Seikos analog/digital hybrids have been fan favorites ever since Arnold Schwarzenegger popularized them in the 1980s. The oversized and unique case shape is quirky in all the right ways. I am known to criticize large watches, but this line of Seikos would not work any other way. Today, Seiko introduces three new variants to the collection, all with some serious tech on board. Lets have a look at these new Seiko Hybrid divers!SNJ033P1Is it upside down?When introduced the Destro GMT-Master II, we sort of tilted our heads to see whether it was perhaps upside down. If you have been wearing an Arnie ani/digi Seiko of any previous generation, you might experience the same here. The digital screen...
Well, I know I m ready for this one! After re-editions of the 62MAS and the Captain Willard, Seiko now brings the less famous 6105-8000 back to life. It could be called the sleeker precurser of the 70s Seiko Turtle. The new SPB313J1 (white), SPB315J1 (gilt), and SPB315J1 (black) all have a streamlined C-shaped case and, at 12.3mm thick, are Seiko s thinnest Prospex watches to date. Is this the re-edition to get? Let s find out!The 1965?62MAS was Seiko s first professional dive watch, and because of that, it became a legend. The 6105-8110?from 1970 appeared on the wrist of Captain Willard in Apocolypse Now, which also garnered that model incredible fame. In recent years, Seiko has released a...
Oh boy! If someone had told me back in my early days of watch collecting that Id get to see what is effectively a GMT version of the Seiko SKX, I would never have believed it. The new Seiko 5 GMT Series takes a form factor known and loved by so many and adds a splash of functionality to it. Personally, Ive been somewhat hesitant to embrace the new Seiko 5 series as a proper replacement for the SKX. These are not dive watches and are more suited to newcomers to the watch world. That said, Im also one of the few people who actually will take dive watches diving, and I realize that this makes me part of the minority. Either way, I didnt have much interest on the line, except for some of the coo...
The gold Omega Speedmaster Apollo XI BA145.022-69 that belonged to Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins fetched a record price at Heritage Auctions Fine Timepieces auction on June 1st. My first thought was that Omega must have acquired the watch for its museum, as I had guessed in my announcement article for this auction from May 10th (click here).In that article, you will find all the details about this specific gold watch owned by Michael Collins. When we published the announcement for this auction about a month ago, the highest bid was at US$50,000. From there, and it quickly went up to around $180,000 including the buyer s premium. During the auction itself, the highest bid was $765,000,...
Sorry for the [Re]master-piece pun. The Audemars Piguet [Re]master01, however, is just that, and rather it s accessible compared to the R.O. When you can have this, why pay double retail for a plain Royal Oak? Ill throw some petrol on a fiercely burning fire by saying that I understand , Patek, and AP. I understand them not ramping up production of their steel sports watches. They could all quadruple their output of steel grails, and Patek could pump out the three-hand Nautilus again, but for what?Imagine if BMW only produced the 3-series to satisfy demand? Do we want Armani to only produce show-off logo T-shirts and keyrings instead of Haute Couture? Many brands have so much more to offer, ...
Were back with another episode of Fratello On Air. This time, Balazs and Mike discuss Longines. This is an episode where we cover some of our favorite models and play an interview that RJ had with Giuseppe Maccio, the head of product at Longines. Enjoy it! This podcast player is blocked because you did not accept marketing cookies. Change cookie settings Its been a couple of weeks since Balazs and Mike have come together due to travel and life in general. Here they are, though, talking about one of the most iconic brands in history - Longines.Handgelenks KontrolleBefore coming to Longines, its time to hit the Handgelenks Kontrolle. Mike goes first with the Tudor Black Bay Fifty-Eight 925...
Quartz movements are getting more respect from watch enthusiasts these days. In my opinion, that s largely thanks to Grand Seiko s beautiful 9F movements. It s a brand like Grand Seiko with its prestigious high-end quartz calibers that is making this type of movement desirable again.Surely, brands like Breitling with its SuperQuartz, with its OysterQuartz, as well as super-high-end brands like F.P. Journe with its caliber 1210 are also to credit. But discontinued the OysterQuartz nearly 20 years ago, and Breitling mainly uses the SuperQuartz in its digital watches. F.P. Journe s exclusivity and ballooning gray-market prices make buying a quartz-powered Elegante an extremely costly endeavor...
