You ve seen them on the bookshelves at (vintage) watch dealers and collectors: the Mondani books. We talk to Giorgia Mondani, who joined her family business at a young age and shared her love for () watches with her +180.000 followers on her Instagram account.The Mondani books are massive in weight and size and are a bit more serious than nice looking coffee table format books. These are books with a purpose. They help collectors to research their vintage () watches and ensure they know what to look for. As you know, it is all about the details when collecting vintage watches.I ve been a follower of Mondani for many years and bought a large number of their books myself. It started with the b...

Lebois & Co is celebrating its 85th birthday today. The brand resurrected in 2014 and is in Dutch hands today. Today, Lebois & Co is unveiling the first live images of their upcoming watch, the Venturist Observatoire Chronometrique+ Certified Chronometer.That s a mouthful, and especially the Observatoire Chronometrique+ Certified Chronometer needs a bit of explaining. But let s have a look at the new Venturist first.Lebois & Co Venturist Observatoire Chronometrique+The Venturist watch is the second model that Lebois & Co introduces. After the successful release of the Avantgarde Date (in three different executions), Lebois & Co thought it is time to come up with a tool wa...

A real flyback stopwatchVulcain MinStop, made in West-Germany. Also known as a parking meter watch for precise timing of your parking time.About 60 years ago, not everyone was super excited about chronographs as we are today. Most watches were much smaller than they are today, except for those bulky chronographs, mainly used by people who actually had a purpose for them. But some smart engineers in Germany decided to combine a dress watch with a chronograph and keep the proportions acceptable. And not a regular chronograph, but one to keep track of your running parking meter.Vulcain MinStop Parking Meter WatchParking meter watch demandWas there really a demand for these? Well, I dont know th...

Welcome to Wrist Game or Crying Shame, where you don t need the House, Senate, Lords, Commons, or even a quorum to cast your vote on which watch should take office on your wrist.? Today, we come out of left field with the Day-Date Tridor.? But first…I m kind of angry at you readers.? You were downright rude to what I thought, and still think, is a super cool dive watch: the TAG Heuer Super Professional.? Apparently, you like your TAGs with more color, less mechanicals, or a bunch of buttons on the side as you gave this watch a serious Bronx Cheer with a 75% Crying Shame vote.? Well, that s more Super Professionals for me, then!? Let s see how you feel about today s eccentric pick, the...

I am super excited to tell you about our new shop and most of all, about our collaboration with Frederique Constant for this Manufacture Moonphase exclusive for Fratello.Lets start with the shop. For us, the shop is a (new) way to keep our magazine growing in the best possible way. Traditional advertising is slowly fading away, and we dont want to have paid editorials like most other titles out there do. It is something Ive always said to myself and others: as soon as I have to write about watches that I dont want to write about, Id rather find myself doing something different. We want to be able to bring you independent reviews and tell you like it is (in our opinion). But besides that, we ...

A few months ago, I pre-ordered a Forstner Komfit JB mesh bracelet. The Forstner brand was resurrected and started to produce those weird-looking mesh bracelets again that could be seen on the wrists of NASA s astronauts.These bracelets are often better known as JB Champion bracelets. JB stands for Jacoby Bender, and they acquired the Forstner brand (in 1963) before astronauts started to use their Komfit bracelets. Both companies were long gone already, but Forstner has recently been brought back to life again. Speedmaster enthusiasts have been responding very positively to the new Forstner company, and I have to say that I shared that excitement as well. Somewhere in October, I decided to m...

Gerard is the ‘instigator of the 52Mondayz feature, but we all thought it was a good idea to chime in. Besides the fact that it makes this a bit more personal and versatile, you also get to learn more about what we wear and why we wear it. So the first contribution from my hand will be about my Submariner with reference 116610. Submariner 116610LNAlthough the Submariner needs very little introduction, heres a recap of the history of this watch. This model was first launched in 1953, and this iconic diver has seen minimal change over the years. When comparing the current Submariner to the first models, you can clearly see the DNA of this watch. Over the years, it became more robust, ...

