Hands-On: The Parmigiani Fleurier Toric Collection
One of my most memorable meetings during Watches and Wonders earlier this year was with Parmigiani Fleurier CEO Guido Terreni. This very charismatic watch CEO was impeccably dressed, talking about the history of fashion and how the new Toric collection was designed with today's sartorialists in mind.Terreni is glad that menswear is getting attention again after seeing the casual business wear endorsed by Silicon Valley types. For him, dressed in a beautiful suit, shirt, and loafers, expertly selected in the hotel room that morning, I reckon it's natural, and he probably doesn't need to think twice about what works and what doesn't. I write this with a little envy as, more than once, I’...
Guy David A Review Of A Low Cost Mechanical Watch
Instead of discussing another Omega, , Audemars Piguet, Patek Philippe or whatever, we have picked a Guy David watch to review. A watch of the price that some of us normally would spend on a leather strap for one of the watches just mentioned. Guy David is one of Gassan’s own label watches and we have briefly mentioned it before here on Fratellowatches.At first sight, this diver holds somewhere in between fashion and real horology. The first thing noticed is the finish of the impressive 47mm watch case. The sides are nicely satin-brushed and the top of the lugs have this Omega Seamaster 300M polish on them. I am not sure whether the designer’s were inspired by watches like the Se...
Very First Omega Speedmaster CK2915 from 1957
The OMEGA Speedmaster CK2915!Just recently, I got in touch with a watchmaker by the name of Sampo from Finland. He mainly collects Omega watches from the 1950s and 1960s? and works for one of the Omega Service Centers. His main interest goes into the Seamaster 300 watches, Railmasters and Speedmasters from that era. Only two years ago he decided to go vintage and sold his new watches and bought a beautiful Speedmaster 105.012-66, Speedmaster 105.003-63, a Ranchero CK2990, Railmaster 2914-1 and two Seamaster 300 CK2913 models.? An incredible collection so far, but he recently added a Speedmaster CK2915 as well. The very first Speedmaster from 1957.Omega Speedmaster CK2915By coincidence, he fo...
#TBT The Original Swatch Automatic
A Swatch? Really? You come to Fratello Watches and read about exciting new watches and the weekly piece on vintageand you're presented with a piece that was available in every department store. And even worse, this piece isn't the blogger's darling, the Sistem 51. No, I thought I'd talk about a watch that was my first adult mechanical watch and really influenced me going forward. This watch doesn't get a lot of press, which is a bit of a shame, because there was a fair amount of ingenuity involved and, Swatch being Swatch, loads of variety and design creativity. #TBT goes back to the era of Trans-Am's and Aqua Net hairspray with the original Swatch Automatic.Most people are familiar with the...
Red Bull Air Race Budapest with Hamilton Photo Essay
This year marks the 15th anniversary of the Red Bull Air Race, with a short pause between 2011 to 2013. Since its return, a year later, it became one of the most spectacular flying competitions. Spanning over four continents (Europe, North America, Australia and Asia) and over 40 locations from the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway to the Zayed Port in Abi Dhabi, it offers a rather large variety of different sites. The 2018 race calendar included France, Japan, USA, UAE among many others. The Red Bull Air Race also came to Budapest, Hungary. It happens to be the capital city of my home country. On a pretty picturesque track over the River Danube and in front of the magnificent Parliament...
The 90s: Back to the Roots: The TAG Heuer Carrera 1964 Re-Edition of 1996
TAG Heuer re-released the original Carrera in the 1990sTAG Heuer's chronographs enjoyed greater success in the mid 1990s than ever before, but there was a growing demand for historical flair. The result was a high-fidelity replica of the Carrera from 1964.After an eleven-year hiatus, the Heuer Carrera chronograph returned in 1996 as a high-fidelity re-edition original Carrera from 1963/64. Only the name Carrera was missing on the dial because of a conflict between brands. The reproduction encased hand-wound Lemania Caliber 1873. The first Heuer Carrera chronographs were still equipped with Valjoux Caliber 72.Ever since the birth of the Carrera, Heuer had always been closely affiliated with m...
