It wasn t even four years ago that a passionate team of watchmaking veterans resurrected the watch brand Wolbrook and its sister brand Douglas. Mainly known for their Skindiver models, after 50 years, these brands tool watches are now once again assembled in France. Wolbrook watches had a reputation for their sturdy construction and good accuracy. They featured moderate prices and rugged reliability, and all movement parts were standard and interchangeable.This was also true for the resurrected models of 2019, assembled and regulated in France, housing off-the-shelf Japanese Miyota movements. Still, Wolbrook found a few points on which to improve its first new models. This article, first an...

Are mods divisive? Yes, and I m not always a fan. These featured watches, however, are mods that I adore. Done right, officially or unofficially modifying a watch is fun, even taking our horological passion a step up to wrist-worn pop art. For others, mods are a chance to acquire a watch that is one of a few - or even one of a kind - and more like a piece of art than a micro-machine for telling the time. Perhaps it s just what we need in a world of same-same vintage love and diver s tools that never break the water s surface.All brands in this article have been at it for some time, and we know them as niche manufacturers in their own right. With one exception, these are not one-off mods by t...

Last week, we published a list of the best titanium dive watches currently available. Obviously, though, the use of titanium is not limited to just those. This follow-up article will look at the best titanium timepieces that are not dive watches. The number of titanium offerings from all the brands out there is pretty overwhelming. There is a titanium timepiece for everyone from the affordable to the really expensive brands. So let s take a look at ten outstanding titanium timepieces currently available.In last week s article, it only made sense to connect titanium to dive watches. The properties of titanium make the material the perfect fit for adventures in the deep. In particular, the fac...

Have you ever blissfully enjoyed your leather watch strap creaking subtly from time to time? Well, I didn t even know it was possible. Simply put, I find no other watch straps to be as truly leather-ish as the straps from WatchStrapHeaven are. Let me explain…I am very much a fan of thin leather straps, and for me, it s an important parameter when pairing with moderately sized vintage watches. There are thin straps out there, that s for sure. But no strap I ve tried (and I ve tried many) feels as thin as WatchStrapHeaven straps do. Every tenth of a millimeter of thickness counts. If I were to pinpoint the major point of difference in WatchStrapHeaven s products, I would say it s their o...

Supporting charities through the sale of luxury items is nothing new. However, this particular auction of a salmon-dial Zenith Calibre 135-O single edition was quite special because there was only one of this watch made and there wont be a second. Ever. While its one thing to auction out regularly stocked items, whether its watches, jewelry, or cars, I was particularly interested in this watch, again, because of its unique nature and context. And not only is there only one of these, but it is the story behind it that is particularly interesting.?I am by no means a Zenith expert, but that is OK since Brandon wrote an excellent article about the ten Calibre 135-O pieces released this past summ...

Sophia Loren (Rome, 1934) went from an Italian starlet to an international icon. Her astounding and distinctive beauty captivated fans as soon as she appeared on the scene in the 1950s. And in 1962, she won an Oscar for her role in the Italo-French war drama La Ciociara. From competing in a beauty pageant judged solely on looks to being named one of the greatest female stars of Classical Hollywood cinema by the American Film Institute is quite a remarkable feat. The Roger Dubuis Excalibur MB Black Ceramic 42mm is like Sophia Loren in a beauty contest. The extremely photogenic watch is judged by its spectacular looks alone and not by what s inside. Luckily, the Excalibur MB Black Ceramic is s...

Haute Horlogerie - the world of precious metals, true craftsmanship, and ultimate rarity. Exotic watches that showcase the very best of what humankind can do. Chiming bells, rare gemstones, perpetual calendars, and hand-carved bridges. If you are anything like me, you admire all of this from afar, knowing that it is and will forever be out of reach. Or is that really the case? Is there such a thing as Haute Horlogerie pour le peuple? Can we find little tasters of what is normally reserved for the rich and famous? Or are we, like Tantalus, forever reaching in vain?Join me on a quest to find Haute Horlogerie features at Pret--Porter prices. Life is expensive enough as it is, right?Chime away!...

