How do you like a 37mm dive watch inspired by a model from six decades ago? Or what about an updated version of a 1970s Gerald Genta design? Yeah, what about those? How about a totally new idea instead? A completely fresh design, something truly original, a watch that doesnt look back, a timepiece that isnt hindered by the constraints of its predecessor? Retro still has a tight grip on a lot of watch brands, and after a couple of days at Watches and Wonders 2023, I desperately wanted to see watches that were not constricted by retro guidelines. What I wanted to see, and what I did manage to find, were free-range, creative expressions of horology. Have a look at some Watches and Wonders most...

I needed some time to let the 2023 edition of Watches and Wonders sink in. This show started as a digital exhibition during the pandemic and transformed into a physical one in 2022. It s the successor of both SIHH and Baselworld, you could say. Last year s edition quickly turned into a show where the Vacheron Constantin Historiques 222, GMT-Master II Destro, and Tudor Black Bay Pro became the most talked-about pieces. This year s Watches and Wonders, however, was less about hype and more about just good watches.Watches and Wonders 2023 recapBefore I forget, the watches that got even more traction than the Historiques 222, Destro, and Black Bay Pro were the 11 MoonSwatch models that Swatch r...

Everybody likes a secret. Easter eggs - hidden features to be discovered - populate all aspects of our modern lives, from video games to?movies and even cars. It should be no surprise that there are a number of Easter eggs in the watch world as well. Some, like G-Shock special-edition backlights, definitively fall under the If You Know, You Know (IYKYK) umbrella. Other Easter eggs, like with , are little more than anti-counterfeiting devices. And yet others transform the common watch-wearing experience into something bordering on the miraculous. If you hate spoilers, I suggest you stop here. I m exposing some of the common and not-so-common Easter eggs that only watches can deliver.My Casio ...

Liking or loving a watch often comes down to small details. There is an abundance of watches that I like, but there is only a small number of watches that I love. Often, the distinction lies in details like color, typography, a logo, numeral style, or even case curvature. So many factors propel a watch from a nice addition to the overall watch universe to a watch that I want. A perfect example is the current Seiko Alpinist. I think the Alpinist is one of Seiko s most characteristic watches currently available. But I miss this little spark that makes it a watch I would buy - a spark that is all in a name. What is a Seiko Alpinist without the Alpinist name?That might sound a bit cryptic right ...

I m sure many of you still remember the episode of Top Gear in which Richard Hammond races a Eurofighter Typhoon in a Bugatti Veyron. It was the battle between an RAF fighter pilot and the presenter, who also happens to be a driver with balls of steel. I m not saying today s Sunday Morning Showdown is going to be as epic as that race, of course. I just wanted to use it as a nice reference to introduce today s battle between the Zenith Pilot Big Date Flyback and the Chopard Mille Miglia Classic Chronograph. Which, again, is a race between a pilot and a racing driver.Both of these watches were presented at Watches and Wonders last week. Their names, however, have already been in the brands po...

Regardless of whether we re talking about watches or cars, typically, modified versions aren t my thing. I almost always believe that the original is the best because, honestly, a small garage rarely has the resources to make something better than a huge company. Today s AC Signature Monaco is a rare example where I like a modification as much as its factory counterpart.If you ve never heard of Abel Court, take a few minutes to do some web sleuthing. You ll probably end up at his site, Heuertime, but not before encountering loads of praise in articles across the watchscape from collectors who have entrusted their precious vintage Heuer models to him for restoration. As a trained watchmaker, ...

The Dirty Dozen is a series of watches from World War II that hardly require an introduction. Lately, however, we have seen a bit of a resurgence of the style for which they set the template. There are straight reissues from brands like Timor and Vertex. The still-popular IWC Mark series is another that can trace its roots back to the Dirty Dozen. Even the Formex Field Automatic that Vincent reviewed on Fratello last week is clearly built on Dirty Dozen DNA.So we felt it was long overdue for us to do a brief overview of the Dirty Dozen. The following may all be familiar to the more seasoned watch geeks among you, but it never hurts to do a little refresher course occasionally, does it? I alr...

Another Friday, another Top 5! In this series, we take one classic watch and choose our five favorite references ever produced. Four of these references will be based on the historical importance of the specific watch in the grand scheme of things. Though there may be some overlap, its not a question of which references are the most collectible or of the highest value on the market. The fifth pick is our Fratello favorite that considers the current market price and collectability, potentially making it a sleeper reference. As such, the last pick could be described as our wild card. This week, we ll take a look at the Tudor Black Bay. More specifically, Black Bay divers. What are the best ref...

Watches and Wonders this year was a striking return to form and a glorious spectacle for the senses. It was like the pandemic never happened, and here I was stuck at home in the never-ending winter of the Nordics. To be honest, Im glad in a way because most of my favorites were way above my pay grade, even if I sold all of my collection to fund them. But thats what its all about, isnt it? As usual, my favorites were the quirky-cool ones, the ones that got away.We exhaustively covered all the major releases here, but plenty of watches always go under the radar or dont get the attention they deserve. Ive always got a soft spot for the creative underdogs and the non-commercial pieces of big bra...

Can watch brands force-feed us collectibility? It is a genuine question that emerged during our first editorial meeting after Watches and Wonders 2023. Many of my colleagues noticed how brands announced watches as for collectors. That may sound logical, but is it? Who determines whether a watch is collectible? And what does it say about current watch marketing that brands try to determine this for us?Let me come out and admit immediately that I do not have the answers to those questions. But in this thought piece, I will try to look at it from a few different angles. And I am very curious to see your thoughts on the matter in the comments section.Part of RJ s beloved Speedy collectionWhat ma...

