In the 30th anniversary year of the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore, we re treated to a wide variety of new models. With the latest drop, the brand focuses on the 37mm Royal Oak Offshore, predominantly targeting ladies. But we know some gentlemen with smaller wrists also prefer wearing a 37mm Royal Oak. Whether that will also be the case with these blingy new models with diamond and gemstone-set bezels remains to be seen. There is also a new 37mm addition to the Royal Oak Offshore Music Editions. The year 2023 turns out to be quite a colorful one for the Royal Oak Offshore.In the last year of Audemars Piguet CEO Fran?ois-Henry Bennahmias, the brand puts out a wild variety of colorful Roya...

Louis Erard is one of those brands that I follow closely. There is always an interesting story behind each of its models, whether it s a remarkable collaboration, a great technical complication, or a wonderful, eye-catching dial. And what if it s all three of those ingredients? That can be even better! I had a chance to try out Louis Erard s latest collaboration with Massena LAB. The latter brand, founded by William Massena, has worked on a multitude of interesting limited editions. This is the second collaborative effort with Louis Erard, and it stands out immediately. But is it as good as it looks?Last year, the two brands unveiled the Le Regulateur Louis Erard Massena LAB. This regulato...

Fratello On Air returns with another listener-inspired topic. This week, we tackle buying used watches and give some tips that we ve learned over time. Expect a good back-and-forth dialogue while our co-hosts are traveling away from Germany. As always, we re interested in your thoughts on a topic like this - we re sure that many of you have great ideas! This podcast player is blocked because you did not accept marketing cookies. Change cookie settings Buying used watches can be a daunting activity. Concerns about the seller, the price, the location, and the watch itself are just some of the challenges that come to mind. We ll do our best to explore these in more detail and provide our th...

I probably won t have to tell you this, but the Seiko 6217-8000/8001, aka 62MAS, was Seiko s very first professional diver s watch in 1965. It s the predecessor of all those magnificent Seiko divers that followed, and that s exactly why it s still such a desirable watch today. Over the past few years, we ve seen quite a few Seiko divers that were strongly inspired by that first one. But the Seiko Prospex SJE093 that s being introduced today is the most aesthetically similar re-edition yet.Over the past ten years, as with a lot of vintage icons, interest has grown quite a lot in the original Seiko 62MAS. Tomas already mentioned in his buying guide that prices have risen from a more accessible...

I am saying yes, though Ill try to say this only once: 42mm is too big for this dressy beauty. Still, I have tried on its black-dial sibling, and find it disconcertingly tempting. This year, with celebrity wrist endorsements including mega-hunk Ryan Reynolds, the Polo is back in the spotlight. And green is still the new blue, right? With hard-to-get grails frustratingly flooding Instagram, I say the new Piaget Polo Field is a great alternative.The Piaget Polo is on the rise, including a chronograph version that looks quite hot. This might not be everyone s idea of a field watch, but for me, the Polo feels like a bona fide grail-ternative (phrase hereby coined). And thats not just because Im ...

I picked the wrong watch. Sorry about that. My list of the best summer watches consisted of a steel and gold Longines Spirit Zulu, a Certina DS Action Diver 38mm, and a full-metal Casio G-Shock. And picking that gold-colored G-Shock GMW-B5000PG-9 from the 40th Anniversary Recrystallized Series was rash. I should have picked another Casio G-Shock. I should have gone with?the transparent and iridescent CasiOak GA-2100SRS-7A instead. In my defense, I hadnt seen the watch that we d kept in a box inside the Fratello studio. Otherwise, I would have picked it without hesitation. But now that I have, I cant unsee it. Also, I think it may have damaged my retina.Issuing an erratum is probably not a bi...

