It s Sunday morning, so it s time for another installment of Sunday Morning Showdown. This week, we will focus on two vintage-inspired dive watches from 2024. The Doxa Sub 200T came out this past spring, while the Oris Divers Date debuted just last week. Both celebrate the style of vintage divers from bygone eras. The brand-new Oris Divers Date links back to the mid-1960s, and the Doxa Sub 200T takes after its bigger brother from a few years later. Which will come out on top? That s up to you!When Doxa unveiled the Sub 200T, the new model received practically universal praise. This smaller and thinner version of the legendary Sub 300(T) is a smart addition to the lineup for people who apprec...

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 Glashtte has released the Tangente and Orion Neomatik Dore. Both watches feature an in-house automatic movement and a touch of gold on the dial. Let s take a look at these chic new references from Nomos.Nomos Tetra Ode to JoyOne of my favorite Nomos watches is the Tetra Ode to Joy ref. 445. It s from the brand s square collection and features an olive-green dial with gold-colored hands. Those hands give it exactly the extra oomph I...

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 its sales. The Ultra-Thin, often equipped with the mechanical 2003 caliber, was an essential dress watch, if not the essential dress watch.Patek Philippe receives the lion s share of adoration for its vintage offerings. The brand was influential in watch and movement design and produced a vast catalog of complications. Other brands, ...

Another Friday, another list! After last week s Patek Philippe Nautilus list, it s time to move on to . This week, we jump into the world of the vintage models that came before the iconic watches we know today. Some have the same cases and dials with one simple difference: the famous names we know today were not printed on the dials. Others, however, are notably different watches that preceded the famous icons that would follow. It s time to discover more about these pre-icon models.Before we get into our list, it s important to clarify that some of the watches featured here are indeed considered part of the lineage of s most famous watches. As mentioned, the simple absence of the name on...

The new Berneron Mirage 34 joins last year s 38mm models in the small brand s growing lineup. As we ll see, these aren t simply downsized editions. Each model showcases a stone dial and a new caliber. Hint: these are my favorite watches of this year so far.Sylvain Berneron is the name behind the eponymous brand he started in 2022. He did this while working as the chief product officer at Breitling (he has since departed to focus solely on his company). I had the chance to meet him several times during his tenure at Breitling and always enjoyed our discussions. He s into cars, general design, and, naturally, watches. In fact, it was his Patek Philippe Calatrava 5196 that ultimately convinced ...

Romaric Andre, aka seconde/seconde/, is a busy man these days. I have barely recovered from the Christopher Ward Desk Diver, and now he is back with a collab with Spinnaker. It goes to show that the often snobby watch world is looking for some lighthearted fun. Well, lighthearted fun is what we get today! This is the new Spinnaker Fleuss 40 Automatic seconde/seconde/ 2024 Edition for Halloween. If that sounds familiar, you are onto something. The brands teamed up for Halloween before, giving the world the spooky 50 Phantoms. Now they are back for this Halloween with two new offerings.Spinnaker is releasing a batch of 888 of each variant for order today. A thousand of these 1,776 watches will...

Take a look at your bookcase, and tell me if you have a copy of one of the following books - The Three Musketeers, The Jungle Book, Robinson Crusoe, The Call of the Wild, The Last of the Mohicans, Moby-Dick, Robin Hood,?Treasure Island, or anything by Jules Verne, like Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Check out the new MB&F Eddy Jaquet LM Split Escapement watches if you do. You might want to enrich your book collection with a matching watch.The collaboration between MB&F and master engraver Eddy Jaquet started in 2020 with a series of eight unique watches with engraved dials inspired by Jules Verne s novels. By the way, the series claimed a GPHG Artistic Crafts Award in 2021....

I always wanted a vintage Yema Superman with the iconic locking bezel, but I could not find one for a long time. Then, when the sudden opportunity for a pre-1963 Yema Skin Diver 660 Feet came, I jumped on it. I didn t know this would happen, but since the watch landed, I haven t longed for the Superman anymore.I don t enjoy this time of the year very much. The Sun disappears suddenly, the temperature drops by 15, the blue sky becomes gray, and the roads and my heart are wet. The moment I forget that the evening darkness tried to suck out all my energy, I wake up into morning darkness that tries to do the same. It comes every autumn, always without asking.Changing habitsIt takes me a week (o...

The Breguet Classique line - contrary to what its name suggests - always reminds me of Baroque music. I can hear Scarlatti when I see the coin-edge cases, welded lugs, swirly Breguet numerals, and guilloche or enameled dials. They exude the same regal, exalted, masterful feeling as Mikhail Pletnev interpreting Scarlatti on piano.Todays release is a little bit different, though. This time, the Breguet Classique goes heavy metal - platinum, to be precise. Moody black dials underscore this turn towards darkness. The Shigeru Kawai concert grand piano makes way for an Ibanez guitar through a dimed Mesa Boogie amp. The question is: is the music still masterful?The Breguet Classique and platinumI w...

Breitling is celebrating its 140th anniversary in 2024, so we thought it would only be right to host a special Breitling Fratello event in The Hague, Netherlands. Vintage Breitling expert Fred Mandelbaum will be there as a special guest to discuss the brands incredible heritage.The Breitling boutique in The Hague - Image: Jelle DraperBreitling Fratello eventBreitling has always been one of the most popular watch brands in the Netherlands. Due to a strong distribution network, great advertising (often word of mouth!), and, of course, great watches, Breitling holds a special place in the Dutch market. Whereas other brands stick to the capital of the Netherlands for their boutiques, Breitli...

