Whether a watch wears comfortably on the wrist or not isnt one of the top priorities for most watch buyers. More likely, its design, brand, specs or prize that guides the buying decision. In a way that makes sense, especially since more and more watches are being sold online without being able to try them on in the first place. On the other hand, its pretty surprising since most men will end up wearing their watch throughout the day. Unlike a shoe or a button up shirt, we all know how that feels when it just doesnt fit right.Of course, theres different aspects that make a watch fit right on the wrist. Case diameter is one, lug-to-lug width another. However, these measurements do not just dep...
Greetings and my apologies for the late publishing of This Week in Watches. Ive essentially been on the road since last weeks article, but Ive kept an eye on events. Lets get to it – here s your dose of TWIW…Hodinkee s 10th Anniversary (image credit: hodinkee.com)Hodinkee 10Wed be remiss if we failed to congratulate the fine folks over at Hodinkee on their 10th anniversary. The brands impact, via the leadership of Ben Clymer, on the watch hobby as we know it cant be underestimated. They continue to evolve, by trying different things, while employing some great writers C many of whom are friends of ours. Personally speaking, I remember Hodinkee from the get-go and it was a real ga...
We ve covered SevenFriday a few times in the recent past and they sent us their latest watch which is officially launched today. Time to have a look at the new?SevenFriday S3/02 Carbon Edition which was made in collaboration with an innovative partner.Different ApproachFor those who know SevenFriday, this new version is easy to recognise. Witits s typical case design SevenFriday first saw daylight in 2013 and it was an instant hit. Although the reactions were mixed they are still going strong which answers the question, if it was?short-term fame or not, in our first SevenFriday article by Balasz some 4 years ago.SevenFriday is different from many watch brands by their approach to watch desig...
The beautiful thing about watches is the fact that they are universal. On the one hand, it means that fans of different brands or types of watches can link up often across continents. On the other hand, it also means that watchmaking is everywhere. We tend to think that watches can only come from Switzerland, perhaps Germany, God forbid Japan. Reality is however that it is much more complicated than that. Take the USA for example. Many of our favourite Swiss brands today (like Hamilton) started their history across the ocean in America. Also, other brands that came from the USA (Bulova for example, before the Citizen era) conquered the industry without leaving the motherland. Id love to thin...
If you read our stories about Tissot you could think that; A, the brand only releases heritage models or B, we simply do not care about the new timepieces. Well, this is not quite the case. While it is true that most of us here at Fratello have a soft spot for vintage we also love modern watches-occasionally. All jokes aside, we would like to keep a healthy balance between old and new, affordable and pricey, big brands and small (independent) watch companies. This is the reason why this time we will take a look at a Tissot that indeed came out this year, is rather affordable but is a new model, not a reedition. It is the Tissot Seastar 1000 Powermatic 80, an affordable everyday watch on the ...
Just when we think weve discovered every TV/watch tie-in, someone unearths a previously unknown connection. Todays #TBT is the perfect example of great sleuthing as well be taking a look at the Seiko 5126-8090 Kamen Rider from March of 1968. Todays story is a rather Japanese one and it just so happens to feature one of my favorite vintage Seikos.Well explain the very foreign nickname given to the Seiko 5126-8090 Kamen Rider shortly, but (spoiler alert) it references an early 70s Japanese tokusatsu TV show. According to Wikipedia, tokusatsu is a genre of live-action film that goes heavy on special effects and is often associated with sci-fi, horror, or fantasy. Godzilla likely ranks as the mo...
New York-based Auction house?Fortuna has their Important Watches sale tomorrow (December 6th) with no less than 114 lots.??From those lots, we selected four watches for you to check out (and feel free to browse the other 110 lots of course).Let s start with the 5512 that is featured above. Submariner 5512 Square Crown GuardsOne of the rarest versions of the Submariner, the reference 5512 with square crown guards, launched in 1959, replaced earlier models without crown guards to protect the crown from impact and water damage. It is thought that less than 100 examples of the Submariner with square crown guards were made; only about 30 are known to the market. Because of the damage the square...