The Ming 37.05 Series 2 is the brand s latest release. It follows the original 37.05 from 2021 and brings a star-filled, three-dimensional dial along with a new color and style. This is the first semi-affordable new watch from Ming in roughly a year, so let s see what the popular independent brand has in store for us.The original 37.05 first broke cover in 2021, which feels like a long time ago! Since then, it seems that Ming has been focusing on filling orders for several of its watches. Now, finally, the brand is ready to go with something new, and the Ming 37.05 Series 2 is the first offering. We need to remember that the 2021 piece was Ming s first model with a date and moonphase complic...

Welcome to another edition of Pre-Owned Spotlight. This week, we focus on a genre that has become very popular with new watch buyers, but we ll use the opportunity to go back in time. We ll take a look at several vintage skin divers that are available for sale, and while prices have increased over the years, there s still great value to be had.Skin divers are an interesting category. Seemingly, these watches were born out of the growing interest in recreational diving during the early 1960s. They were made for diving but were sold at lower prices than the serious pieces from companies like , Omega, Blancpain, and others. As a result, the water resistance ratings usually topped out at 200 met...

This November, London s Leicester Square will witness a horological extravaganza as WatchPro unveils its highly anticipated flagship event, WatchPro Salon. Early Bird tickets have just been released, and after the success of last years event, were buzzing with excitement. Brace yourselves for a captivating experience that showcases over 50 renowned brands and promises to be the biggest year to date for WatchPro Salon.This event is set to bring together an impressive lineup of watch brands, offering an unparalleled opportunity for enthusiasts to explore the latest timepieces and delve into horological wonders. Confirmed exhibitors include notable names such as Arcanaut, Awake, Isotope, Seiko,...

Sometimes wishes do come true. It sounds a bit cliche and over the top, but it s not in this case. In March, Seiko unveiled its first series of mechanical Prospex GMT dive watches - the SPB381, SPB383, and SPB385. They are three GMT versions of the 1968 Divers Modern Re-interpretation, and as I wrote in the introduction article, I was looking forward to taking them for a spin. Now, a few months later, that wish has been granted. I was curious to find out more for several reasons. Most of all, it was the simple joy of seeing the great aesthetic combined with the practicality of a GMT function. What more could you possibly need?The answer to that simple question is not as simple. So many facto...

The Wristmaster Traveller is a standout series within the Yema collection. We know the French brand predominantly for its dive watches, sports chronographs, and military versions of either of the two. But last year, the Yema Wristmaster Traveller Micro-Rotor Limited Edition was one of the brand s most exciting releases. Now Yema adds three new models with great new dials to the Traveller lineup. It s time to find out more about the Yema Urban Traveller.It was only last November when Yema made waves with its Wristmaster Traveller Micro-Rotor Limited Edition. Besides being the next design step in the evolution of the Traveller collection, the watches were the talk of the town thanks to the mic...

This past week, news broke concerning the Only Watch 2023 lots. This year, 62 pieces will go under the hammer in Monaco, and the proceeds will go toward research on Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Aside from it being a great cause with nearly CHF 100 million raised over prior events, the watches tend to be exciting! Today, well share several of our favorites.Only Watch 2023 promises to be an exciting event once again when it kicks off on November 5th. Here, we get to see watch brands bring unique pieces to auction for a worthy cause. Sometimes, the watches are very much in keeping with the brands DNA, while other times, theyre quite wild. We also get to see relatively low-cost brands show up al...

Summer is here, and with it comes watches suited for the season. This is another installment of my Feminine Watches articles, but it could easily be my addition to our Best Summer Watches series. The Baby-G BG-169PB collection is bright, bubbly, and certainly ready for anything summer has in store. Never mind that it s marketed for women. If you have 90s nostalgia and aren t afraid of bright colors, these watches are for you.The first time I saw the BG-169PB watches, I had some thoughts and feelings. I was reminded of elementary school in the 90s, where a friend of mine had a Baby-G with the same rubber-coated roll cage. I was reminded of Tamagotchis - digital keychain pets that were all t...

