Fratello Talks: First Luxury Watches
This week, Fratello Talks first luxury watches. Nacho, Fratello’s managing editor, is joined in the studio by marketing manager Sofia and social media manager Sinara. Together, they discuss their experience in purchasing each of their first “proper”/luxury watches....
New: Gerald Genta Arena Bi-Retrograde Mickey Mouse LE
Gerald Genta, the now Bvlgari-owned watch brand of the late designer, is back at it with Disney's most famous character. The legendary creator's Mickey Mouse designs have been such iconic offerings that they are instantly recognizable and sought-after collectibles today. The latest Arena Bi-Retrograde model depicts a football-kicking Mickey and comes in a limited edition of 200 pieces.GG RetrogradesRetrograde models have been in the Gerald Genta collection since 1996. The Bvlgari Group purchased the brand in 2000 and introduced the Gerald Genta 50th Anniversary Arena Bi-Retro watch in 2019. A new Arena Bi-Retrograde Sport watch then came in 2020, which RJ reviewed here. Last year, Bvlgari ma...
Introducing: The Oris Big Crown Waldenburgerbahn LE
Oris has a distinct lineup of contemporary sports cool with the Aquis and Pro Pilot lines, but my heart lies with the vintage-inspired divers and OG Big Crown range. The latter is pitch-perfect vintage at heart, yet is versatile enough to take on a more modern look in its more minimal Calibre 400 and 403 guises. This time, Oris might just have found the suave middle ground with the Big Crown Waldenburgerbahn Limited Edition.I do have a soft spot for bronze and gilt numerals, but having missed the opportunity to nab one of the “Fratelloris” examples last year, I'm left searching (also, don’t miss out on the Fratelloris of this year!). While writing this story, I might have j...
The Best Field Watches Of 2023: Fratello's Top 10 Picks
Another Friday, another list! Today, we continue our “Best of 2023” series that we kicked off last week with dive watches. This week, the focus is on this year’s best field watches. It’s a genre that many equate with ruggedness, functionality, and great affordability, and this list confirms that perfectly. We have picked 10 field watches that we collectively enjoyed in 2023.I wrote an article about our five favorite field watches earlier this year. It will probably come as no surprise that they return to this list. The fun thing is that once we started picking 10 watches for this list, we thought that finishing it would be easy. But as it turns out, it was still quite...
Introducing: The Aquastar Benthos H1 Diver
The last several years have been great for Aquastar fans. A consistent flow of hit releases shows that the brand is back on firm footing under the leadership of Rick Marei. Up until now, the watches have utilized an angular skin-diver-style case, and that left us wondering when something different would come our way. Today, with the announcement of the Aquastar Benthos H1, we have our answer.Aquastar has had great success since its relaunch in late 2020. Models such as the Deepstar, Deepstar II, and the Model 60 have all been met with a high level of fanfare. The aforementioned releases all use a very early ’60s-style case design. So, what happened after this in Aquastar’s histor...
Introducing: The Doxa Sub 300 Collection In Steel
Doxa is a diver-focused brand that continues to make its mark with pieces inspired by its back catalog. Today, though, we see something different with a new line of watches called the Sub 300 collection. They won’t be mistaken for anything but Doxa divers, but the debut represents a solid step toward modernity.It was late August of this year when Doxa introduced the Sub 300 Sharkhunter, a rather luxurious take on its eminent historic diver. The watch contains a forged carbon case, 18K gold elements, and a ceramic bezel. It also comes with a $7,250 price tag, which is something very different from the normally approachable brand. With today’s news, we’re seeing a return to...
Fratello Holiday Gift Guide 2023
Season’s greetings, dear Fratelli! It is indeed that time of year once again. The holidays are just around the corner, and our yearly gift guide is here, fresh off the press! We’ve wrangled up the editorial team and had them put together a selection of gifts that will put a smile on the face of anyone horologically inclined.Fratello Holiday Gift Guide 2023Whether you’re looking for a gift for that special someone, a good friend, or yourself, or you’re playing Secret Santa to a watch-obsessed recipient, there’s bound to be something on our list that’ll catch your eye. As with last year’s Fratello Holiday Gift Guide, we didn’t strictly limit ours...