If there s one thing that Grand Seiko absolutely masters, it is the art of dial making. This collaboration piece between Texas-based dealer Timeless and Grand Seiko is the perfect example of that.Grand Seiko needs no introduction here on Fratello, we covered them a lot in the last few years, and with good reason. It took us a while to get acquainted with the high-end watches from Seiko (and since 2017, Grand Seiko is operating as a separate legal entity). Still, once this bug has bitten you, it becomes tough not to compare them to high-end Swiss watch brands. Based on their extreme efforts in finishing dials, hour markers, hands, and basically all other parts, Grand Seiko is an exciting bran...

Our Watch of the Week is the MeisterSinger Circularis Automatic Old RadiumYes, indeed C this watch looks cool. And of course that would have been enough to declare the Circularis Automatic the Watch of the Week. But of course it has a lot more to offer than other watches.The Circularis models are among the premium watchmaking products of the Mnster-based single-hand watch brand MeisterSinger. Their movements were designed by Swiss specialists according to MeisterSinger specifications.Because a single, long hour hand must be especially precise, it requires a design with a dual minute wheel that minimizes the play of the hand. The MSA01 has a rotor winding mechanism with a circling tungsten w...

Hey team, it s time for This Week in Watches and we have lots of news this week!? I m already listening to Buble and would like to get back to it – so let s get into it!RJ Watches ARRAW Spider-Man CarbonFirst up on This Week in Watches is the RJ Watches Spider-Man Carbon.? This 100-piece, 45mm carbon-cased watch features an in-house RJ-3005 manual wind movement that looks like it s floating in a spider s web.? The case back is done in titanium and has some pretty cool Spider-Man inscriptions on it.? Honestly, I m at an age where I look fondly upon my comic book buying days and I m sure there are other (far wealthier) people who feel the same.? At 19,200 Euros, they ll be getting someth...

This is the second installment of the Pre-Owned Picks series. In this weekly Pre-Owned Picks series, a Fratello editor will select some watches from the pre-owned market and explain why it is an exciting offer (or watch).As you could read in our first Pre-Owned Picks article in collaboration with Chrono24, the pre-owned market is enormous. And logically, it is only going to grow as more people will buy and sell their watches. Every week we will select a few pre-owned watches from their offers and discuss them here. Basically, for this week s episode, I picked a few watches that are either always on my radar or watches that are on my wishlist. Without further ado, let s have a look at this we...

The Sternglas Naos is a stylish statement from a young German startup company.Bauhaus is hot in 2019! Unless you have lived in a cave for the last twelve months, you probably have read somewhere that 2019 was the year celebrating the 100th anniversary of the German Bauhaus movement. There have been a string of events and product releases to celebrate the start of the modernistic inspired Bauhaus design. The watch industry is also no stranger to Bauhaus design with brands like Junghans, who have a collection by former Bauhaus student Max Bill and Nomos Glashtte drawing inspiration from Bauhaus to design their collection of timepieces. Swatch also paid tribute to Bauhaus this year by releasin...

I dont like ketchup, but I could not resist the charm of a magically levitating bottle of Heinz Ketchup on this three-hander proudly signed Timex. I dont know why exactly, as there was no intentional process behind it, but this year I happened to wear the Angelus Chronodato to most of my important business meetings and pitches. This is my routine: when traveling for business, I usually pack four serious watches, always one modern Omega Speedmaster coupled with three other vintage pieces. When I was packing for a business trip to the other end of Slovakia last week, I threw in the Timex Heinz Ketchup just for fun.Timex Heinz KetchupTimex Heinz stage timeI was about to pitch a big corporate cl...

