Do any of you remember the concept of a party? It's when a group of people comes together to celebrate something. A birthday for instance or a wedding anniversary. Corona put an end to parties. But anniversaries don't, so when Seiko wanted to celebrate its 140th anniversary the company came up with a clever idea; a watch to replace the cake. The SRPG47K1 is the birthday cake and to share it with a

When I told my father I was getting more and more into watches, he told me he had a gold IWC pocket watch from my great-grandfather. On the back, it says “Van Moe”, which means “From Mom” in Dutch, and “October 1919”. Apparently, my great-grandmother gifted him the watch 103 years ago this October. My father, who recently handed the watch down to me, doesn’

Spring watch auctions were back with a vengeance in Geneva this past week. Phillips In Association With Bacs & Russo achieved yet another record-breaking sale at The Geneva Watch Auction: XV that took place on May 7th and 8th. The white glove sale (meaning a sell-out) yielded over CHF 38.9 million from 196 lots, broke six world records, and fetched CHF 3.3 million from the headliner, Patek Phi

On the heels of Frederique Constant's recently released tourbillon in rose gold come two new limited editions featuring the same complication, this time in steel. Further democratizing what is normally a high-end complication is nothing new for Frederique Constant, and these two pieces may be more compelling than their predecessor.As enthusiasts, we tend to define watch styles largely by the compl

With the Speedmaster having been around for over 65 years, there are a lot of them available on the pre-owned market. If you are willing to look past the iconic Moonwatch, there are still a great many gems to explore. For this week’s Speedy Tuesday installment, I have selected three pre-owned Speedmaster watches that are worth checking out.Speedmaster Reduced DA175.0033 - Image: TimeAnagram.

As I become more familiar with the Sternglas brand, I realize I’m not as tuned in as I thought. On the face of it, this Hamburg-based watch brand embraces minimalism in its designs, albeit with considered bursts of color. The popular Hamburg line of watches, named after the brand’s home city, is a typical example. It is a series of time-only watches with pencil hands, thin-bezel cases,

We’re back with another episode of Fratello On Air, discussing several great recent watches that were quickly forgotten. Attention spans are short these days, which can be unfair to some excellent releases. We shed light on some of our favorite unheralded pieces. Enjoy the show!

Panerai's Watches and Wonders 2024 campaign was completely centered around the brand's involvement in the America's Cup. The brand is a sponsor of the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli team that competes in the prestigious sailing competition. Even the Panerai booth at the fair was one big Luna Rossa fest, with yachting graphics and even a prototype racing boat suspended from the ceiling.Naturally, all the

Besides his work as interior and furniture designer, Robert Lighton also created a few wrist watches by the names of Hudson, Empire, San Remo, Algonquin and a few more. Mechanical watches with stainless steel, sterling silver or gold cases, most of them with an ETA (mechanical) movement. A few years back these babies sold for over 2600 USD, but you can get them now for as low as 695 USD! Robert Li

I remember Minerva watches being for sale in local watch shop here in The Hague. It must have been around 1999 or so that I was looking at these Minerva Pythagore watches in that shop, brand new. They were available in 34mm and 38mm and the latter one struck me as big at the time. Something you can’t imagine nowadays looking at new watches. Available as a dress watch and a pilot looking watc

Another week, another watch. This week I’ll be out on a motorbike trip, so I thought I needed a sporty automotive inspired watch. Let’s see if the Gorilla Fastback is a good choice.Gorilla Fastback 52Mondayz, week #20Robert-Jan did an extensive review of a pre-production model of this watch here ‘Gorilla Fastback – A First Look‘ and were already quite impressed at tha

We travel quite a bit to various events and usually, this involves flying to a different country. After arriving we drive to our destination. Yet this time things were a bit different.Dutch watch manufacturer Van der Gang invited us to their event at Lelystad Airport last week. The invite already gave away that it would be an aviation-inspired day, but we had no clue what to expect. Something that

Oris, for me, is definitely on the right track. They were one of our Baselworld 2019 favorites, and we’ve seen many attractive products coming from Holstein lately. The novelties we saw in most of their model lines, like the Aquis, Big Crown, and Sixty-Five were all spot-on.Only last week, on May 6th, 2019, a very attractive two-tone Sixty-Five Divers Chronograph in steel and bronze was intr

There’s no telling how long bronze is going to stick around. When it first emerged as a luxury case material, naysayers came out in force. It was seen as a fad, as no more than a passing fancy. And yet, several years after the fact, it’s still here. Models like the Baltic Aquascaphe continue to prove its viability and relevance when turned towards certain styles of watch.Bronze works p

Say “tourbillon” and I will reply with “Breguet”. But the truth is, that there are many other brands out there that mastered the tourbillon complication. This week, I have four pre-owned tourbillons for you, from known and lesser-known brands. What they have all in common, is that they are far below the price of a Breguet tourbillon.The selection I have for you this week is

There are many different ways to illuminate a watch face at night. Different materials, different styles of application, different methods entirely. And within those different methods, there are vastly different qualities of execution. Let’s take a look at some of the lume styles available.You may rarely use your watch at night. That’s fine. I’m not sure I do either, to be honest

Recently, I chatted with one of my favorite artists, Misha Mansoor, about his newfound interest in watches and how it all started. Misha is the founder and one of three guitarists in the American metal band, Periphery. His collection starts with an interest in watch mechanisms and grows to the appreciation of design and history. Whether you're into this type of music or not, Misha is a highly know

The Seiko Spacewalk… This is a Seiko many remember solely for costing $28,000 - if one could even find it at all. It was Seiko’s first foray into a purpose-built space watch, and what a watch it was… Spring Drive movement, 12-hour chronograph, 24-hour indicator, power reserve, and date, all present on a black, no-nonsense dial and wrapped up in a radical titanium bullhead case. A

In the battle of the plastics (yeah, Bioceramic) for this Sunday Morning Showdown, two popular, fun, and affordable watches go head to head. It’s the Swatch collaboration with Omega versus one of Casio’s G-Shock models. Today, RJ brings the MoonSwatch and Daan brings the G-Shock CasiOak to the table.For this MoonSwatch versus CasiOak battle, let me (RJ) kick it off by saying that I hav

Over the past few years, Forstner has rapidly become the go-to name for aftermarket watch bracelets. The brand has become so well established that it’s now rolling out third generations of some of its classic offerings. An update to its two former 7-Row predecessors, the new Forstner 9-Row Beads of Rice (BoR) stainless steel bracelet shows us how small changes can go a long way.The minute I