Welcome to another episode of Fratello On Air! This week, we discuss the increasing number of claims about movement production and wonder whether it all truly matters. “In-house,” “in-house-designed,” and “third-party” are only some explanations we hear about movements and their origin. It’s gotten a bit nutty! For our listeners, there’s horology con

Here in the Netherlands, it seems the cusp of winter is upon us. Last week, we were still enjoying the summer weather in T-shirts and shorts. Right now, though, I’m wearing jeans, a shirt, and a merino wool vest, and I’m still cold. We simply skipped the fall season completely and went from 25 degrees Celsius to 10 within a week. The light blue dial of the new Seiko Presage Style60R

Maastricht is (just like The Hague) one of the nicer cities in The Netherlands ?? My girlfriend and I went there this weekend to relax a bit and do some shopping. I took the opportunity to check out some watchshops in Maastricht!The first shop I paid a visit was Scorpione. The shop is located near the central station of Maastricht and besides watches, they also sell jewellery in gold and silver. T

At TimeZone, Mike Margolis quotes an email from Jean-Claude Biver. JC Biver is the man behind Hublot. He??seems to follow some other smart CEO’s from watch manufacturers, by posting and scanning on watch forums. Below his email, as quoted by Mike Margolis:“This a new sponsoring agreement made with Luna Rossa (which belongs in majority to Prada) in order to make a special Big Bang, all

Watch Report is a Dutch magazine about watches and their fourth edition has just appeared in the stores. Watch Report has nice cover stories and their coverage on novelties is quite actual for a magazine on paper. One of the subjects in the latest copy is a top 3 of all time favorite watches, given by Watch Report readers. The result is no surprise, but personally I would have thought that place 1

Like every Tuesday, it is Speedy Tuesday! If you own a Speedmaster, or a Speedmaster is part of your watch collection, at least wear it on Tuesdays! It is also a very good reason (or excuse) to purchase a Speedmaster – new, pre-owned or vintage – of you don’t have one yet.This week’s Speedmaster is the new Speedmaster Racing. We’ve seen it during the BaselWorld 2012 s

Moonwatch Only Book introduction at the Tourbillon BoutiqueLast Tuesday, Speedy Tuesday, we organized an event for Speedmaster collectors and enthusiasts together with the Tourbillon Boutique in Amsterdam. The Tourbillon Boutique is owned by Swatch Group where you will find the high-end brands that belong to this group, including Omega. The perfect place to host an event for Speedy Tuesday and som

One afternoon at Baselworld this past year, Blaise and I left the bright lights of the Messe and walked down side streets for roughly 10 minutes to a rather nondescript hotel. Our purpose was to go see the new Fortis. The brand was undergoing a rebirth in its marketing strategy and chose a large hotel conference room as its display setting. Apparently, the space was more conducive to private discu

As you could read in last week’s installment of our 52Mondayz, Gerard is currently somewhere in South-America and he only brought one watch with him. So, I will take over this week and talk about a watch that I will wear.Audemars Piguet Royal Oak 15202STI wrote about this watch often on Fratello Watches, from the beginning in 2004 till somewhere last year. It was my Holy Grail when I started

Every November, the Movember Foundation (founded in 2003) encourages men to grow their moustaches to raise money in support of 1200 health projects world wide. The Movember Foundation’s mission is to help men live happier, healthier and longer, and raise awareness (and funds) for prostate cancer, testicular cancer, mental health and suicide prevention. Oris announces their partnership with t

In 2017, Favre-Leuba celebrates its 280th anniversary. Founded as a small watchmaker's workshop in Le Locle in 1737 by Abraham Favre, Favre-Leuba can look back on a successful history marked by uncompromising courage, a bold pioneering spirit, the enduring refusal to accept boundaries, and the drive to grasp opportunities and strive to achieve the extraordinary. The anniversary is a remarkable mil

Based on Sinn’s 556 model, a special and very limited edition watch has been designed to commemorate the retirement of the Canadian CH124 Sea King helicopter. The CH124 Sea King was designed for shipboard use by the Royal Canadian Navy and the Royal Canadian Air Force.For anyone ever involved with (or interested in) this Canadian combat aircraft, this watch might be very interesting. Limited

The Omega Speedmaster Mark series is a very exciting one. Some fans say that no collection is complete without them, others frown upon the thought of owning any. Again, others look at them as novelty watches of a bygone era. Remainders of a time when Omega was experimenting with various technical improvements. Regardless of which group we belong to one thing is for certain; the Omega Mark watches

Welcome to another installment of Wrist Game or Crying Shame.? This week, we take a look at a watch that some consider as one of the best values in watchdom, the Seiko Marinemaster 300.Last week on WG or CS, we took a look at a bit of a strange bird of a .? Up for your choosing was the GMT-Master 16700, a watch that was made concurrently with the far more popular GMT-Master II 16710.? The 16700 m

The Scatola del Tempo Rotor-One is a well-tried concept from the legendary Italian company that received a facelift.We reviewed the earlier version of the Scatola del Tempo Rotor-One almost four years ago. A lot has changed with the company since those days though. First and foremost, it has new ownership. Until 2018 the company was owned by the family of Sandro Colarieti, the founder of Scatola d

I love Formula One. I’d put it above all my other passions. Ahead of fast cars, guitars, movies, music, and, yes, even watches. I try to keep it quiet because whenever you mention an interest in F1, everyone feels the need to weigh in: “Oh, it is just going around in circles”, or “ it’s not a real sport”. F1 is where I feel no need to listen to anyone else’

Just two days after we said on our podcast that Seiko will probably have some more releases planned for this year’s 55th anniversary, we’ve been treated to two more limited edition Prospex watches. Meet the Seiko Prospex SLA043J1 and the SPB183J1.The Seiko SLA043J1 is a re-interpretation of the Seiko 62MAS that dates back to 1965 (click here for the original 1965 model). The other one,

The Longines Spirit in 40mm, otherwise known as the L3.810.4.53.0, is our favorite pick from this new collection. Time for us to do a hands-on video with this pilot’s watch.In our recently published hands-on review on the Longines Spirit, you can read about the background of this watch, the importance of the 5 stars on the dial, and the L888.4 movement. However, we also think it is a good id

Mido invited us to see the final of the 2021 Red Bull Cliff Jumping World Series. It was with the prospect of also trying out the new COSC specs Ocean Star 600 that we packed for a weekend trip to Italy.Everything was small in Polignano A Mare. Imagine a street and then divide it by two, imagine stairs so narrow that you need to step aside to pass by the person coming from the opposite direction.

I don't know about you, but I love to appreciate the watches I wear. Not just from the dial side but from the inside out. There's a reason that we're drawn to mechanical watches; they're mini works of art for the wrist. Art is beautiful, and so are watch movements. Most brands employ a wide variety of finishing techniques to ensure the movements look as good as they perform. The one I want to look