Hands-On: Ressence's New Type 1 Round Multicolour
It may not seem like it for those engrossed in the watch hobby, but most of the watches out there are quite monochromatic. Often, dials are just black or white, and occasionally, a shade of blue might show up. The times that you’ll find a dial of a different color on someone’s wrist are quite rare, let alone a multicolored dial. Black and white (or silver) are the safe havens here, and when a watch brand uses a certain color, there’s a big risk of not getting it right. Well, that’s certainly not the case with the colorful new Ressence Type 1 Round Multicolour.The Belgian brand already showed us in the past that it isn’t afraid to use a bit of color. Moreover, r...
Sweet 16: The Moritz Grossmann Enamel Roman Vintage
Today, we’ll look at the new Moritz Grossmann Enamel Roman Vintage. This is a limited-edition watch celebrating the 16th anniversary of the brand’s revival. As always with Moritz Grossmann, the focus is on finishing and mechanical prowess.For fans of Moritz Grossmann watches, the new Enamel Roman Vintage isn’t a new model. It’s a variant within an existing line, but it brings a beautiful new handmade enamel dial. Even though it’s exclusive and severely expensive, we thought it was worth sharing.The Moritz Grossmann Enamel Roman Vintage - celebrating 16 yearsThe Enamel Roman Vintage is a limited edition of just eight pieces. It celebrates 16 years since Moritz Gr...
Seiko Prospex SPB483 Vs. Tissot Seastar 1000 Powermatic 80
Welcome back to our weekly Sunday Morning Showdown series. Every Sunday morning, two writers go head to head in a battle of the ages. Mike and Jorg will go at it this week with a pair of value-driven dive watches. Both are fairly recent releases from popular brands on the more affordable side of the watch universe. Jorg picked the divisive Seiko Prospex SPB483, while Mike chose to back the 40mm Tissot Seastar 1000 Powermatic 80 that came out earlier this year. It’s time for both men to go to battle while you enjoy their stories with a nice cup of coffee. In the end, you all will decide who wins!Both of today’s watches came out this year. The Seiko Prospex SPB483 is part of a trio...
Vacheron speaks
As most watchfanatics probably already know, Vacheron et Constantin will be celebrating their 250 year anniversary. Alex, of The Purists website, did an interview with Claude Daniel Proellochs, CEO at Vacheron et Constantin.Click here or on the picture below to check it out!...
JLC Reverso: The watch that could resist serious beating
The story goes that after a polo match in India, some British officers challenged their friend Cesar de Trey to create a watch that was able to resist the serious beatings caused by polo sport. Once back in Europe, Cesar de Trey (businessman) shared the problem with Jacques-David LeCoultre, who creates the Reverso watch in association with Jaeger. The Reverso watch was patented in 1931 (the 4th of March to be precise) and was originally designed by Rene-Alfred Chauvot.Almost 80 years later, the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso is still going strong and it is one of the classic watches that can also easily be referred to as a cult watch. The rectangular shape, the Reverso mechanism, the inhouse movem...
DaLuca Panerai Watch Straps
Part of being a Paneristi is to collect nice and special watch straps. I have written about straps made from vintage ammo pouches and one – not for Panerai in this case – made from the leather interior of a Mercedes SLR 300 (1956) formerly owned by Jean Todt.Last week, I received an e-mail about DaLuca’s Panerai Straps. The owner, Daniel Luczak, creates one-off straps for Panerai watches made out of ammo pouches and other vintage leather used for (mostly) military purposes. Each strap is individually named and will never be duplicated.On PaneraiSource.com, you’ll find a well written and documented review of DaLuca straps. As I wrote some time ago, these kind of straps...
Don't miss out! WatchUseek Grande Finale 2009!
