Some of you only have one watch (although we ve never met you), others have a big collection of watches.?But, almost everyone has a daily beater.Above illustration is not only a word joke, but there is actually a deeper layer in it: brands could up end up as daily beater by mixing components the right way. Whats the right mix? Read on.MotivationsWe often buy watches and try to expand our collection. But, like a human body, most of the time everything keeps centralized around the heart. We try to find that single versatile piece, to use as a daily beater. The watch that suits almost every occasion. Its the most valuable piece in the collection, in an emotional way. What can be the reason for ...
We receive a fair amount of email over here at Fratello HQ, which is folksy code for saying that our team receives a lot of messages in our inboxes. Some of these emails are direct communication from readers like you, but more often than not, theyre promotional emails from brands either announcing a new model or brands asking if we are interested in covering their newest piece. Believe me, we receive these emails from the big names and we receive them from the smallest. We also get a lot of flow from brands that are debuting things that look a little more comfortable on the rotating display cabinet at your local Shell station. This latter category is a genre of watches we dont cover because,...
When considering mechanical chronographs, the 1980s and early 90s are often viewed as forgettable. Blingy, bad taste, bi-metal, quartz, or me-too automatics are just some of the characteristics that come to mind to describe the era. Then you have the brands C Ebel, Movado, Concord, and even Omega making some very of the times pieces. Whatever you think about these watches and the era in general when it comes to watchmaking is likely a set of controversial topics best left for bar rooms or back alleys. Aside from the fact that some of these watches are starting to make their way back into the focus of collectors, it cant be argued that this was a different period C Z. Cavariccis anyone? As al...
In this week s ‘You Asked Us episode we re answering a question regarding choice of a sports watch with a manufacture caliber. It came from one of our readers and reached us through the contact form on our website. Considering the three watches the writer proposes himself, he not only seems to look for a sports watch, but it should be a chronograph as well. Here s the message:This Weeks Question: Which Manufacture Sports Watch to Buy?Dear Fratello Watches, I am about to buy a sports watch, I would like to own a watch of an excellent technical level, possibly of manufacture. I oriented myself towards these models:1. Zenith El Primero 1969 ref. 03.2040.400 / 69.C4942. Vacheron Constanti...
In 2015, the Speedmaster Silver Snoopy Award watch was introducing during BaselWorld. A watch that sold out in one day at the show, to Omegas network of dealers and boutiques. This watch commemorated the 1970 Apollo 13 mission where the Speedmaster played a very important role in the safe return of astronauts Swigert, Lovell and Haise. The full story can be read here, and we also included it in our Speedy Tuesday magazine that came out last year.Omega Speedmaster Apollo 13 Silver Snoopy Award boxSpeedmaster Silver Snoopy AwardOffered for $27950USDOmega produced 1970 pieces of this watch, featuring a white dial with Charles Schulz beagle on the 9 oclock subdial and the text Failure is not an ...
Self-winding mechanical watches with iconic design 100% made in Switzerland at a totally un-Swiss price.While Blido Watch has only started-up in late 2017 with Kickstarter funding, the two initiators Pierre Nobs and Simon Husslein are very experienced and competent watch-guys and this shows in the product.Sketched with a few minimalistic strokes, the Blido is unique and archetypical; it just won the RedDot Design Award 2018.Click here to get to the Blido Black Edition Kickstarter campaign. In their second Kickstarter campaign currently online and active, the two protagonists introduce Blido ?core?, an astonishingly contemporary skeleton timepiece at an unbelievable price. Until the end o...
Here at Fratello, we obviously love watches, but we also love to meet with other watch enthusiasts. What better way to host an event for our readers in a beautiful place where you can enjoy some stunning masterpieces of German watchmaking?Baden-Baden, where you can enjoy the good-good life, is where we held our Glashtte Original event together with Tourbillon Boutique. A beautiful city in the Black Forest area in Germany, a popular destination for many tourists. But you will also find a lot of people from the area visiting Baden-Baden for their spas and beautiful surrounding nature. Last year, we already held an Omega Trilogy event in the Tourbillon boutique in Baden-Baden, and last Saturda...
