Have you ever glimpsed a flash of brilliance, a burst of color that seems to dance in tandem with your every move? A sight that makes you stop, tilt your head, and wonder, How on earth is that possible? Welcome to the world of Louis Moinet s Art-Tech tourbillon. But this ain t no simple disco-fever glitter ball of color. Created especially for the Only Watch Auction 2023, the Art-Tech represents a captivating journey that explores the wonders of technological innovation and traditional watchmaking.At first glance, the Louis Moinet Art-Tech may seem like just another wristwatch, albeit with a flying tourbillon at six o clock. But look closer, and you ll notice the dial. It s a mesmerizing kal...
What watch do you take with you on your summer vacation? I know which one I will be wearing for two weeks straight. Its going to be my Oris Momotaro Divers Sixty-Five Special Edition on a tropic strap from the Fratello collection. But when I saw the powerful-looking black and white Breitling Endurance Pro at Fratello HQ, a question popped up in my mind: should I match my watch to my holiday destination? And if given a choice between two watches, would I take a quartz Breitling or a mechanical Oris on holiday? Im going to answer those questions for myself, and Im also curious to know what your answers would be.The mind of a watch fan works in mysterious ways. We all have our quirks. Be hone...
In this installment of Pre-Owned Spotlight, I m going shopping for a vintage dress watch from the Holy Trinity. I know vintage is not for everybody, but a dress watch is a particularly good gateway into this realm. It is also the most affordable way to own a watch from the Big Three, especially if you can stomach a smaller watch. So lets see what vintage watches we can find from Audemars Piguet, Patek Philippe, and Vacheron Constantin.As a little disclaimer, I am being quite liberal with the term dress watch. I know some people wont consider anything but hand-wound two-handers. I, however, am not one of them, so there are two automatics and even a date complication in my selection. You will ...
Linde Werdelin aims to push boundaries in the industry with the launch of its new LW Auction facility. As the pioneer of this innovative approach, Linde Werdelin is proud to offer customers an unprecedented opportunity to participate in a transparent and market-driven pricing process. The brand intends to focus on producing special unique pieces for its fanbase, albeit with a slight twist.Brand-owned auction facilities are nothing new per se. However, with the introduction of the LW Auction, the leaders of Linde Werdelin seek to redefine the traditional pricing model for their exceptional one-of-a-kind timepieces. This builds upon the success of the brand s certified pre-owned platform, whic...
Welcome to his week s Sunday Morning Showdown. Imagine yourself flying from one time zone to the next. You are an international person of mystery, traveling in style. You find yourself moving from boardrooms to beaches and anything in between. So what do you wear? Well, how about a steel and gold GMT watch to suit your globetrotting, fashionable lifestyle? How about a Longines Spirit Zulu Time or a Tudor Black Bay GMT? Which of these smooth travel watches would you pick?In todays Sunday Morning Showdown, Longines faces off against Tudor. Thomas will defend the Spirit Zulu Time as Jorg takes the side of the Black Bay GMT S&G. But first, lets have a look at the results of last weeks showdo...
It s time to talk about Baltic! With the Premier Quantieme Perpetuel, the young French brand is making a grand second appearance at the illustrious Only Watch charity auction in Geneva on November 5th, 2023. This biennial event attracts the creme de la creme of the watch industry, all rallying for a worthy cause - combating Duchenne muscular dystrophy. There s something about a room full of horologists on a mission that just makes the air buzz, wouldn t you agree?However, Baltic isn t just turning up with an RSVP this time. Oh, no. The folks behind the brand are bringing with them an impressive companion, the Premier Quantieme Perpetuel, all decked out by their new fine-watchmaking division,...