Oris Big Crown ProPilot X Launch Event Report
We travel a lot to visit watch events, but most are in the surrounding countries. However, we found our way to China for a special occasion last week.Oris launched the Big Crown ProPilot X in the centre of Shanghai, with amazing views of the famous Bund skyline in the background. With this event report, we want to take you behind the scenes and show you what has been shown to us in Shanghai.ProPilot X Event ReportAfter 17 hours of travelling, we arrived in the centre of a warm and humid Shanghai. Here we are welcomed by co-CEO Rolf Studer, David and Mona Weber, Michael Meier and Marco Gemperli followed by a nice dinner.In a relaxing atmosphere, we get to enjoy a selection of traditional Chin...
Speedy Tuesday A Bit Of LCD Speedmaster Love
Even up till today, there’s a Speedmaster with an LCD screen in the collection, the X-33 (since 1998). But even before that, there were several LCD Speedmaster references in production.Today, I will focus on just one of these models, the reference 186.0005. These were produced from the mid to end of the 1970s. The LCD Speedmaster always intrigued me, even during my first days of watch collecting. Whether it has to do with my year of birth (1977) and growing up with digital watches, or the fact that it reminds me of my friendship with the legendary Chuck Maddox (I once bought one for him here locally for 200 Dutch guilders and shipped it to him), the LCD has a special place in my Speedm...
Omega Seamaster 1948 Limited Edition Watch In Steel
Back when Swatch Group, and, as such, Omega, was still participating in the now-defunct Baselworld, we always had our first appointment with them. On the first day, in the first time slot at 9 am, Fratello was there with the whole crew. Our friends at Omega knew what was interesting to us, but, even so, the trays of watches just kept coming and coming. This is why it could’ve happened that we overlooked this beauty - the Omega Seamaster 1948 Limited Edition.Two years and some change later, I would like to amend this mistake. I remembered this watch from that last meeting. I even took a wrist shot of it back then. However, after that, perhaps because the 2nd Speedy Tuesday Speedmaster, ...
#TBT: Girard-Perregaux Gyrodate 9080 Watch
Today, we’ll take a look at the Girard-Perregaux Gyrodate 9080, an uncommon watch with a unique complication.Within the Fratello team, we each have our little quirks and eccentric interests when it comes to watches. I’m interested in Japanese sports watches, vintage Swiss chronographs, and divers. Tomas, on the other hand, is a collector of oddball watches with funky features and complications. Just take a few seconds to look at his articles and you’ll see what I mean. But today, for only a brief moment, I’m taking over the mantle of madness with my account of the Girard-Perregaux Gyrodate 9080.A traditional watch with a simple twistWe don’t talk a lot of vintag...
Vacheron Constantin Overseas Self-Winding 41mm Watch In Gold
Watches with integrated bracelets are booming right now. One of the original brands that introduced a watch with an integrated bracelet, introduced a new addition today. I am talking about the Vacheron Constantin Overseas self-winding 41mm in pink gold.While Audemars Piguet, Patek Philippe, and IWC asked Gerald Genta for help, Vacheron Constantin approached Jorg Hysek. Initially introduced as their “222” model in 1977, it made its name and fame under the “Overseas” moniker. The Vacheron Constantin Overseas offers a large collection of luxury sports watches, in both stainless steel and in precious metals.Overseas Self-Winding 41mmDuring the Watches & Wonders show i...
Watch Strap Review 44 B & R Bands From Brooklyn
Traveling around the world and exploring new strap makers, at least virtually, was one of the reasons I started Watch Strap Review. We have featured ateliers from about 15-20 countries, and we are not done yet. In our last article, we took a closer look at Zeigr from Germany. So, this month we’re flying over the pond to one of my favorite cities in the world, New York. Well, Brooklyn, to be precise, to check out five excellent straps by B & R Bands.As soon as you click on this link to visit B & R Bands’ website, you realize that this is a pretty serious operation. To clarify, I mean, as far as the offers are concerned it will be easy for you to find what you want. This br...
How Watches Work: The Big Date Complication And Why It's Useful
These days, watch purists love to hate the date. Well, the date window, that is. “It breaks the symmetry of the design,” they say. “It’s an eyesore,” they claim. And of course, “If I need to know the date, I can just check my phone.” Now, I can’t say these sentiments are totally invalid. As someone with a variety of watches and a smartphone, there are days when a clean, dateless watch is exactly what I want. But imagine you lived a hundred years ago. You’re in a sticky situation, with no calendar, no newspaper, and no human nearby to ask, and you urgently need to know the date. With nothing at hand but your only timepiece, you think, R...
