Again, no physical presentations this year so far. So, G-Shock presented its novelties to us - quite successfully, I should add - by mimicking a booth in a virtual online environment. Today, as an addition to the full metal premium Square series, G-Shock announced the release of the GMW-B5000TR-9. Its external components are made in an all-new?titanium alloy, named TranTiXXII?.TranTiXXII? is a brand/concept by Japan s most important metal processing company, Nippon Steel. Tran was taken from transformed, Ti is the element symbol of titanium, and XXII - or 22 - the element number of titanium. TranTiXXII? titanium was specifically developed for aesthetical reasons. It offers a wealth of colors...

The only question I had when I received a couple of Forstner rivet bracelets in the mail, was which watches I wouldn t be trying them on… A rush of excitement greeted me when I unwrapped this latest design from my favorite after-market bracelet manufacturer and I spent the next two days taking it to pieces and reassembling it, before flipping it between six different watches. It finally found an unlikely home on my oversized Seiko Samurai, otherwise known as the SRPE33 Save the Ocean model.Don t misunderstand me here: it didn t take me six attempts to find a watch that suited the Forstner rivet - far from it. In fact, all six I tried would have been glad of it. But it was the Seiko Sav...

Introduced in 2013 as a Speedmaster Professional Racing, but we soon found out it wasn t a Racing, at all. Omega told us the red and white checkered minute track was a reference to the rocket of Tintin s Explorers on the Moon. Here on Fratello, the watch was immediately dubbed Speedmaster Tintin.You all know the story about the Speedmaster Tintin. We covered it in 2013 here and a larger article in 2016 here. We even received a legal letter from Herge s protectors if we could remove it from our website (here). The Omega Speedmaster Tintin 311.30.42.30.01.004 has since then become a very collectible piece. But that wasn t always the case. Only a few people picked up the story at first, mainly ...

Being separated from our watchmaking partners can be difficult. Most of what we see and hear from the brands takes the form of new releases when they are revealed to the world (or sometimes slightly before that). Without the movement of people, the rumor mill runs dry. Non-physical developments made by brands are easy to miss unless the brand communicates them directly. One brand that has made a good fist of that during this Covid-stricken era, is Breitling. And now the brand unveils a novel watch subscription program we hope will be of interest to readers, enabling an Authorized-Dealer-starved clientele to try before they buy.Last year, Breitling announced its new blockchain security system...

If you re enjoying the March Mania contest, we ve got a little something for you to increase the fun! A free, downloadable, printable bracket so you can either follow the competition offline or, better yet, make your own predictions.Why not play along with your watch buddies? Download the bracket here (or by clicking the below image) and share it with your group. Share it on Facebook, LinkedIn, throughout your Red Bar crew, wherever you like! Nail it to lampposts throughout your hometown. Tie it to the backs of stray dogs (please get the appropriate jabs before attempting this), or have it blow up to 100 times its original size and attach it to the back of your Biplane before flying it all o...

Welcome, one and all, to the first round proper of March Mania 2021, here on Fratello. Are you a watch maniac like we are? If so, you re sure to love our month-long feature. 96 watches reviewed last year line up for a battle royale like nothing that s gone before. We need your votes. We want your comments. Help us decide the champion and share in its glory! Let the games commence…In this first round proper, your task is a bit different from your task in the preliminaries. Below you will find the eight remaining timepieces of each of our Fratello competitors in four head-to-head contests of two timepieces. The seedings in the preliminaries dictate the match-ups. So it s number 1 vs. num...

Were back with news of the Citizen Series 8 relaunch and heres something exciting - these watches feature automatic movements! Citizen and mechanical: these are words I wont tire of saying any time soon. Lets take a closer look.In the highly competitive $1,000 to 2,000 price range for mechanical watches, we are spoiled for choice. One noticeable absentee in the running, though, has been Citizen. On the one hand, we havent been so surprised by this because the brand has been thoroughly committed to Eco-Drive. On the other hand, when people are spending this level of money, they typically want a mechanical movement inside the case. And then theres the gigantic elephant in the corner of the roo...