This week has been quite the festival for the Omega Seamaster thanks to the 75th-anniversary celebration. So when discussing the topic for today s Sunday Morning Showdown, we looked to continue the festivities. Judging by the comments under our articles and on social media, the critical question is: which of the Summer Blue anniversary Seamasters is the best? Today, we ve selected two watches from the new collection that, much to our surprise, we ve never put in the Sunday Morning Showdown arena together - the Omega Seamaster 300 and the Seamaster Diver 300M. Each writer will make his case, but in the end, you get to decide which one takes the victory.Omega marks the Seamaster s 75th anniver...

Part of the allure of microbrands is following the journey of the creators. Seeing how the people behind the brands evolve their design language and products over time provides a fascinating insight into their minds. Admittedly, some of these brands amount to very little and rehash the same concepts repeatedly. They pump out limited edition after limited edition with not much more than a slight change in a watch s color scheme. That s not been the case with the British microbrand Arken. With the release of its new Alterum watch, I believe Arken is starting to transcend the microbrand label and venture into what I would call independent brand territory.The separation between the two terms is ...

We are fans of the Citizen Promaster Mechanical Diver 200m series. The watches in it offer incredible value for money and bring back a design from 1977 that is as relevant today as it was back in the late? 70s. The latest addition to Promaster Mechanical Diver 200m lineup is an all-black version, reference NB6025-59H. This stealthy take on the model looks quite different from its more traditional counterparts. It comes with a gray gradient dial, and in combination with the black DLC treatment, this creates a different beast altogether. So how does it compare to the regular black-dial model? Time to find out.As I said, quite a few members of the Fratello team are fans of the Citizen Promaste...

Have you been to the historic center of Amsterdam lately? Theres a lovely area in the Jordaan neighborhood called the Negen Straatjes (Nine Streets) where youll find interesting fashion boutiques, a vintage watch shop, nice restaurants, cool bars, artisanal ice cream parlors, and also a place where they serve hand-cut French fries. If you were there, you couldnt overlook long lines everywhere in the narrow streets. People will happily wait for an hour to get a scoop of pistachio ice cream from Massimo. If people are willing to spend an hour waiting for a $3 snack, they probably also cant wait to get in line for a new watch, be it physically or on a waitlist. Waiting for a watch is a luxury e...

Any news of a new dive watch is generally good news. When it comes to a new Monta Oceanking, though, we suspect that some fans have been eagerly waiting for quite some time. I m happy to report that both those fans and potential new entrants to the brand should like what they see here.Wow! I was conducting some research for the new Monta Oceanking, which naturally led me to the prior version known as v2. Astonishingly, the first link that arose during my search was from Monta itself with an end-of-production notice. That s not so surprising, but it was published in February 2022. This means that Monta has been soldiering on without a dive watch in its catalog for nearly 18 months! That seems...

It s Friday, and that means another Top 5! This week s topic is a follow-up to last week s list. We decided to shake things up a bit compared to previous weeks where we focused solely on watches. Last week, we took a look at the five best watch brand ambassadors, so this week, we have compiled a list of the five worst. It was shortly discussed in the comments of last week s article, but let s address it properly!As I mentioned in last week s article, brand ambassadors are a recurring topic of conversation within the world of watches. Referring back to Lex s article that I also mentioned last week, there are a lot of questions about why watch companies pay certain celebrities to be the face o...

Space exploration was the greatest adventure of the 20th century. Humanity achieved the peak of manned space exploration over 50 years ago with Neil Armstrongs steps on the surface of the Moon, and one organization above all epitomizes exploration of the unknown - NASA. In this fourth installment of the Mission to Earth line, Awake pays tribute to NASA and its iconic logo with the Mission To Earth Meatball.Taking direct inspiration from the instantly recognizable NASA logo, Awake continues to lean into the design aesthetic of the original Mission to Earth project. A matte blue dial with a red chapter ring directly calls to mind the main design elements of NASAs logo. The chapter ring bears t...