WatchUseek, considered to be the No.1 interactive watch portal, is having a Grande Finale 2009 event! This means that WatchUseek, in combination with its sponsors, will celebrate the end of 2009 and the start of 2010 by giving away a number of watches to registered members of WatchUseek that enroll for the contest!The instructions are quite simple! Ernie Romers, director of WatchUSeek, wrote a small FAQ for all attendees.How can I participate?Simple, enter the competition as soon as it is published in here.What else should I know about this Grande Finale?The Grande Finale 2009 is for WatchUseek’s members, moderators and sponsors only. Not yet a member? Register here!What does WatchUsee...
Omega Speedmaster Chronometer White Gold
For those people who are not that familiar with the Omega Speedmaster limited edition models, it might seem that there are just LOTS of them without any logical structure. It does need a bit of attention to discover how it exactly works with these limited editions, but for the Apollo XI example, it is quite simple.Since its 20th anniversary in 1989, there is a commemorative Omega Speedmaster Professional Apollo XI edition every 5 years. However, the first commemorative Apollo XI model is from 1969, in stainless steel and in gold (the BA 145.022 we talked about here). In 1979 Omega introduced the 10th anniversary Apollo XI model but didn’t deliver it to the (partly German) market until ...
QlockTwo by Biegert & Funk It Is A Quarter To Three
Only once in a while we cover quartz or other electronic watches. We don’t have anything against them, but it should be something interesting or special to give them any coverage on Fratello Watches. We love mechanical watches, but some times there are quartz watches that deserve a bit of attention too. Whether it is about their functionality or their design, or a combination of these two, it has to be something special. Watches (and clocks) we ran into a couple of times that fall into this category are those made by designers Biegert & Funk, called QlockTwo.Their watches and (wall) clocks work according to the same principle: to indicate time in written words. The dials of these w...
Jolly Roger, a Special Edition of the Luminox US Navy SEALs watch
At Fratello Watches we have a clear preference for mechanical watches. However once in a while we, and it might seem that it’s mainly me, come across a quartz watch which attracts attention. This time, about a week ago, I got noticed of a very limited edition of an already special Luminox watch model.Let me explain. Luminox’ are Swiss Made watches and equipped with a unique self-powered illumination system. This unique light technology (LLT) ensures an at-a-glance visibility, no matter what the conditions are. Different to other luminous materials, it doesn’t need external light to be ‘charged’ and to glow.Further, Luminox is the official supplier of watches to ...
Watch Giveaway SEIKO SRP777 "Turtle"
Watch GiveawayWe love Seiko and we know you do too! After neglecting the brand a bit our first years of existence (since 2004), we started to publish on Seiko (especially on the vintage models) since a couple of years and the response was – and still is – awesome. A trip to the Seiko factories in 2015 made our love for the brand only grow more (click here for the Seiko Factory Trip reports). Every year they surprise us with new interesting models, like this year’s Seiko SRP777 ‘Turtle’ watch.We were among the first to bring you the news on these new ‘Turtle’ models after one of their own websites leaked info, and we did an in-depth article on the Sei...
Audemars Piguet Royal Oak 5402 B 52Mondayz, Week #49
When a friend offers you to wear a the luxury sports watch for a week, only a fool will pass on it. Today's 52Mondayz is about the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak 5402.It is not the end of the year yet, but I could not resist the urge to look back on the last eleven months. I managed to spend quality time with quite a few generally beloved and admired watches, including the already reviewed Omega Seamaster CK2913, GMT Master 1675, and the Mido Rainbow Diver ref 5907, that I have yet to review on #TBT. All three watches mentioned were on my radar for some time, so obviously, I took the chance when it came. What I would not have been expecting in my wildest dreams would be wearing the legendary fir...
Hands-On: Orient Star Sports Outdoor
Today, we'll spend some time with the Orient Star Sports Outdoor, a field watch with a bit more happening on its dial than most.It's been a couple months since we've checked out a newer Orient, but we were impressed enough with the well-priced Kamasu dive watch that we went back for more.? This time, we change course and move a bit more upscale with the Orient Star Sports Outdoor.? For those who are fairly new to Orient, the Star line represents higher spec'd watches with better finishing and attributes such as sapphire crystals.? I'm jumping ahead here, but I'll just go ahead and state that this is a very nicely made watch and there are notable differences between it and the diver we recent...