Summer Splash WILD CARD Round: The Fratelli Speak! (2021)
I am so looking forward to this. The Fratelli, long regarded as THE GREATEST collection of watch fans on the internet, have stormed the castle. They’re pitching tents in the courtyard. One of them’s even brought a paddling pool… That’s right, in our quest to find the best summer watch of all, it’s time for the Summer Splash Wild Card Round, courtesy of… well… YOU!So where to start? This idea for a Wild Card round resulted in one of the most intense editing periods of my life. I went through every Summer Splash article and tried to pull every watch mentioned into the mix. As such, I’ve had to split the Wild Card round into THREE separate heats, ...
New Release: The New Brellum Wyvern GMT Chronometer (2021)
Brellum is a young independent Swiss brand with deep-set watchmaking roots spanning back four generations. Located in Porrentruy in the Jura region, the brand aims to create high-quality Swiss watches with an eye on the future. The brand’s offerings so far have been contemporary and rather sporty. The Brellum Wyvern GMT, the brand’s latest model, is no exception. At first glance, this trio of slim, steel, limited production watches with an added GMT complication seems to offer plenty of value at the price point.A brand that’s also quite new to us, Brellum is looking to make quite a splash with its modern watches. Dave briefly touched upon one of the Flieger models in the co...
Hands-On: The Omega Seamaster Diver 300M Chronograph (2021)
Boring goes a long way. As a kid, I wanted nothing more than to eat pancakes every day. One day, my mom couldn't handle my nagging any longer and made me pancakes in the morning. And in the afternoon and the evening too. Guess what? The next day, the kitchen smelled like pancakes again. And I was done. I wanted toast. What do pancakes have in common with the best boring but brilliant watches in the world? Well, a watch with an exuberantly, multicolored dial is a pancake. The Omega Seamaster Diver 300M Chronograph, with a black one, is the toast you can have any day and every day.The good thing about fresh toast is that you can dress it up with sweet or savory stuff. And even just with a litt...
Hands-On: The Seiko Baby Alpinist SPB159/SDBC119
Today I will tell you about the Seiko “Baby Alpinist” SPB159/SDBC119. There are certain watches we feel connected to because of the model’s history. I would bet that more people buy a Explorer because they are interested in its heritage than those who buy a Submariner for that same reason. There is something about the history of the Explorer that is romantic and induces dreams of exploration, of Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay climbing Mount Everest, or even Ian Fleming sitting in front of a typewriter creating the stories of James Bond. While the Explorer is a fabulous watch for exploration, it is out of reach for some of us watch nerds because it costs more than $...
What Makes Seiko So Collectible?
Seiko is an anomaly of sorts. A watch company with as much history and provenance as any of the old Swiss houses, Seiko nonetheless occupies a pseudo-non-watch place in many watch enthusiasts’ hearts. As some argue (myself included) that es are less watches than commodities, Seiko’s watches are often as much collector’s items as they are watches. There are many factors that contribute to Seiko watches being collectible, not least of which is Seiko’s general affordability. The large, ever-changing catalog is another culprit in the equation. But is there something more? A certain Seiko magic that draws collectors back again and again?I remember the first mechanical watc...
Hands-On With The Byrne Gyro Dial Zero
As a young kid, I played with Lego blocks, miniature cars, and trains, but when Hasbro released the Transformers toys and an animated TV show alongside them, I was hooked. This was before the first game console or computer entered the Broer residence. I still have most of my Transformers, some of them more complete than others (they had a lot of pieces!), but I cherish them as they remind me of my happy childhood.Byrne Gyro Dial ZeroWhen I opened the box we received from Byrne with this Gyro Dial Zero, I had a little flashback to the mid-1980s when I was sitting on the floor playing with Optimus Prime, Tracks, and Inferno (you can all look them up on eBay). Now, the Byrne Gyro Dial Zero is f...
Seiko Prospex SPB379 Vs. Christopher Ward C65 Dune GMT
Welcome to another edition of Sunday Morning Showdown. We are slowly returning to a normal routine after Geneva Watch Days 2023 and the great buzz surrounding the introduction of the Blancpain Swatch Bioceramic Scuba Fifty Fathoms Collection. For this week’s battle, we have picked two recently released affordable GMT watches. One is the Christopher Ward C65 Dune GMT that came out earlier this year. It’s going up against the Seiko Prospex SPB379, also known among watch fans as the Alpinist GMT. The GMT version of Seiko’s Alpinist was introduced last week, much to the delight of many Alpinist fans. Will it be able to beat the C65 Dune GMT? Time to find out!The market for affo...