Quite some time ago already, Jarle sent us a question about the Blancpain Trilogy Fifty Fathoms models. These models were initiated by Mr. Jean-Claude Biver (while at Blancpain) at the end of the nineties, and are in fact the first descendants of the illustrious Blancpain Fifty Fathom models from the fifties, sixties, and even seventies.You Asked Us! Blancpain Trilogy Fifty Fathoms, black sheep of the family?Picture through Flickr by Andi from Munich, GermanyLet s start with the complete text of Jarle s question:From: JarleSubject: Black sheep; Blancpain TrilogyMessage Body:In 1997 the most iconic dive watch reemerged from hibernation. It was the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Trilogy. In productio...
The world s largest online market platform for watches is hosting a Speedmaster-only auction on December 11th. A selection of discontinued and rare Speedmaster limited editions are being offered through the Chrono24 platform as auction items. What to think of the highly sought-after Alaska Project re-edition from 2008? Or the Japanese racing model from 2004? You will find the platinum Apollo 11 edition from 2009 as well.They are all there, and you will also find the 2003?Snoopy Award, 2017 Speedy Tuesday and the very interesting Speedmaster 50th Anniversary Edition (2007) with the huge box that comes with a number of tools. This particular watch was kept in stock till 2014 and serviced in 20...
Now that the recently announced Fromanteel Pendulum Traveler is for sale, we decided that this was as good a time as any to dive a little deeper into the Amsterdam watchmakers. What drove them to create the automatic Pendulum watches? Lets have a look!Watches With a StoryThe only thing better than an affordable, high quality watch is an affordable, high quality watch with a story. And the story of the Amsterdam-based watch brand Fromanteel Watches is certainly one worth telling.What inspired founders Alfredo Silva and Martijn van Hassel to design their Generations, Globetrotter and Amsterdam Original Series in the way that they did? What is the story behind their Pendulum watches? What trigg...
About two years ago, Bert and I visited the boutique of the Davidoff Brothers in Geneva, and were able to capture a number of tropical dial Speedmasters. Among them, a CK2915 with tropical dial, but also the later CK2998, 105.003, 105.012, 145.012 up till the 145.022 (first watch with caliber 861). In total, we had 12 references in front of us, each with their unique (aesthetic) features.Because we know you love the Speedmaster and especially those with a tropical touch, we put this article in the spotlight once more. Enjoy your dose of #SpeedyTuesday.Omega Speedmaster Tropical DialSome of the Speedmaster dials have the tendency to fade to brown. There are different shades of brown to discov...
When one thinks of a style the world associates with Germany, Bauhaus comes to mind. In architecture, furniture design or watchmaking Bauhaus was, and to some extent still is, the most prominent influence for many. The clean lines, simple shapes and the heavy usage of monochrome all became the trademarks of this era. Not too far for Germany, just across their northern border lies Scandinavia. The territory that consists of a handful of countries also has a history with design. Ikea, the affordable and stylish furniture conglomerate from Sweden is one of the most known brands out here.? Bang & Olufsen from Denmark is another name many are familiar with. Just like in every other area of de...
Last week we organized a Blancpain Fifty Fathoms event together with the Tourbillon Boutique in Amsterdam. We invited a number of our readers to join us during an exclusive evening with Blancpain and to have closer look at the Fifty Fathoms collection. Blancpain brought all their 2018 novelties to the boutique, and our guests were able to try & feel them in person.Blancpain Fifty FathomsI am pretty sure you are aware of one of the most iconic diving watches in the world: the Fifty Fathoms. This diver was introduced in 1953, before the Submariner and Omega Seamaster 300 for example, and has some very interesting roots. Two French navy men by the name of Maloubier and Riffaud came up with...
Exquisite and enriched with an additional complication: the new Patria Power Reserve augments the Patria collection by adding a model with a power-reserve display at 9 oclock.Learn more about the new Patria Power Reserve:? https://tutima.com/watches/patria/Arcing through a 300 angle and distinguished by its understated bicolour markings, the power-reserve indicator shows how much energy remains in the barrel to power this hand-wound watch. With this new complication, the Patria Power Reserve joins the ranks of fine manufacture timepieces that exemplify the savoir-faire of its Glashtte-based brand.This new wristwatchs classical 43-mm rose gold case is styled very much like the case of the s...