As watch admirers and collectors, we can get pretty intense at times. We devote countless hours to researching and hunting watches. We pour irresponsible percentages of our hard-earned cash into these objects. And, at times, we can get a little hot-headed over it all. Today, I want to take a slightly psychological approach to watch collecting. Lets explore what kinds of explanations for our obsession we can find in the science of the mind. I will focus particularly on a theory about why we can get a bit tense in comment sections and social media - the theory of the narrating self.As is the case for many people in the watch industry, this was my backup career, so to speak. I started my profes...
I have one item that means more to me than any of my wrist-buddies, and that is my Bvlgari wedding ring in white gold. My Italian wife has a strong influence on me, and I was well aware of Bvlgari as a part of the Italian national identity. Then the Octo Finissimo hit the scene, and everything changed. But do you remember the original Bvlgari Aluminium, the Diagono?Lets be fair. When you consider the rocket-like ascent of Bvlgari as a watchmaker, until recent years, it was still a jewelry brand. Yes, Bvlgari happened to have a line of watches. For many younger enthusiasts, though, they just didnt cut it. But unlike some Rollie-flexing Instagrammers out there, some of us recognized the sweet-...
In commemoration of the Royal Oaks golden jubilee, Audemars Piguet presented a slew of 50th-anniversary novelties earlier this year. One of them was an updated version of the 34mm sell-out model in black ceramic that debuted only last year. As the fanfare ensues, the premier Swiss watchmaker reveals a new variant of this highly coveted timepiece. Audemars Piguet has created a one-of-a-kind iridescent dial for the latest 34mm black ceramic Royal Oak Selfwinding. This seductive rendition is limited to 300 pieces and developed in collaboration with famed Italian jeweler Carolina Bucci.Bucci is a high-profile name in her own right. She is also the woman who started the Frosted Gold series in 201...
As watch enthusiasts, we have a few topics that seem to incite strong opinions. availability and the Moonswatch spring to mind. Today, I would like to have a look at that other explosive topic - celebrity brand ambassadors in the watch world.As is often the case with topics of heated debates, the fine nuances get lost in the heat of battle. I am making it my mission to seek out precisely those nuances here, so I will (try to) refrain from getting overly fanatic as a proponent or opponent of the concept. Deep breaths. Here I go.Daniel Craig for OmegaWhy people hate celebrity brand ambassadorsI have noticed that many watch aficionados have a strong distaste for celebrity brand ambassadors. Wh...
We ve had a pretty exhilarating time on Fratello recently, with the releases of Watches And Wonders causing quite a stir in the industry and within our beloved comments section. And here I come again with a brand that splits opinions within the team. RJ, our bespectacled overlord, doesn t have much time for Forstner. Despite the platonic cuddles we frequently share in between the writing of articles, this brand is the one thing that can almost bring us to blows. I love it; he doesn t. He can t stand the lightweight, era-authentic designs; I can t get enough of them. However, when it comes to these after-market bracelets and others, there is one thing we agree upon: material improvements are ...
Some of us would say that Japan is like another planet. The country leaves us in awe because the experience we come away with is so foreign to us. Having been a gaijin (literally, an outsider, or a foreigner) living there for several years, I can tell you, the glee from being awe-struck never gets old. And the latest from Minase, the Divido Shibo Urushi collection, gives me plenty to get awe-struck about.What hit me the most about living in Japan was the level of sophistication around me, even in daily life. In Japanese culture, the word monozukuri refers to the art of making things, particularly by hand. And believe me, the Japanese can refine anything into an art form. Still, it blew me aw...