Where a number of brands have huge difficulties delivering their novelties before (or in the) summer, IWC announces a special summer edition of their Portugieser Yacht Club Chronograph. For this occasion, the IWC Portugieser Yacht Club reference?IW390507 has been fitted with a stunning sun burst blue dial with white subdials as well as a beautiful?blue rubber strap.IWC Portugieser Yacht ClubAs always, the IWC Yacht Club comes with their in-house calibre?89361 movement. This chronograph movement has a flyback function and the chronograph hour and minute subdials are located at 12 o clock. The running seconds can also be found at 6 o clock. The large red chronograph second hand gives a nice co...
I find myself by the sea, on the Italian island of Sardinia, together with Anonimo. Why? Because the Italian race of the WRC (World Rally Championship) takes place in the beautiful Mediterranean island of Sardinia. For the first time the Italian born, Swiss made brand is amongst the main sponsors of the tournament. To mark this great collaboration Anonimo released a special watch; the Anonimo Militare Chrono WRC Special Edition. We were among the invited few who could have a first-hand experience with the watch, on Sardinia during the WRC. After a terrible day of delayed flights and having spent the night at the amazingly unfriendly Dsseldorf airport terminal I finally made my way to the is...
Titanium. Were spoiled by the abundance of the stiff, strong, and lightweight metal today and tend to pay little regard to how difficult a material it is to process and shape. For watches, many now simply consider it as yet another traditional offering on the palette of watch materials, but this wasnt always the case. No, when I was growing up in the 80s, titanium was darn near like talking about uranium or something ultra exotic and it often invoked thoughts of the Cold War, Russian-built submarines or my all-time favorite plane: the SR-71. But were here to talk watches and thats why well turn our attention to a family of divers that integrated the then-innovative material into their bezels...
The founders of the Australian based OmegaForums.net made an amazing video on the Omega Speedmaster Speedy Tuesday limited edition, that was introduced last year. The video is of superb quality (4K), so please make sure to watch it full screen.It shows all details of the watch and a special ‘trip through the Lemania based calibre 1861 movement. This watch with reference 311.32.42.30.01.001 was a wonderful project of us together with Omega, to celebrate the 5th anniversary of Speedy Tuesday. 2012 pieces were produced and sold, to commemorate the founding year of Speedy Tuesday. Please enjoy and make sure to sign up to the OmegaForum s Youtube channel so you will get a notification when...
Last week we received a question from one of our readers from Italy, who just became the father?of a beautiful daughter about a month ago. He would like to buy a watch and present it to her when she reaches the age of 18, to have her own birth year watch. It is something we often see happening, that people are after a watch from their year of birth. If only my parents bought a nice watch when I was born, it would have made life so much easier.This Week s Question: What Watch Would You Advise Me To Keep Aside 18 Years?Our Italian reader has been an avid reader of Fratello for a year or so, and he decided to shoot us an e-mail to ask this question. He wants to buy a watch that marks the year o...
Although it might be a close call between this LCD Speedmaster and the later Speedmaster X-33, I feel the LCD still wins the ‘Most Geeky Speedmaster title due to its high late 1970s/early 1980s design.We covered the LCD a couple of times before (read this early Speedy Tuesday story for example), and especially our team member Gerard warmed up to them quite a bit. But if there s one guy who knows them best, it must be the Speedmaster fan from Switzerland who goes by the name of @kovpics on Instagram. He just finished a website that perfectly documents the LCD Speedmaster that was actually submitted to NASA for tests in 1979. A project by Omega that s?known today as Alaska IV. Yes, that...
