No, it’s not the one he wore on the Moon, of course. The Speedmaster Professional 105.012 with NASA serial number 46 that Neil Armstrong wore during Apollo 11 is on display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. I am talking about the watch he received during that famous banquet dinner on November 25th, 1969, in Houston, Texas. RR Auctions will be offering this gold Speedmas

In 2020, Breitling revived its Top Time collection. Since then, we’ve seen many two- and three-register chronographs with playful and colorful dials. Many of those watches were part of a collaboration with Deus, Ford, or Triumph, for example. In a sense, Breitling’s Top Time collection is like its Hot Wheels department. Today, the Grenchen-based brand is introducing three non-chronogra

Welcome to another episode of Fratello On Air! This week, we share our hopes and dreams (not really) for what should be an epic Watches and Wonders 2025. After a blah 2024, we’re expecting some cracking releases. We discuss some of our wishes and the event in general. For our listeners, the watch content starts after 30 minutes.

Today, we take a look at the new Maurice Lacroix 1975 Collection. These watches represent a new line and celebrate the brand’s 50th anniversary. They are attractive choices as daily pieces that lean toward the dressy end of the spectrum. Best of all, there are a variety of dial colors and two diameters.As a child of the ’80s, I can clearly remember Maurice Lacroix becoming very popular

Gerard Nijenbrinks over at Horlogenieuws.nl (Dutch website covering novelties on watches and the watch business) mentions the new Sinn 142.ST-II.It will be introduced at the coming Basel Fair (30th March) as the successor of the Sinn 142.ST with Lemania 5100 movement. Because the Lemania 5100 is not in production anymore (see earlier posts about this), the 142.ST-II will feature a Dubios-Depraz c

Just a few minutes before I have to catch my train and flight to Basel! Together with my friend Frank from Monochrome, I’ll be visiting a lot of brands and will give you quick updates from location. Make sure to keep an eye on Perpetuelle, the watch forum by Kyle Stults, who made it possible for Frank and me, to get so much appointments with all the big names.My old love, Omega, has quite a

It’s Speedy Tuesday! Some things do not need introduction anymore and I think that Speedy Tuesday might be one of them. The number of responses to Speedy Tuesday in my mailbox is just unbelievable. Please, keep them coming! It might take a few Tuesdays, but your Speedmaster will be featured here.Today we actually have two Speedmaster watches lined up for you. One of them is the stainless ste

Our first meeting during the Baselworld 2014 exhibition was with Tudor. We had a little sneak preview before Baselworld even opened, during a diner with Tudor. They showed us the Tudor Heritage Black Bay in a new colour, midnight blue. The bezel that is, as the dial has gone from brown (the other Heritage Black Bay execution) to matte black. This 41mm watch comes with either a stainless steel brac

Limited to 200 pieces only, Audemars Piguet commemorates their 17th year of sponsorship of the QEII Cup in Hong Kong with a titanium Royal Oak Chronograph. The QEII Cup has been there since 1975 already and was established because of the visit of Queen Elizabeth II in that year to Hong Kong. Since 1999, Audemars Piguet is the title sponsor of this race that’s being held during spring season.

#TBT is back from Baselworld 2015 and it’s time to jump into more affordable vintage.? Hot on the heels of our recently published TAG Heuer Carrera article, we’ll now spend some time talking about a true vintage piece from the brand.It's no secret that vintage Heuer chronographs are hot. The allure of strapping on a vintage chronograph with a strong connection to racing ticks a lot of

Today, we had the chance to meet with Eterna at Baselworld 2017 and it was impressive. How impressive? Let's just say that out of the four of us who attended the discussion (plus a fifth who didn’t attend), all of us ordered a watch the same watch. The Eterna KonTiki Bronze Manufacture was so compelling, so affordable and nailed all the right details. Let's take a closer look at why.Eterna a

Admittedly, we at Fratellowatches have been a bit slow to pick up the story on Monta Watches. The founder of Everest Bands universally beloved by wearers for their attention to detail decided to go in the direction of releasing a line of high quality watches. In 2016, they debuted a 1000ft water resistant dive watch called the Oceanking and it has received high levels of praise for its thoughtful

I sense that Grand Seiko is getting more traction in Europe since the last year or two. I can’t speak for the US, as I am not familiar with that market, but I notice that more people start to appreciate the Japanese craftsmanship when it comes to watches. This article is not to elaborate (again) on Grand Seiko and how amazingly well built their watches are, I am pretty sure you know that by

You can draw a clear distinction between the three brands connected in the past by ownership, namely; Ateliers deMonaco, Frederique Constant and Alpina. While Ateliers deMonaco clearly represents the highest segment of the three, Alpina is probably the most affordable and sporty brand of them. In Basel, we were introduced to their latest release: the Alpina AlpinerX. It is a smart watch that was d

NOMOS comes out strong this year, with a new ‘Duo’ collection for ladies but also with their Sports watches. Meet the NOMOS Tangente Sport neomatik?42 date.NOMOS is not the watch brand you’ll associate with sports, although their Ahoi is certainly up to the task. This year, NOMOS showed us the new Sports collection that consists of the Tangente Sport and Club Sport models. We foc

The Speedmaster has the best ambassador in the world – The Moon. Since 1962 the Speedmaster has played a role in space exploration and in 1965 it became the official watch to wear during EVA. But the Speedmaster can also be seen on the wrists of many other ambassadors.Brands using ambassadors isn’t exactly something from the last few years, although it sometimes does appear that way. T

Batavi’s?aim is to give watch lovers something for the eye and for the soul. A?combination of vintage?aesthetics mixed with Dutch minimalism. A watch to enjoy, be proud of, and one that can be worn daily without worries.Batavi Amsterdam Kosmopoliet GMTBatavi is a young Dutch watch brand based in Tilburg, The Netherlands. The addition of Amsterdam, below the brand name in the dial, is purely

It’s #TBT time and we take a closer look at a polarizing favorite in the Seiko Monster SKX779.I can still recall visiting Marshall Fields at the Somerset Collection in Troy, Michigan and stumbling across a bunch of Seiko divers. I’d done some reading about Seiko’s quality and the fact that one could pick up a truly robust mechanical watch for around $200. And even though I didn&#

Today marks the return of the Breitling Top Time, a legendary vintage chronograph from the 1960s.If you were hoping for some fun news during these different and difficult times, we think Breitling has taken a good shot at answering the bell. With the new Breitling Top Time, we see the return of a fabled name and the use of a dial design that’s bound to excite both collectors and lovers of ch

In Episode 12 of our Fratello on Air podcast we try to take our minds off the Coronavirus a bit and focus on some rediscovered watches and other forms of distraction. However, we do share some words on it, of course, but mainly how it affects our private lives.The main topic of this podcast, though, is the analysis of the watches we recently rediscovered. Home Office and not traveling (or the comb