Its been a pretty good year for me so far. From all angles. I m still fit and healthy, I started at Fratello earlier this year, and the world seems to finally be opening up too. I also saw some pretty nice watches swing by the office. More than five, actually, but I had to narrow it down. I went for the watches that I thought looked best, both in my hand and on my wrist, without looking at the price. This list will serve as a look back at my favorite releases of the year so far, in anticipation of what we will see cropping up during Geneva Watch Days.Tudor Black Bay CeramicYou might have already read or seen that at first, I wasnt all that impressed by the Tudor Black Bay Ceramic. My first i...

Every time I get a press release from Nivada, I have the feeling that their modus operandi comes from the title of the classic Lox song featuring Puff Daddy, Can t Stop, Won t Stop. The brand does not seem to know how to slow down - much to the watch community s delight. We are always hungry for new releases. Nivada s latest and greatest is perhaps one of their most iconic non-chronograph watch models, the Antarctic Spider.If the name Antarctic sounds familiar, but the look doesn t ring any bells, dont worry, you are still remembering correctly. The classic Antarctic, which Admiral Byrd used during Operation Deep Freeze, had a different, much simpler dial. However, a bit later, in the 1960s,...

It s been two weeks since you were last graced by the presence of Wrist Game or Crying Shame. Welcome back and, this week, we let out the animal with the Daytona Leopard. Before we bare our claws, though…Two weeks back, while in sunny South Florida, I actually showed you a German watch. I chose an early Sinn 103 St with tritium dial and 85% of you gave it a firm, Jawohl! On account of that success, let s hope that Sinn brings back such a reverse panda stunner. Today s pick may not qualify as stunning, but more as shocking. The Daytona Leopard is here and it s ready to go for your throat - and your wallet.The Daytona LeopardWhen we think of the Daytona, a relatively straightforward ...

There is something distinctive about the leather straps of yore. Something which we do not see in today s modern offerings. Although the quality of modern leather straps is undeniable, sometimes a watch calls for a period-correct counterpart with the signature features of the era. Strap thickness, taper, rounded ends, box-stitching, and hot-pressed lines on the keepers. Matteo Torre spent many years studying vintage watch ads and catalogs from the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. Thanks to this deep dive, Matteo Torre developed his own style that is based on precise reproductions of the era. It may sound unoriginal, but the results confirm quite the opposite. In todays oversaturated market, Torre St...

In the ever-flowing stream of watch releases, you sometimes forget about a watch that might have caught your eye at its introduction. That s certainly not the case with the new Citizen Caliber 0200. Back in March, when The Citizen was announced, there was quite a buzz surrounding the brand s new high-end mechanical offering. In the five months that passed, the watch was always in the back of my mind as an upcoming release that I really wanted to check out as soon as I had the chance. Finally, that chance is here - time to find out whether Citizen can shake things up with their new high-end offering.Whenever brands are having a go at releasing a modern luxury steel sports watch, I am all ears...

The internet is a funny old place. Last week, quite out of the blue, I was contacted by an old school friend upon whom I hadn t laid eyes for more than 10 years with a bit of news I thought would be of interest to the Fratelli. Having left our northern English hometown long behind, my friend settled in New Zealand. After the best part of two decades in the watch industry, he found himself working in a managerial role for Webb s Auction house where he recently stumbled across a very interested -Panerai 3646 Type-E Anonymous…This unusual watch is estimated to sell for NZD $140,000C$200,000 ($80,000C$120,000), but as we ve seen in the past, anomalies have a habit of blowing past even the...

How very dare you, Grand Seiko USA! This morning, I got an email from Nick Roberts at Lawrence & Co PR (thanks, Nick) informing me that three new limited-edition (obviously) time-only Grand Seikos would be debuting in the US market. It s just as well Nick had the wherewithal to let me know otherwise I might never have learned of these beauties. And they are beautiful. First things first, book yourself a flight to the States or tap up your long-lost cousin to pick one up for you. Once you ve done that, come back and read about the Grand Seiko SBGW273, 275, and 277.Look, I know Fratello is based in Europe and we are a team of almost exclusively Europeans, but this is 2021. This is the inte...