Greetings on this first day of December! The holiday season is now officially in full swing everywhere (I say that as my European wife chided me last weekend for putting up the Christmas tree while still in November C the nerve of Americans!) and we are back with This Week in Watches. The last week of November wasnt overly notable for news, but there were some stories worth mentioning on TWIW. Oh, and RJ was good enough to chime in on the new Cartier and with some Omega news. But first-SalonQP(lease make some changes)At the end of the prior week, RJ and I flew to jolly old England to take in the annual SalonQP exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery in London and it was- Im just going to skip the ...
We had the pleasure to go hands-on with the Seiko Presage Urushi Byakudan-nuri, or reference SPB085. I say pleasure, but this watch has a dial that is quite difficult to capture if you re without the proper equipment. And it is exactly that dial that makes this Seiko Presage SPB085 so special.Although Seiko is rushing out limited editions like there is no tomorrow (just like many other brands), I have to say that many of them simply look stunning as well. The demand from the market is for limited editions, so brands like Seiko just simply fulfil them by releasing one every once in a while. Yesterday during an event we organized with Blancpain, one of the guests made a remark that limited edi...
Today on #TBT, well discuss the Seiko SBCM023 Perpetual Calendar Diver. Yes, its another Seiko, but hopefully one that youve either not heard of or have stumbled across a review. Plus, the SBCM023 may look very familiar upon first glance, but I think youll agree that theres a lot more at work than meets the eye. If nothing else, I hope to provide a look at what can be deemed as a brief stopgap period of technology before something user-friendlier came on the scene. Lets get to it-The Seiko SBCM023 Perpetual Calendar Diver is a quartz-powered 200M ISO-rated dive watch. It contains a perpetual calendar movement (caliber 8F35) thats accurate to a jaw-dropping 20 seconds per year (normal quartz ...
Exactly 10 years ago, in 2008, Glashtte Original introduced their PanoInverse XL watches. As you probably know, Glashtte Original is located in the watchmaking capital of Germany with the same name; Glashtte. This village, near Dresden, hosts a number of watch brands, but only a few can measure themselves with the Haute Horlogerie that Glashtte Original manufactures. In 2008, the PanoInverse XL was introduced by them, to show their skills when it comes to this Haute Horlogerie, and were available in white and rose gold. Now, 10 years later, the PanoInverse is still in the collection of Glashtte Original. Not completely identical, but with some small changes. We were curious to see how t...
This week we received a rather self-evident question from Paul. He s looking for a vintage-inspired modern diver s watch. As a diver, he would actually love to use the watch in water, however, wants to use it as a daily wearer as well. Two obviously similar watches came to his mind, the Meraud Bonaire and the Baltic Aquascaphe.You Asked Us: Which one to choose the Meraud Bonaire or Baltic Aquascaphe? The original Meraud Bonaire from 2018 Here s Paul s question in full:From: Paul Subject: You asked usHey guys,Ive been watching your you asked us section and really enjoying it, I thought Id see if I can get a question answered too.Meraud Bonaire or Baltic Aquascaphe?I noticed you have re...
Exactly 6 years ago today, at the beginning of Speedy Tuesday in 2012, we featured Porsche 911 collector and fashion designer Magnus Walker and his Speedmaster Automatic 176.0012 from 1974. I thought it would be nice to highlight this feature once more, as it is not only a very cool reference but also to watch the documentary on Magnus Walker again (below).Magnus Walker and his Porsche 911 and Speedmaster. Photo (c) https://www.autickar.czMagnus Walker SpeedmasterYears ago, I noticed Magnus Walker wearing his Speedmaster Automatic 176.0012 (Mark 4.5) in a copy of TopGear magazine. I contacted him and asked him about his Mark 4.5 for a feature on Speedy Tuesday. He was happy to cooperate and ...
