will post an article

Before I will rattle about the new ‘Drive de Cartier’, a few words about the changes at Cartier, that brought the brand to release this new and different mens model. Cartier is known for their historic collection and design details from these early models, that?often come back in new collections. Cartier always relied on their rich design history. Since 2008 however, Cartier changed sl

A while ago, one of the founders of Revolo came to our head quarters in The Hague to talk about this new concept of customizing a watch. A few months later, Revolo made it happen and their on-line configurator is live. The proof is in the pudding. So we configured a watch ourselves and received it not much later.RevoloRevolo is located in Amsterdam, and I am pretty sure that people who are visitin