The Black Bay by Tudor is a collection of heritage-inspired dive watches with their Pelagos range covering the modern interpretation of a dive watch. Staying close to that heritage, the Black Bay is only available on distressed leather straps, riveted bracelets or fabric straps. Tudor do supply rubber straps that fit the end links of the Pelagos titanium bracelet, but the Black Bay does not have an OEM rubber option. That s left a niche in the market for third party manufacturers to thrive and develop rubber straps bespoke for the Tudor Black Bay s lug and case design.Rubber StrapsBelow are 4 examples for comparison in ascending price brackets. For the purposes of this review, only rubber st...

Remember the first Omega Seamaster Professional 300M ‘Bond ? The 2541.80 (quartz) and 2531.80 (automatic) to be precise. Those watches weren t limited editions, but part of the regular Omega collection and worn by Bond in 1995 and onwards. Today, we introduce to you the Seamaster 300M that Bond will wear in No Time To Die, and it will be in the regular collection as well.I love the Seamaster 300M 2531.80. I had many, sold many, and repurchased one two years ago, realizing I shouldn t have sold the first one that I bought in 2000. The Seamaster 300M was, and is, the bread and butter piece for Omega. It always offered a lot of bang for the buck and still does. Especially the recently int...

Welcome back to Wrist Game or Crying Shame, a unique user interface allowing potential wearers of wrist-related objects to express their opinions in an anonymous, stress-free environment.? Today, we ll present you with the TAG Heuer Super Professional.? But first…Well, you all have a real penchant for watches named Submariner and that rang true with last week s Tudor of the same name.? The reference 79090 – the last acrylic crystal beast released by Genevan-based – cruised to an easy 65% Wrist Game win.? Clearly, plastic is fantastic with this crew.? Well, a scant 10 years or so later, another Swiss-based company threw its hat into the ring and tried to compete with some b...

I can think of very few brands bursting onto the scene that made a swish in recently years, let alone one that landed with a bang. Singer Reimagined is one that has appeared on my radar since day one, loud and clear. An independent brand acclaimed for its 2018 GPHG award-winning Track1 chronograph, it hit Planet Horology like a red hot shooting star.Founded in 2016, Singer Reimagined made a mark with the inaugural Track1 model and continues to leave a trace with 4 more editions. The watch instantly garnered a GPHG nomination in the chronograph category. Back at the start, Balazs spent some time with co-founder/designer Marco Borraccino and introduced you to the first two editions HERE. Withi...

Dubai Watch Week 2019 took place from November 20th till November 25th. Fratello was there and recorded a podcast to discuss this horological event organized and hosted by the Seddiqi family in Dubai s Financial Centre. This podcast player is blocked because you did not accept marketing cookies. Change cookie settings Our Fratello-on-Air podcast can be played via Apple, Soundcloud, Spotify, Google podcast, and Buzzsprout.Dubai Watch Week 2019In this 8th episode of Fratello on Air, Balazs and RJ report from the Dubai Watch Week. It s a relatively short episode without any listener s questions but instead, focus on the initiative from the Seddiqi family in Dubai. This family, a large and i...

Recently, Fratello was invited to visit the Vacheron Constantin Head Quarters in Switzerland. In this article, we give an overview of the fantastic things Vacheron Constantin showed us during that day.Unlike most factory visits, we found our way to the Vacheron Constantin HQ within 30 minutes after touchdown. This is also one of the reasons we could do this visit in just one day, as the flight is only 1.5 hours from Amsterdam to Geneva. Without further ado.Vacheron Constantin through the yearsBesides Fratello, some other journalists were invited as well to visit Vacheron Constantin. As you can see above, the Vacheron Constantin building has an impressive architecture. Although I am out of th...

When you find yourself searching for a vintage Omega Speedmaster, we are pretty sure you are open to all the help you can use. The world of vintage (Speedmaster) watches can be a snakepit, and we d like you to survive and find yourself buying a good watch in the end.Enjoying your vintage Speedmaster is partly based on being convinced you find yourself a proper one. When you have doubts about the hands, the dial, the case, or perhaps even the movement, it takes away part of the fun.?When you know something is not correct about a watch, it is up to up to decide if you still want to pursue it or leave it alone. It is therefore important to know what to look for, which details matter, and how to...