As a trained anthropologist, I ve always been taught that you should tell people what your starting point is. So I ll also do that in the case of this hands-on with the large Cartier Santos in both green and blue. As you might already know, my Cartier Santos Galbee XL is one of my favorite watches. I think a Cartier watch should always be a little smaller than average with a white/silver dial and black Roman numerals. My Galbee XL is precisely that. On the other hand, the current large Cartier Santos in green or blue is all but that. However, I m willing to give it a chance to see if it can change my mind after spending more time with it.The story of the all-steel Cartier Santos with its mag...
If you ve been into watches for a while now, you ve likely come across the Tornek-Rayville name. The brand behind the Tornek-Rayville Paradive, which I ll be reviewing today, has a brief but fascinating history in the world of military watches. But it won t be just the name that rings a bell. Looking at the watch in question, you ll likely recognize its asymmetrical case, sterile dial, no-nonsense appearance, and 12-hour bezel. This is because the Tornek-Rayville Paradive is a watch inspired by the mil-spec watches of the 1970s, namely, the MIL-W-50717 Type I specification. But as much as the past inspires its looks, the Paradive also looks to improve on the form factor of the toughest of wa...
Another Friday, another Top 5! After two lists of the worst and best brand ambassadors, it s time to get back to watches - quartz watches, to be more precise. They are a curse to some and a blessing to others. There is no doubt that quartz watches influenced the way we experience the watch world today. Usually, we associate them with cheap and mass-produced timepieces, but there is most certainly a place for quartz in the world of luxury watches too. That s why we picked a list of five quartz pieces that are simply great watches.When stating that a quartz watch is a great watch, it s not just about accuracy. While this was the main driver behind the development of quartz movements, a quartz ...
Fresh-faced watch brand Furlan Marri has announced its latest creation in collaboration with Dominique Renaud and Julien Tixier. The Secular Perpetual Calendar for Only Watch 2023 is a thoroughly impressive timepiece that combines innovation, precision, and fine watchmaking. This handcrafted unique piece features an all-new secular perpetual calendar module, marking a significant milestone for the brand as its most complex development to date.The Furlan Marri Secular Perpetual Calendar boasts an array of functions, including hours, minutes, the date, day of the week, month, and leap year indication on a central hand. Its perpetual calendar module is designed to accurately calculate time over...
Concept cars are the best cars in the world. The toned-down versions that reach production always show the permanent scars of endless meetings and cold, calculative Excel sheets. The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept Flying Tourbillon GMT and Split Second Chronograph GMT Large Date show no signs of scars. These wild watch concepts are actually for sale! The only hindrance in acquiring an AP ROC is, of course, the very steep price. Luckily, at Fratello, we come across awesome Haute Horlogerie creations that we might never own but get to experience anyway.The fact that the first Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept watch made it to the shop floor in 2002 was never the brands original intention. T...
This new Longines Spirit Zulu Time is yet another example that the St. Imier brand is on a roll lately. The people at Longines seem to listen to the watch community, which has clearly voiced a demand for smaller watches. After the initial Spirit Zulu Time debuted in a 42mm case, the watch also became available in a 39mm size. I went hands-on with the new 39mm reference L3.802.5.53.2, the gold and steel model with a brown ceramic bezel insert.Longines Spirit Zulu Time in steel and goldLongines shipped us this watch a few weeks ago, but I had the opportunity to try it on earlier this year. Although the 42mm version is not too big for me, I immediately concluded that the 39mm size was very comf...
It was a wild card in my selection of six straps from the Japanese manufacturer Accurate Form. And as sometimes happens, wild cards can surprise us and steal the show. Well, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that this wine-colored Japanese cowhide strap completely stole my heart.Let me give you a little context. About 95% of my watch collection consists of vintage watches, so understandably, I am always on the lookout for the best straps to fit my 50-plus-year-old timepieces. Over the years, I ve discovered two strap makers whose products most closely represent my idea of the best vintage watch straps. The first one is Torre Straps, especially the box-stitched pigskin strap with a round ...