How having 90 Euros in coins resulted in owning a vintage Omega Speedmaster Professional. You read these stories sometimes and wish it was you. But it happened to Rumen Kostov, who has become an avid follower of Speedy Tuesday in the meanwhile. His love for the Speedmaster is because of the two most common reasons: 1) the timeless design of this chronograph and 2) the moonwatch story, of course.Although we watch enthusiasts and collectors tend to forget sometimes, spending $4500 on a watch is not normal for most people. It remains to be a lot of money, even though we are of the opinion that the Speedmaster is money well-spent. Putting money aside each month, sometimes for years, finally resu...
A 7-year waiting list for the Patek Philippe Nautilus. You ll already need to own a Patek Philippe already in order to order a Nautilus. A new Patek Philippe Nautilus is the perfect investment. Just a few of the discussions and statements we have read, heard and had ourselves about the Patek Philippe Nautilus in the past.The Patek Philippe Nautilus collection consists of 33 different watches today, the newest model being this Nautilus 5740/1G, or the ‘Nautilus Perpetual Calendar . The Nautilus 5740/1G is actually the first grand complication in the collection. While the ‘simple three-hand Nautilus 5711/1A is the most wanted reference, there is also a date & moon phase model ...
The Mako Shark: the fastest shark in the world. Smaller and streamlined, it was an ideal image for the latest dive watch from Zelos.Featuring design cues from the 60s, constructed with modern technology, the Mako Diver is a capable diver s timepiece. The sapphire crystal has a ‘box shape similar to the acrylic crystals of old, without the scratches common with acrylic. A ceramic bezel offers extreme hardness against all the abuse you could throw at it. The watch also features 500m of water resistance to survive any depth you could take it down to.The case is constructed from bronze to offer a timepiece that will be different for each and every piece.?Marine grade bronze (CNSN8)?is a m...
It s almost Father s Day (June 17th), at least in a lot of countries around the world, and you might be searching for some (last minute) tips for a little gift. While nothing beats a nice drawing, painting or another DIY piece of art from your little girl or boy, at a certain age the presents start to become different of course. I will refrain from selecting watches as gifts because that s most likely not the case for many of us. A gift for Father s Day is most appreciated when a bit of thought and creativity has been put into it. Or just a simple visit to your dad for a coffee will do in a lot of cases as well.That said, let s have a look at some nice gifts for Father s Day.A Man And His Wa...
Todays #TBT on a vintage Mulco chronograph, isnt so much about the watch. No, theres not much info out there on this very watch, but thats ok. Of course, Ill talk about the aesthetics and the mechanical heartbeat found within this piece, but theres a nicer, albeit short, story to this piece thats worth repeating. Hopefully, youll walk away feeling that even in 2018, its possible to stumble upon a real bargain within a vintage watch world thats gone quite mad.Back in late 2017, I was near the end of a several year daily search (read: many times per day) on eBay for vintage chronograph. My not-so-creative efforts to pan for gold hadnt yielded much for at least the prior 12 months. Yes, there w...
One can be creative on many different levels. Today we want to introduce Bruno Balic to you. Bruno creates stunning renderings of objects, including the Speedmaster chronograph.Besides following certain people on Instagram, I also follow everything #SpeedyTuesday of course. I see the most beautiful images that people made of their Speedmaster or Speedmaster collections. About two weeks ago, I came across some stunning 3D images by an Instagram user called @mrspeedmaster. I ve always had an interest in computer graphics and in a far past, I used some AutoDesk software myself to create drawings (study related). To cut a long story short, I admire one who masters the use of creating 3D models o...
The new Pioneer One C the timeless chronograph that has been admired in past decades is now back with a contemporary design and technology. The relaunch of this classic model lifts it onto the next level to exceed the desires and expectations of todays most critical watch lovers. By adapting originality to the latest standards of watchmaking, Hanhart brings the unique charm of the early 50s back to life.Perfect legibility with modern technologyThe exclusive watch manufacture from the Black Forest understands to merge functionality and precision engineering with exclusive, unique design like no other. Established in 1882, Hanhart has created countless masterpieces that still follow the same r...