All artisans draw inspiration from their environments, but Japanese craftspeople are particularly well known for this, as we witness in the exquisite creations of Minase. Launched in 2005 and named after its home village in Akita Prefecture, Minase offers handmade timepieces imbued with Japanese traditions. The independent brand demonstrates its horological pinnacle with the Masterpiece collection of highly technical artisan-crafted dials and cases. One of the Masterpiece options is the Akita Silver Filigree. Crafted in this time-honored native technique, here is an example of a bespoke dial framed within Minases signature Five Windows case.From private label to own labelWhen a watchmaker as...

This is one of those watches you can t crave until you spend some time with it. The ASU Calendar with a Pierce movement is not only cute but also functional and pretty addictive.Whenever I dive deep into the safe and pull out something that many collectors haven t seen before, you tell me how happy you are that I keep coming up with budget-friendly watches that live far away from the spotlight. So here is another one. This is the ASU Calendar, which I found in Sweden in such a condition that you would be afraid to touch it. As you can see in the picture below, the (probably) original strap was covered with wall paint and what looked like plaster residue. I guess someone found it during a rem...

At Fratello, we regularly come across a lot of small independent microbrands. While we are privileged to experience some great watches through our work, seeing something truly unique is rare. In a world where new watch brands appear every day, doing something genuinely new is difficult, but the Norwegian brand Straum did just that. Over the past year, we have worked closely with the Straum team to produce the watch you see today. It s a follow-up to the Opphav, the brand s wildly successful debut model. I am pleased to introduce the Fratello Straum Jan Mayen Limited Edition, a celebration of the wonder of the Beerenberg volcano in a visually arresting fashion.This video is blocked because ...

The Zero West DB-2 Lancaster is an impressive watch, both in the metal and in spirit, so to speak. Its steel case measures 44mm wide, 16.3mm thick, and 50mm long, and it sits on a strap 22mm wide. Generous numbers indeed. A feature thats even more impressive - Im now referring to the spirit of the watch - is the presence of a machined disc salvaged from Dambuster ED825, an Avro Lancaster bomber that took part in Operation Chastise, the bombing of three dams in the German Ruhr area during World War 2. Trying on the watch and putting this story together made me think about the DB-2 Lancaster as a wrist ornament and instrument, but also made me consider the meaning of the historical part inside...

This story is about my first Swatch, which, as it so happens, was also my first watch. The tale begins when my parents gave me the watch back in the late 80s. People over 40 will know that Swatch was all the rage back then. And I was also in awe of the colorful plastic watches accompanied by groundbreaking marketing campaigns. There was no escaping it, and I was totally on board. On my 12th birthday, I came home with the Swatch Bar Oriental, a watch that turned out to be the perfect storyteller of my future. As such, it holds a special place in my heart.Lex brought us back to 1986 in the first of this series of Swatch articles. For mine, we ll be starting back in 1989. In those days, I woul...

The Fratello boys (and girls) are back in town! And as the fog of war begins to settle, we ve convened and gathered our thoughts on last week s watch fair. This is the Watches and Wonders 2023 debrief episode. In keeping with the short-form format of Fratello Talks, we don t get to cover every single one of the novelties. Instead, we discuss some of our highlights from the show. These range from the novelties that we knew were coming and still surprised us to those that seemingly came out of nowhere to become our favorites and everything in between. So grab your beverage of choice, put on your headphones, and click, tap, or bark the command at your smart device of choice, and have a listen t...

You were either Team Testarossa or Team Countach. In the 1980s, these two cars ruled the walls of young kids bedrooms. The swooping lines of the Ferrari inspired ambitious dreams in fierce red. The monstrous Lamborghini did the same in cool, snow white. Fast forward four decades. How many dreamers of yesteryear drive Italian supercars nowadays? Never mind. Lets focus on a watch that matches the poster that hung on your bedroom wall many moons ago. Or the screensaver on your laptop of the Countach LPI 800-4, a modern homage to the original car that Lamborghini launched two years ago. The Roger Dubuis Excalibur Spider Countach DT/X perfectly matches the mid-engine, hybrid-electric hypercar. Bo...

It has been a while since Episode 5 of Building A Watch Brand. I thought Id let the dust settle after Watches and Wonders before sharing another update on the progress of VPC. That does not mean that nothing happened in the meantime. In fact, I have been quite busy on many fronts. So in todays update, I will share several things I worked on rather than go deep into specific design choices. Still, there are plenty of those to share as well.Todays update includes news on the design front - a new bracelet and more realistic renders. I have settled on a caliber that I can now share, and there is a fun little peek into typeface design that I found particularly interesting. Finally, there is a pot...

After taking a break from sharing your Watch Box Stories for a couple of weeks, we ll continue today with a story from Simon. He started the quest for his perfect watch collection with a focus on different watches for different occasions.After we share all the stories, we will raffle off a Peli case and a few other accessories among the contributors. So far, Ive seen some very interesting contributions (click here), and I am excited to share them here on Fratello in the coming weeks. Without further ado, heres Simon s story about whats in his watch box.The Fratello Peli case for three watchesJust because youve shown a hint of interest… my cousin said as he pulled out a couple of watch ...

I don t know about you, but I like the heft of stainless steel on the wrist. I also think it perfectly suits the tool-watch character of a dive watch. But sometimes you may want to wear something lighter, and a titanium diver could be a great option. It still looks the part but doesn t weigh as much as a similar watch in stainless steel. The Tudor Pelagos 39 in titanium really changed the game last year. It s a great-looking dive watch that feels very light and comfortable on the wrist. But if you suspect that you won t be wearing it daily, you might not want to spend $4,600 to get one. In that case, it might be worth testing the waters with some more affordable alternatives.That s the situa...