I ve never actually been to a watch auction, but I remember that as a kid, I went to an antique auction once with my parents. It was an exciting event somewhere in the center of Amsterdam. The place was packed with people, there wasn t much light, and the overexcited auctioneer made quite an impression on me. So while I was browsing through this week s listings and results from the Geneva watch auctions, that s exactly what I imagined these events to be like as well.Yet some of my Fratello colleagues who have been to them told me that they experienced quite the opposite. They actually found the auctions to be kind of boring. According to them, the pre-viewings are more exciting because you c...

Did you know that there is not a single watch manufacturer that still does a true gilt dial? It is a lost art if ever there was one. As a watch lover with roots in the vintage world, I have a weak spot for the old gilt dial. I love the depth and metallic shimmer you get as well as the tropical aging effects. Today, manufacturers print in gold tone. That is a very different process with a very different result. Lets explore the subject and have a look at some examples of both methods.Gilt usually refers to objects covered with a thin layer of gold - gold-plated stuff, in other words. This is not what an actual gilt dial is, though. To make it even more confusing, a gilt dial can even have sil...

Watchville stole our hearts a few years ago, offering a perfect app that combined all the feeds from the major watch titles, including Fratello, of course. Sadly, a few weeks ago, Hodinkee (owners of the Watchville app) decided to pull the plug.The good news is that it didn t take long for some alternatives to pop up. Successors like Watchicity and Allwatchnews popped up only a few days later, first as websites, but now also as apps for iOS and Android.RJ s 1991 Day-Date on a Fratello Signature strap in olive green BaranilThe guys behind Watchicity ensured that their app has the same functionality as Watchville. It includes a daily top 10 overview, the best-read articles per week and month,...

Mike is on a business trip in the US, so Balazs had to pull Dave out of podcast retirement for this one. After all, we cannot leave you guys without a fresh episode of Fratello On Air. The topic is space watches, but we re talking about the other ones this time. Yes, the Speedmaster gets a mention, yet soon after that, the focus shifts to Fortis, URWERK, and IWC.This podcast player is blocked because you did not accept marketing cookies. Change cookie settings We associate space watches mostly with the Speedy, and there s a good reason for that. However, Omega is not the only company involved with this fascinating subject. As Dave is somehow connected to not only one but two of the brand...

Earlier this week, Unimatic unveiled three new titanium models that look very sharp. Three great new releases from the Italian brand explore great future possibilities for its timepieces. But next to regularly creating new additions to the brand s lineup, Unimatic also loves collaborating with other brands to create unique, standout versions of its different models. One of the latest collaboration timepieces that caught my attention was the charming Unimatic for LEroica Modello Uno U1-ER. The watch perfectly proves that Unimatic is about something more than just being a watch brand. The watch introduced me to the cool story of the L Eroica cycling experience.Back in 2020, when I talked to Gi...

Steel bezels can toughen any sports watch up a notch, making for monochrome cool. Me, I m not averse to a touch of bling, but the full-steel look signals a strong sense of purpose. While ceramic inserts are scratch-resistant, they can still crack, and that well-used look of a scratched-up bezel gives a sports watch plenty more street cred than a safe-queen Sub. This year, steel bezels are back!The idea behind this story came about when Omega released the new Speedmaster 57. While I enjoy the look of the Moonwatch, the deep dial colors and the sweet size of the hand-wound 57 make it one of the best Speedies today. This got my mind going, and wouldnt you know, there seems to be a resurgence of...