The interview, everyone is talking about, had its premiere yesterday in the US and today it will be released in Europe. Meghan Markle and Harry spoke with Oprah Winfrey about everything that raised doubts about their relationship and the reasons behind Megxit. Other burning issues they are tackling are their relationships with other royals, racism, and how their mental health suffered. Apart from the various controversies, they have a big impact on the current trends, maintaining, as they do, an impeccable style. Are you curious about what watches the British royal family wears on their wrists? Read on to find out more!?Meghan Markle wearing Cartier Tank Fran?aise /?Photo: Matt Sayles/PA/AAP...

It s fair to say the Hamilton Intra-Matic gets a lot of airtime on Fratello, but with good reason. Since its (re)release, it has been one of the most praised watches in its segment. Earlier today, we broke the release of the Intra-Matic Chronograph with a green dial. It was an olivine stunner that wowed the team, but what I have for you this evening might top even that… Proving that less is sometimes more is the newly-released Hamilton Intra-Matic H chronograph.Upon first glance, you might not be able to tell exactly what s new about the H variant of Hamilton‘s now-famous Intra-Matic, but the differences are quite significant. Majorly, this watch is hand-wound. And while that is ...

Today is International Women s Day so, in honor of women in watchmaking, I thought sharing a recent interview conducted with my friend and former colleague (at Omega and NOMOS), Susanne Kloss, NOMOS Glashtte s Head of Servicing, would mark this date in style.Rob Nudds: Hi Susanne, thanks for talking to us at Fratellowatches.com. Would you please be kind enough to tell our readers who you are, how you got into watchmaking, and the path along which your career has taken you thus far?Susanne Kloss: I am Susanne, 35 years old. To be frank, watchmaking wasn t always on my radar. When I was younger, I d always planned on working for a travel agency after school. My dad made me aware of an article...

Welcome, one and all, to the preliminary round of March Mania 2021, here on Fratello. Are you a watch maniac like we are? If so, you re sure to love our month-long feature. 96 watches reviewed last year line up for a battle royale like nothing that s gone before. We need your votes. We want your comments. Help us decide the champion and share in its glory! Let the games commence…In this round, your task is simple: vote for your favorite watch. Below you will find a selection of 12 timepieces that we covered here on Fratello throughout 2020. Why not refresh your memory by clicking the links and reading those eruditely penned odes to wrist-wear? Once you ve made your selection, vote usin...

Today is a reason to celebrate because Citizen is finally bringing us a high-end mechanical movement. As we ll see, it will come at a price, but it s a step in the right direction. Let s take a look at The Citizen Caliber 0200.If you re accustomed to reading Fratello, you know that we re fans of Citizen. Vintage Citizen is my current passion and Im doing my utmost to pile them up like cordwood. Regarding modern Citizen watches, color us intrigued. Gerard went diving with one not too long ago and I truly enjoy my Promaster Tough. The thing is, though, Citizen has put most of its eggs in the Eco-Drive basket. Theres nothing wrong with this because Eco-Drive is about as bulletproof as it gets. ...

Over the past decade, almost the entire Swiss watch industry has been under a cloud of uncertainty: ETA, the leading supplier of mechanical movements in Switzerland and part of the Swatch Group, has successively been reducing sales of movements to third parties since 2010. For several independent watch brands like Titoni, this has meant that only Sellita in La Chaux-de-Fonds remains as a reliable partner for affordable, good quality movements on the kind of scale ETA s former cohorts require.Although Grenchen-based Titoni has cultivated the art of traditional watchmaking, with a focus on mechanical watches, for decades, the company - like most watch brands in the mid-price segment C did not ...