Roll up, roll up! The summer has hit The Furt and Fratello is keen to celebrate. After the magnificent maelstrom of March Mania, we are back with a new knock-out competition conceived to find the very best summer watch out there, according to YOU, the Fratelli. And guess what? You can win prizes! No, there wont be a watch available this time but there WILL be some of the finest water-firing weapons money can buy: the?Spyra 2 water cannon is reputedly the strongest of its kind ever made. Fancy getting your hands on one? Read on and take part in the Summer Splash in the poll and comments section of this article.This time around, eight?Fratelli?editors will choose three of their favorite summer...

It started with a plastic watch thrown from a building in the 1980s. But no matter how impressive the capabilities of the original G-Shock are, a watch in a resin case is not a luxury product. Enter MR-G, a tough gentleman in sophisticated attire that stepped on the scene in 1996. The metal MR-G was indestructible, sleek, and could fit under the sleeve of a formal shirt. Lets dive into the ever-evolving manifestations of the Casio G-Shock MR-G philosophy - ultimate watches with an indestructible beauty exquisitely crafted by artisans in Yamagata, Japan.This year Casio celebrates 25 years of MR-G with the launch of a limited edition, the unique-looking Hana-Basara. And it s plain to see that ...

It is not a typical collaboration of two partners. If you wanted to be completely precise, it would look like this: Habring2 Massena Lab Joshua N. Shapiro HSNY. Whats best is the fact that Massena squeezed a hot novelty out of each one involved.It was the moment I?landed the vintage Tourist Radio-Top with a caliber Chezard 7402, that I fully understood how charming the dead seconds complication is. Its light, amusing, and perfectly elegant. Dead seconds are stripped-down simplicity and foresight. If I was about to give dead seconds a human character, I would say they re like an old, calm, and wise gentleman. Well, it seems Im not the only one who finds pleasure in this playful complica...

Earlier this year, Omega introduced its gold Speedmaster Professional Master Chronometer watches. There were options in both Canopus gold (Omega s white gold alloy) and Sedna gold (Omega s rose gold alloy) announced. Not only did we have the opportunity to go hands-on with both, but we also had the chance to line the Sedna model up against that other must-have chronograph, the Daytona in Everose. What followed was a blow-for-blow comparison bound to titillate any serious watch lover.We did this comparison in a very biased video here, but we also had two writers, each with a preference for one of the chronographs, go head to head. In this case, Jorg took it up for the new Sedna gold Omega Sp...

I ve said it before and I ll say it again: in luxury watchmaking in 2021, texture is the name of the game. Dial colors get too much attention; dial surfaces, too little. More and more, we re seeing brands pay attention to the display s background, the forgotten element, the passive superstar that can decide whether or not a watch lives or dies in the minds of our community. How those textures interact with the colors laid upon them matters too, of course. Today, we see Grand Seiko experiment with one entirely new texture and revisit another that has undeniable potential. Has the Japanese giant got it right this time with the SLGA007? Let s find out…Grand Seiko announced the release of ...

Last year around the same time, during Geneva Watch Days, Bvlgari re-introduced its Aluminium watch. Or should we say that the Bvlgari Diagono from 1998 got something of a facelift? When we first encountered this range in the (very lightweight) metal, we weren t sure the industry had been crying out for it. But after a short period on the wrist, our tunes almost universally changed. Aluminium is not the first material one thinks of when it comes to luxury watchmaking, but it certainly makes for an interesting experience on the wrist.Last year s GWD was the last time Fratello hit the road as a team. Next week (August 30th) sees the 2021 edition of the decentralized fair. Crazily, it will be t...