Seiko s SKX007 dive watch is a modern classic. Today, we re looking at a different and, I ll argue, better-looking version. The watch is known as the Seiko SKX173. Read on.Recently, I wrote about Seiko s SKX007 dive watch. This was not a review, per se, but an assessment of the SKX007 s role in 2024. The article asked the question, Is the Seiko SKX007 still worth your time in 2024?The Seiko SKX007 in 2024Long story short, the answer was a qualified yes. Several factors have shifted significantly since Seiko discontinued the SKX007?in 2019. When it was in production, the SKX007 represented the entry point to the magic dive-watch formula that Seiko had been perfecting for the better part of ha...

It s hard to believe that 30 years have passed since the first Lange 1 was introduced. Yet, here we are, and to celebrate this special occasion, A. Lange & S?hne has crafted four new limited-edition versions of the brand s most famous watch. As we ll see, Lange is bringing a pair of dial and case materials to two models.The memory of the original A. Lange & S?hne catalog sitting by my dad s easy chair is as clear as day. In 1994, Wempe in New York City sent a booklet made of embossed heavy-stock paper. Even then, as a teenager, I knew it was something special. A brand I had never heard of was going all in with fancy marketing materials. Then, there were the watches. I still remember ...

If you ask someone to draw or describe the perfect dress watch, I m sure it would look a lot like the Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Ultra Thin. Its classic case with elegantly sweeping lugs looks good on anyone s wrist, and the dial is one of the cleanest and most legible in the industry. In short, it s truly a masterpiece of a dress watch. Now Jaeger-LeCoultre is introducing a new blue-gray sunburst dial for the Master Ultra Thin Date in addition to the silver and beige that were already available. Let s take a quick look.For now, the new dial color is only available on the Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Ultra Thin Date. But I m almost certain this sophisticated color will also make its way to the more ...

The new Ming 37.02 Minimalist is the latest release from the popular independent brand. As the model name implies, this is a straightforward execution. However, don t let that fool you into thinking that Ming Thein and the team have forgotten to obsess about the details. They re all here on this affordable option.During one of our podcasts several years ago, Balazs and I discussed models we d like to see from our favorite brands. Ming qualifies, and I raised my desire for a straightforward, field-watch-like model with luminescent numerals. The Ming 37.02 Minimalist doesn t follow that theme exactly, but it s close. Plus, it s better than another run-of-the-mill military-inspired piece.Lookin...

Starting a watch brand from scratch is quite a risky venture. First, you invest a lot of time in developing a design. Then, you need to find other parties who want to help you realize what you had in mind. Finally, you re dependent on whether people actually want to buy what you created. Because of all these risks, many (new) brands launch watches that look a lot like what s already out there. Sometimes, though, there are people who go a different way, like Justin Walters from Alterum Watch Co. With the new Alterum Worldtimer, he tried to create a modern-looking timepiece based on more contemporary design and architecture. Whether you like it or not, at least the Alterum Worldtimer is an ori...

Whenever the Norwegian brand Straum unveils something new, we are all ears at Fratello. Most of you will know we love the brand and collaborated on the Fratello Straum Jan Mayen Limited Edition. In a new adventure, brand founders Lasse Roxrud Farstad and ?ystein Helle Husby created three special new dials for the much-praised Jan Mayen watch. The dials are made from basalt rocks that the two men personally collected on the remote island of Jan Mayen. The result is a series of dials that stand out immediately and give the Straum Jan Mayen a unique look. Let s find out more about this remarkable story.If you are familiar with Straum, you will know that Lasse Roxrud Farstad and ?ystein Helle ...

The Tudor Black Bay 58 GMT was one of the most commercially interesting releases of this years Watches and Wonders. Unlike most of the exotic Haute Horlogerie releases at the fair, this was a watch we might actually go out and buy. At the same time, it was such a long-awaited and aesthetically predictable watch that we werent that impressed. Ah, there it is, is how I remember responding to seeing the first press images and the real deal a bit later. I hardly paid it any mind.That doesnt seem entirely fair. The Black Bay has lifted Tudor?to new heights over the past 12 years. Fans have cried out for a modestly sized GMT watch in the Black Bay line for ages. So I felt it was about time I gave ...

Sternglas has come a long way since its first watch debuted in 2016. The earliest models were straightforward Bauhaus-styled watches. While this design still governs the brand s offerings, straightforward dress watches no longer dominate the catalog. Today s Merion diver is a good example of how Sternglas has expanded.When I recall my formative collecting years, Seiko loomed large when searching for attractive, affordable dive watches. The Japanese brand offered a universe of options below $750. Now, as Seiko has moved upmarket, there are still some options, but most are lighter versions without a hefty depth rating or functional details like a screw-down crown. Seiko s lack of a suite of wa...

March is not my favorite month. It is still cold, windy, and often rainy in Germany. So, what is there to do to beat the early spring gloominess? Book a trip to a warm place with a subtropical climate, preferably across the pond. That s how I ended up in New York…okay, eventually in Miami, but that came a few days later. As it happened, I was on a business trip in New York and Miami in early March this year when Omega dropped the new white-dial Speedmaster Professional. Sorry, I will never call it Daniel Craig; it s a silly nickname. Like the killer in a whodunit novel, I returned to the crime scene months later. Yes, the location was Miami again, and on the wrist was the Omega Speedma...

We re back with another episode of Fratello On Air. Balazs has just stepped off a plane from New York and is ready to record. In this episode, we kick off with a healthy dose of banter, touch on some news, and review the two watch shows that just concluded. Watch content starts after roughly 25 minutes.This podcast player is blocked because you did not accept marketing cookies. Change cookie settings WatchTime New York and Windup just finished, and Balazs was on site. You ll hear about the events and how they ve grown in stature. Plus, we discuss a certain square-shaped elephant in the room from Patek Philippe. We jabbered so much that the Handgelenks is last!New York CityWe kick off the...