Within our team, the Hamilton Intra-Matic Chronograph is a popular beast. I know for a fact that a couple of the Fratelli will be racing out to buy this new green version that, on balance, is one of the best value propositions in the industry today.High praise? Indeed it is. But is it justified? Weve all known for a long time that when it comes to branding, genuine heritage, and bang-for-buck, it is really difficult to get past the entry-level Swatch Group brands. When Hayek went on his industry-wide sweep up in the early eighties, he corralled several established powerhouses that had, thanks to the quartz crisis, fallen on hard times. Names like Longines, Certina, and Tissot joined the port...

Welcome, one and all, to the preliminary round of March Mania 2021, here on Fratello. Are you a watch maniac like we are? If so, you re sure to love our month-long feature. 96 watches reviewed last year line up for a battle royale like nothing that s gone before. We need your votes. We want your comments. Help us decide the champion and share in its glory! Let the games commence…In this round, your task is simple: vote for your favorite watch. Below you will find a selection of 12 timepieces that we covered here on Fratello throughout 2020. Why not refresh your memory by clicking the links and reading those eruditely penned odes to wrist-wear? Once you ve made your selection, vote usin...

Yo, yo, yo. We made it to Edition 2 of WASP, the hotly-anticipated sequel to last week s pod-column debut. The sweet hosting vibes of R&B (Rob and Balazs) take over Episode 41 of Fratello on Air to bring you your weekly round-up of sports news. Today, we welcome our first phone-in guest to the show, establishing a segment, which we hope some of our dear readers will partake in one day soon!Ranting Robbie enters the smooth booth and unloads about the recent controversy surrounding Bill Belichick s legacy. It s a brutal monolog, but the riposte is worth waiting for so hang tight. This podcast player is blocked because you did not accept marketing cookies. Change cookie settings The gre...

In our Sunday Morning Showdown, two of our writers go head-to-head in an epic showdown for the ages. Strong opinions and hysterical hyperbole are welcome (so feel free to join in with the fun in the comments section below). And don t forget to let us know which watches you d like to see torn to shreds/effusively exalted next week. We ll try and feature as many of our readers choices as we can. This week serves up a conundrum. With the prices between Seiko and Grand Seiko converging, our writers consider what this means for the options. Do you part with your cash for the highest-end Spring Drive diver from Seiko, or go in through the entry point with a similar Grand Seiko?Specifically, we ar...

Welcome, one and all, to the preliminary round of March Mania 2021, here on Fratello. Are you a watch maniac like we are? If so, you re sure to love our month-long feature. 96 watches reviewed last year line up for a battle royale like nothing that s gone before. We need your votes. We want your comments. Help us decide the champion and share in its glory! Let the games commence…In this round, your task is simple: vote for your favorite watch. Below you will find a selection of 12 timepieces that we covered here on Fratello throughout 2020. Why not refresh your memory by clicking the links and reading those eruditely penned odes to wrist-wear? Once you ve made your selection, vote usin...

I am not that well-endowed in the wrist department. There, I said it. I don t have the wrist mass that allows me to successfully and confidently wear some larger-sized watches, and that s a shame. There s plenty of watches that I would love to own, but the sheer heft of the case means it d look like I was wearing a wall clock on my wrist. Despite my lamentations, there s not much I can do. I m not a weights guy, and I won t be going down to the local gym to pump some wrist iron and bulk them up. It s just not happening.I like hiking on the weekends, but that s as far as my exercise goes. All of the above basically means that most Panerai watches are firmly outside the realms of wrist-based r...

Welcome, one and all, to the preliminary round of March Mania 2021, here on Fratello. Are you a watch maniac like we are? If so, you re sure to love our month-long feature. 96 watches reviewed last year line up for a battle royale like nothing that s gone before. We need your votes. We want your comments. Help us decide the champion and share in its glory! Let the games commence…In this round, your task is simple: vote for your favorite watch. Below you will find a selection of 12 timepieces that we covered here on Fratello throughout 2020. Why not refresh your memory by clicking the links and reading those eruditely penned odes to wrist-wear? Once you ve made your selection, vote usin...