Lately, I ve been in some lengthy conversations with a friend who is looking for either a Submariner 16610 or Sea-Dweller 16600. Imagine my surprise when I looked at the prices of these models! It s time to look back on a couple of popular watches that left us more than ten years ago.Sure, we talk a lot about , but hardly a day goes by when someone doesn t message with questions about one of their models. New or old, they re always on people s minds. Recently, it seems people are turning their attention to modern models that were discontinued roughly ten years ago. The Submariner 16610 and the Sea-Dweller 16600 are two dive watches from the same period. Their differences are subtle, but on...

We re now deep into the Summer Splash showdown and, predictably, the Fratelli are out in force in their joint mission to choose the finest summer watch of them all. Meanwhile, old Bobby is reviewing the latest raft of loaners from Glashtte Original and has, in the process, stumbled across a watch that, while wholly inappropriate for the Summer Splash contest in terms of specs, perfectly elicits the kind of feeling we re seeking. The Glashtte Original Sixties Sixties Chronograph Annual Edition in green is a vivid slice of optimism that, like the summer sun, threatens to disappear sooner than anyone would like…GO is in a really good way when it comes to producing seasonal watches for t...

We seem to love giving nicknames to watches and color schemes where possible. I mean, it makes sense - its easier to remember the Pepsi GMT rather than GMT-Master II 126710BLRO. Some of the nicknames make sense and are logical. Others are a bit tenuous at best. One such nickname which perfectly fits the use is the classic panda dials. These dials became incredibly popular during the late 1950s and 1960s, and their popularity hasnt waned since.I dont feel it really needs too much explaining. A white (or perhaps off-white) dial with black subdials. Its quite an obvious homage to the most famous of all panda bears, the giant panda. Over the years, this dial setup has become iconic and is a ti...

Roll up, roll up! The summer has hit The ‘Furt and Fratello is keen to celebrate. After the magnificent maelstrom of March Mania, we are back with a new knock-out competition conceived to find the very best summer watch out there, according to YOU, the Fratelli. And guess what? You can win prizes! No, there won t be a watch available this time but there WILL be some of the finest water-firing weapons money can buy: the Spyra 2 water cannon is reputedly the strongest of its kind ever made. Fancy getting your hands on one? Read on and take part in the comments section of this article.This time around, eight writers will choose three of their favorite summer watches and pitch them to you....

No seriously, the Tudor Black Bay Fifty-Eight Bronze Boutique Edition really does smell like money. I am no expert when it comes to coins and their materials, but I am sure you will recognize the smell of bronze in coins. Now, it was my colleague Lex that pointed out that our bronze Oris x Fratello watch also had this particular smell.I never noticed because I don t tend to sniff watches. But, ever since then, Lex turned me into a watch sniffer and every time I come across a bronze watch, I have to give it a sniff (thanks Lex). Anyway, when Tudor showed us the Black Bay Fifty-Eight Bronze a few months ago, and I didn t need to put much effort into smelling the typical metallic scent.It didn ...

When I finally got my shot at writing about watches for aBlogtoWatch way back in 2015, I was set an initial task that would serve as my probation: three articles to be turned around in a week. If they were up-to-scratch, I would become a member of the team. Given the years I d invested in earning that opportunity, the pressure I felt was immense. No surprises, then, that the subjects of those three trial articles have remained in mind ever since. One of them, The Zenith Academy Georges Favre-Jacot 18k Gold watch recently popped up on Zeitauktion and brought memories of that experience flooding back.I fancy myself a pressure performer. In any sporting contest, while never the superstar, I alw...

Automatons, or automata, have amazed human audiences for over two thousand years.? Designed by humans to mimic living beings, automata s lifelike movements have fascinated everyone, from ancient royalty and medieval city-dwellers to 18th-century courtiers and modern-day museum visitors. What people may not realize, however, is just how closely related horology and automata really are.In fact, automata and clocks have developed side-by-side for millennia. Like clocks, many of the world s finest automata employ incredibly elaborate mechanisms. However, understanding the most basic components that they share can help to demystify how they work. With this understanding, we ll be able to see the ...