We know it’s early, but before you know we’re in the Holiday season and then you’re too late ordering gifts. If you don't have the nerve to wait until the very last shipping placement day, get ready. We have some ideas on how to please a watch nerd.Upholding the strict definition of the word gift, you have to make it a surprise, right? Letting the subject choose their own present

The Rado Captain Cook family first appeared in 1962. It disappeared not long after in 1968. For almost fifty years the Rado Captain Cook collection lay dormant. That was until 2017 when the 37mm steel version was revived. It was joined also by a reimagined 45mm version in a hardened titanium case designed for a modern audience.?Nowadays, we have the option of a much more versatile 42mm case to pla

In the 160th year of Heuer’s existence, TAG Heuer has graced us with a string of Carrera releases. The year started with the Carrera Silver Dial Limited Edition. In June, we saw the release of the Carrera Montreal Limited Edtion. And today sees the brand releasing the new Carrera Sport Chronograph 160 Years Special Editions. These two new timepieces are the first limited editions based on th

The Speedmaster is and will always be associated with the Apollo program and Moonlanding forever, but that was not what Omega had in mind when they introduced it in 1957. This chronograph was made to measure intervals by scientists, engineers, athletes, but also by racecar drivers. The Speedmaster was the first watch ever to have a tachymeter scale outside the dial, on a bezel. In the very first a

Raketa has been around since 1961, when it was launched to celebrate the first-ever manned space flight of Yuri Gagarin. Since then the brand has kept its eyes on the stars. Yet none of its timepieces reflects this passion for the cosmos quite like the Copernicus. The model is named after Nicolaus Copernicus, a Renaissance astronomer and polymath, famous for creating the first model of the univers

It is very to look at the Glashutte Original PanoReserve and not think of the Lange 1, a watch made in the same village. It's the elephant in the room, and I want it out of here as soon as possible. The Lange 1 debuted in 1994 and its most striking feature, the large date, was shaped after the digital clock in the Semper Oper in Dresden. The PanoReserve also has a large date that is called Panoram

We see many new brands and releases at the Fratello offices, but it’s not often that watches make a great first impression. All too often, new releases are a take on familiar designs. This familiarity obviously creates comfort, but sometimes you want to see something a bit more surprising. When we received the first glimpses of the new Atelier Holgur Fr?mand, that’s exactly what I felt

The Czapek Faubourg de Cracovie has been with us now since 2018 and was the third new model line from the brand following its resurrection (or genesis, depending on your take). Named after the location of the third boutique opened by the mysterious Francois Czapek in Warsaw the first time around in the 1800s, it has always been a bit of a sleeper in the lineup with low production numbers and an ev

My love of Japanese independent watchmaking is no secret, but it took me a while to acquire a Kurono. While I am a staunch advocate of online purchasing, when it comes to lesser-known brands at over $2,000, I still like to touch something first. And if I can’t experience the model in question, then I do like to see another piece of their work. With small brands that do limited-production run

To state that Omega did a thing would not come close to doing these two new watches justice. But Omega most certainly did something big here indeed. Today, we see the fruits of the brand’s Project Colibri with the introduction of two watches that share the same brand-new movement. An extraordinary, complicated movement, in fact, with a development time of no less than six years. It’s t

Happy Diwali! This week is the Festival of Lights, which has officially kicked off the season of festivities across the globe. Next up is Thanksgiving, followed by Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year, Orthodox New Year, Lunar New Year, and so on. Of course, not everyone has a family like the United Nations, but as long as you’re not a hermit, there may just be someone special you would like to ind

As I write this, it’s almost midnight on Wednesday, and I am a bit behind on my #TBT submission for this week. This morning, I woke up in Bucharest and pitched hard at a conference, only to rush to the airport to get home. I am tired, yes, but I feel like a champion. I made some fantastic business contacts, got home in time for my evening routine with my kids, and even uncovered the fascinat

Today, we’re excited to bring you news of the new Ming LW.01, a watch from the brand’s Special Projects Cave. Buyers will have a choice of movements in this watch, but the result will be one of the lightest timepieces on record. This is an exciting release after my own heart because it’s rich with materials and design innovation.I’m always excited to cover the latest releas

Christopher Ward is on a bit of a roll, releasing interesting new watches that push the brand’s boundaries. While I am a big fan of the C65 Dune series, it is one of Christopher Ward’s more functional tool-watch lines. But another side of the brand is a lot more experimental, a good example being the chiming C1 Bel Canto. Similarly, the new C1 Moonphase introduces a new aesthetic for C

I approach these stories with trepidation, especially when the budget nears $5,000. I still have a lot of nice watches well under the mark and plenty that I desire. So, unlike Balazs, who tried to squeeze all as close to the top line as possible, I'll try to offer a slightly wider range of prices, emphasizing quality. As with many things, that might not pan out. But for now, these are my favorite

It’s time to crank up your Bluetooth speaker, whip out your AirPods, or put your headphones on! A fresh episode of Fratello Talks is here. This week, Daan and Laurits join your host Nacho to chat about wearing classically sized watches. That’s right! We’re talking a 36mm maximum and a 32mm minimum, with a 34mm sweet spot. These numbers read a bit on the smaller side, but once upo

We know Nomos best for its minimalistic, Bauhaus-inspired stainless steel watches. However, the brand has quite a few references with gold accents and even offers watches with full-gold cases. Now we can add two more references to this list because the brand from Glashutte has released the Tangente and Orion Neomatik Dore. Both watches feature an in-house automatic movement and a touch of gold on

If 100 people were asked about the first words that come to mind when “Audemars Piguet” is spoken, I wager that almost all would respond with “Royal Oak.” That signals how popular Gerald Genta’s groundbreaking 1972 design has become. However, before this and even after the Royal Oak was released, Audemars offered a very different type of watch that comprised most of i

If you are into collecting watches, it seems to be some kind of quest or grail to – at some point – get a watch from your year of birth. Just recently, I paid attention to some topics on TimeZone and the UK based TZ-UK watch portal about getting a watch from your birth year. It seems that Omega, and Breitling are very sought-after brands for the birth year purpose, as they are when it

Yesterday, I blogged about the Dutch astronaut wearing a Seiko during his STS61A mission in 1985. It seems that the Seiko handed out to the astronauts of mid-1980s missions, is the digital chrono A829-6019 model as pictured below. It was available in two versions, the SMGG11 and the SMGG13 (black bezel and LCD inlay).The picture above was found on The Digital Watch Library and it says that this wa