My friend s grandpa used to say that an essential man s collection requires three watches - a cheap quartz watch for chopping wood, a solid manual chronograph for everyday wear, and an elegant dress watch to take for dinner with your partner. Well, I have a tip for the last one - the Alpina Gruen Tecno.I would narrow in on the dress watch bit of grandpa s advice. I would also add that in each watch collection, there should be at least one square or rectangular timepiece. I m not sure if there is any scientific reasoning behind it, but no matter how elegant a dial is, it s always dressier when it sits in a rectangular case. The round shape is fluid, never-ending, and playful by definition. Fo...
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to this weeks Sunday Morning Showdown. I think you all know the score by now, but in case you are a newcomer, Ill briefly explain. Sunday Morning Showdown is a series in which two editors pick two watches that share a broad similarity (whether in style, function, or aesthetics) and battle it out for the win. Its a horological rap battle, a timekeeping dance-off, a clash of clocks. You get the idea. This week, its Nacho versus Daan, Cartier versus Jaeger-LeCoultre, Tank versus Reverso, for a fight to see which of these two cubic contenders will take home the win.Now, its no secret that Daan and I are both big fans of Cartier. He owns a beautiful Santos Galbee XL...
Workhorse movements. Whether you love that one or hate this one, as a genre, they power the vast majority of watches made. Sure, we re familiar with the old standards like the ETA 2824-2 and copycat Sellita SW200-1, but the landscape is changing. Established but previously lesser-known movement manufacturers like Soprod are coming onto the scene. Seiko is actively shifting the price of its 6RXX movement family into Swiss workhorse territory. And new proprietary calibers are redefining the specs we ve come to expect from standard movements. All this begs the question: what is the future of workhorse movements?To answer that, we might start with trying to define what a workhorse movement actua...
Well, this is awkward… Here I am, about to make my debut in this column, and the watch that I wanted to write about has just sold out. Crap. I knew I should ve written it up as soon as I saw it on Chrono24 for $3,800… I m talking about the Franck Muller Endurance 24, and more specifically, an example with a racy red dial. Alas, as is so often my fortune in watches, the boat was docked and waiting, but I missed it again. That s life, though, and I won t lament it now. Instead, I ve scoured the interwebs for the next-best version, and I think I ve found one that can carry this article through. So, without further ado, I present the Endurance 24 with an ever-popular panda dial and a...
Frederique Constant has a longstanding partnership with the currently dormant Austin-Healey brand. Now, the watch brand introduces two new chronographs celebrating the 70th anniversary of the legendary British car manufacturer.?Or actually, I should probably say one chronograph in two versions. The two new releases are technically identical except for two specific differences on their dials. One version comes with a celebratory 70 at twelve o clock. The other comes with a regular applied 12, as well as a 70th Anniversary line above six. Frederique Constant limits the former to just 10 pieces, while the latter is limited to 700 units.?All about the dialThese chronographs are all about the dia...
I ve been quite a fan of Echo/Neutra ever since the brand launched on Kickstarter in 2019. It seems a lot longer ago than just three years, given the strides the brand has made since then. The product lineup expanded at a healthy pace, and now we have the option of the original Averau (time and date), the extremely handsome Cortina (time only) and Cortina Chronograph (my favorite), the Averau Moonphase, and the brand-new Cristallo diver, which debuts today at 2:00 PM CET.The world is full of dive watches. Do we need one more? Yes! We?always need more dive watches. What we don t need, however, is more of the same. The Echo/Neutra Cristallo does a good job of presenting a pretty standard silho...
It is easy to get a little blase when you handle high-end watches on a daily basis. At a certain point, you find yourself considering any watch under $5,000 to be relatively affordable. This is, of course, absolute lunacy. To prove that point, I take on the challenge of curating a watch collection of at least three watches. The budget? A mere $5,000 for the three of them. This is my ideal starter watch collection.Since this exercise is performed without a specific thematic collector in mind, I am opting for an occasion-based approach. I will try and make sure that there will be a proper watch in there for pretty much any occasion. After all, if you are spending 5,000 of your hard-earned euro...