Only Watch auctions never cease to amaze. The auction brings some of the biggest names together to create horological marvels, all in the name of charity. For the tenth edition of this biennial auction, the catalog boasts several intriguing collaborations between brands. However, for Fratello, as a Dutch company, one of these collaborations hits a little closer to home. In an extraordinary display of cosmic artistry, Frederique Constant teamed up with Dutch independent brand Christiaan van der Klaauw to craft a one-of-a-kind masterpiece - the Tourbillon Planetarium Only Watch 2023.The partnership between Frederique Constant and Christiaan van der Klaauw goes beyond creating a watch. It also ...
Not too long ago, I wrote the introduction article for the eccentric Lebond Siza, a watch designed by the 89-year-old Portuguese architect alvaro Siza. The famous architect used one of his earliest works to come up with a watch that is anything but ordinary. It walks a fine line between a functional wristwatch and an extravagant design object, making it an intriguing debut piece for Lebond Watches. The Barcelona-based brand produced a unique timepiece and gave us the chance to go hands-on with it too.The power of great architecture is that it is so much more than simply functional buildings to live or work in. A tremendously designed and constructed piece of architecture conveys emotions sim...
Lets start with a bit of mindfulness before we answer the question of whether conglomerates are eroding the origins of luxury watchmaking. The ultimate luxuries in life are gratefulness and contentment. You cant buy them, yet their availability is unlimited for those who are open to them. Material luxury, on the other hand, is the absolute opposite. Its accessibility is extremely limited, and only money grants you excess. But luxury is big business for the masses nowadays, and the large luxury groups are mass-producers of watches, for instance, that can be debated on their merits. The term luxury and, therefore, the classic craft of luxury watchmaking are under pressure.The word luxury is de...
Everybody knows Louis Vuitton, but you probably don t know the brand for its watchmaking. The first things that come to my mind, at least, are the Parisian brand s handbags. My wife uses (and abuses) her Neverfull bag every day. You ve probably seen many of those around you during your commute to work or while sitting at a restaurant. However, what you don t see very often are Louis Vuitton watches in the wild. But that might be about to change with the introduction of this completely new interpretation of the Louis Vuitton Tambour.Jorg already mentioned in his article on serious mechanical watches from fashion brands that Louis Vuitton has great horological aspirations. In 2011, the brand b...
Today, we re talking about the best summer watch straps. I love spending time in the ocean, and I take my watches with me, so water resistance is something I keep in mind when wearing them. And in our recent series on GADA watches, it was clear that for many of my fellow editors and contributors, go anywhere, do anything (GADA) watches had to be water resistant to a degree. My GADA choice was the IWC Mark XV, a watch that I would call a modern classic. Its also a watch with good water resistance and one I have taken swimming in the past.This got me thinking though about straps. Why? Well, because a strap is as important as the watch in the wearing experience. Some might even say that a strap...
I always find myself approaching articles like these with a hint of trepidation and the same danger. For one thing, there are a lot of fresh-looking summer watches this year, and second, Im not the first horse out of the gate. Both Nacho and Daan have already picked watches I was thinking of, so Im trying to reboot my horological taste buds and start with a clean slate. That has allowed me some instinctual and offbeat choices for summer watches this time, to my surprise.The choices this year are plentiful, to say the least. Daan s story mentioned the cool new Tissot Sideral I had in mind, and Nacho already nabbed the Zodiac Sea-Chron. But Ive still got rich pickings to choose from, and I ve ...
Depending on where I go, I almost always take an extra watch, and watch pouches come in rather handy. As a Speedmaster collector, I tend to take along one of my Omega Speedmaster Speedy Tuesday editions. I don t like hauling too many watches at a time, so I only take a watch roll if I m sure I can safely store my watches at my destination.Storage for your extra watch isnt a big deal, but its a plus if its something nice, right? Instead of the famous red Omega service cases, we thought of something more suitable for the Speedmaster Speedy Tuesday editions. Meet the Speedy Tuesday watch pouches.Speedy Tuesday watch pouchesFairly recently, I got in touch with Wesley Pijnenburg from a company by...