A quarter of a century is a long time, especially for an independent watch brand. Thats just how long URWERK has been in existence, doing its thing and making waves in the watchmaking scene. To celebrate this impressive milestone, URWERK has released possibly its most incredible watch to date, and it is undeniably Uwerkian in nature. It is, of course, the UR-120 Spock.You may recall that I wrote about the UR-120 at the start of October when the watch was officially released. I waxed lyrical about my adoration for it. Lets be honest; that was somewhat predictable, as URWERK is yet to launch a watch I dont like. For a long time, the UR-100 was the URWERK for me. But since having the UR-120 Spo...

In this article, one of our readers writes about the A. Lange & S?hne Saxonia Thin Blue Gold Flux. Joey Spreeuwenberg is a watch enthusiast who attends watch get-togethers, and he decided he wanted to share his experience with his latest purchase. Take it away, Joey!What if you could wear the night sky on your wrist, dreaming away as you gaze into the infinite universe while not losing track of time? This beautiful watch from A. Lange & S?hne makes it possible. First, a short disclaimer: Ive been wearing the watch for several weeks, and I bought it myself. On one hand, you could say that this makes the review more independent. On the other, you could say that it is even more biased. ...

The auction house Christies was very pleased to announce that it beat the competition last weekend. It was, of course, a weekend of big watch auctions organized by all the major auction houses. Christies organized two of them. The house s Legendary and Unique Watches auction realized CHF 31,877,418, and the Rare Watches auction realized CHF 23,669,670. The over CHF 55 million that these two auctions brought in came thanks, in part, to selling 17 lots above CHF 1 million and the help of 40% new bidders. What also helped was the Patek Philippe Nautilus Tiffany & Co. that reached CHF 3,174,000 - quite a bit for a steel 5711 with a light blue dial, right? Collectors were all over it. They we...

Armin Strom and Collective Horology are two strong names with a predilection for non-mainstream cool. In the world of high horology, Armin Strom is famous for its work on the intriguing concepts of Resonance and Equal Force within a movement. For the tech heads in the watch community, the brand s wristwear offers glimpses into a world of traditional techniques with a different mission. Rather than catering to our love of tradition and retro looks, Armin Strom s intricate micro-technology gets priority while the three traditional hands get second billing.For me, this brings double joy. I seem to be moving away from vintage-inspired pieces more than I was expecting, and Armin Strom is refreshi...

Lovers of the chic French brand are actually pretty spoiled. They quite often have the opportunity to enjoy the great exhibitions that Cartier holds regularly around the world. Cartier and Islamic Art in Paris and later in Dallas was one of the most recent. Currently, there are two great must-visits in Geneva and Paris, which one could nicely combine into one trip for an exciting weekend. One is the Rare Watches Exhibition in Geneva. The other is the renovated Cartier flagship store at 13 Rue de la Paix in Paris that just reopened after a closure of about two years.This is the exact same location - 13 Paix, as it is often - is where Alfred Cartier and his son Louis decided to move their busi...

When the press release for the 37mm NOMOS Club Sport Neomatik arrived in our mailboxes, I was actually quite excited. However, when I looked at the other Fratelli in the office, they didn t look all that convinced. They said it wasn t NOMOS anymore. To them, it looked as though the combination of the steel bracelet and the sunburst dial had turned the Club into something else. And that was exactly what I had been waiting for!I mentioned it before in my hands-on of the brand s Tetra Neomatik, but for some reason, I always feel that there s something missing in NOMOS designs. Don t get me wrong; I really like their clean design language, but often, it s just a bit too clean for me. It lacks a ...

I consume a lot of YouTube videos about watches. However, they are mainly reviews of particular watches that I m interested in. It s not often that I watch an actual documentary on watches. I remember I watched one on the history of Blancpain dive watches before I bought my Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe. It was so cool to see how, at that time, the dive watch was developed for an actual purpose. Now Squale has released its own documentary on the role that the brand played during those times.Nowadays, mechanical dive watches have taken a backseat to more advanced digital dive computers. Nevertheless, many of us still wear these watches because we like the looks and appreciate what they stand for....