ANONIMO interprets the codes of Italian elegance with the new collection that pays homage to Florentine aesthetics. EPURATO: a third line that uses the main identity elements of the brand with its cushion case, its Swiss automatic movement and its dial displaying the traditional reading triangle. Refined and with a diameter smaller than its big sisters, this refined line is eminently contemporary. The originality of the bracelet and dial evokes the Italian elegance of this bronze model, the first of a new and large family. Successor to a long line of diving watches as robust as they are elegant, ANONIMO completes its range and becomes softer with the EPURATO collection. The ergonomics of the...

The Aquis is a bread and butter piece for Oris. A popular divers watch with a great price-quality ratio and aesthetics that are very likable by a large audience. Of the 12 different Aquis models (each with several different executions, with a total of 57 including 6 for ladies), 6 models are designated as ‘limited edition . A quick look in their catalog learns me that of the 57 different Aquis models, 10 watches are limited editions., each around 2000 pieces only. That s about 20.000 limited edition Aquis watches, from their bread and butter collection. There is no official number on the total annual production of Oris, but 20.000 watches is very substantial for them. Is that a bad thi...

Re-issue! Re-package! Re-package! as crooned by Morrissey of The Smiths in Paint a Vulgar Picture was actually what came to mind when I first read about todays watch, the Seiko Prospex SRPC49 Black Series. If youre at all familiar with the song (or if youre not), it, in a nutshell, speaks about the endless marketing of a dead pop star by releasing all kinds of limited edition versions of the same songs. And so it was when I first read about these new Black Series (there are three C a solar chrono diver, a solar diver and the mechanical piece you see here) inspired by night diving, I kind of sighed and dismissed the watch with nary a glance. Honestly, I thought, Seiko is starting to rival Nik...

On Thursday March 8th, Dutch auction house ‘De Ruiter will offer an interesting GMT-Master reference 1675, once belonged to Sgt. D.W. Scheele.David Willem Scheele was a Dutch-born, Australian sergeant who served several missions in the Vietnam war. Sergeant Scheele enlisted in the Australian Regular Army in 1964. He joined the Australian Army Training Team in Vietnam in March 1969 and was attached to the 2nd Mobile Strike Force, 5th Special Forces Group.Sgt D.W. Scheele s GMT-MasterSgt D.W. Scheele s GMT-Master Copyright AATTV Sgt Scheele seen in the background Originally Purchased In Hong KongDavid bought this GMT-Master ref. 1675 on the 23rd of August 1969 in Hong Kong, ...

News from SevenFriday, the brand that was among the first (perhaps it was the first) that made huge noise on social media to get the word out on their watches. Now, we are facing their M3/01 release, the Spaceship edition.SevenFriday is not a new comer, but still a very young company with 2012 as their year of birth. After their previous releases, which we covered here, here and here, it became a bit silent around the Zurich brand. Today, they caught us by surprise and introduce the M3/01 watch that is ‘Spaceship inspired.SevenFriday M3/01 Spaceship EditionAs you can see, the watch has a lot of layers (7 to be precise) and 11 applied parts to create that level of depth and gain a 3D e...

The only manufacture movement that is made in Austria comes from Habring2, the watchmaking company that is lead by Richard and Maria Habring. In 2015 I reviewed the Felix, with its in-house caliber A11B movement. Today I am reviewing the Habring2 Doppel-Felix watch, a rattrapante chronograph with in-house caliber A11RD movement.Where the Felix was a typical dress watch, beautifully but sober designed with a diameter of 38.5mm, the Habring2 Doppel-Felix is a watch with mechanical complications and much more wrist presence. Let s have a closer look.Habring2 Doppel-Felix RattrapanteA rattrapante, or doppel chronograph (hence the model name), is a mechanism just like a regular chronograph, but w...

Finally a source that put a lot of effort into documenting as many watch movements as possible. Base calibers, but also calibers based on an existing movement. Also movements that are dubbed an internal brand caliber while they are actually based on a third party movement. WatchBase is a reliable source for information about watch movements. Over 20.000 unique watches are documented, and more than 2.000 unique movements, down to the nitty gritty.How Does WatchBase Work?A never-ending project, as new calibers (and calibers based on existing calibers) are being introduced every year. The owners of WatchBase, Alon Ben-Joseph of Ace Jewelers and Alwin Hoogerdijk, developer of database software f...

Several weeks back, we featured our first vintage Citizen within the #TBT series and the article sent us a clear message: you want to see more when it comes to Japans other brand (yes, we know there are more brands aside from Seiko and Citizen C we have more in store on that topic too). Traffic was high for our review of the 51-2273 to the degree that it actually rivaled the number of visits we often see from a Seiko posting. Despite that, I wasnt planning on a repeat engagement so soon, but I thought todays piece was too exciting to ignore. And, the fact that I only stumbled upon this watch and purchased it in and around the time of writing the last article makes it that much more exciting ...

It is no secret that passionate watch collectors (and journalists) have a slight preference for vintage watch models. The same goes for the Jaeger-LeCoultre Memovox. Whatever version they created in Le Sentier, most collectors just shrug their shoulders and referred to a vintage Memovox model. On January 15th we already briefed you about the?Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Memovox limited edition and other models in the new Polaris collection. However, nothing beats a good hands-on review, so they sent us their?Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Memovox and here we are. After a few weeks of having this watch in my possession, I think I can write down some helpful notes on this limited edition of 1000 pieces....

Creux Automatiq has been going from strength to strength, the Aussie born, Swiss brand is proving to be a new force in the luxury watch industry.In late 2015 Creux Automatiq, a boutique watch company based in Sydney, Australia was born. They launched their first Swiss timepiece; the Ghost CA-01. The watch received glowing reviews from critics and industry all over the world. The design focus is avant garde, respective of the classics, but with an eye on the future of horology. Creux is now stocked in 17 different countries around the world.The Shadow and Gen II are the latest editions to GHOST series, these pieces boast a 10 atm water resistance, with a double anti glare coated sapphire crys...

Since it is freezing cold out here I thought it was the right time to create something which does remind me of more sunny places: a tropical dial!Design versus NatureWe all love and hate certain things about a watch. When a brand launches a watch, every detail has been carefully designed (at least, let s assume). Colors are an important aspect in this matter. Every brand wants to create the perfect watch and conserve it. But, the funny thing is, there is another player in the field: nature. Especially with vintage watches, some are partly formed by nature. Probably the most known?phenomenons are ‘patina and ‘tropical dials.What Is A Tropical Dial?When watch production was still...

You have probably heard by now that a number of brands are going to offer certified pre-owned watches themselves. Business that was mainly in the hands of watch dealers (sometimes authorized dealers, but most of the time independent watch dealers) and being advertised using platforms such as Chrono24.Linde Werdelin was among the first to offer pre-owned watches themselves, but now Audemars Piguet and Breitling recently announced this new business as well, it was picked up by titles like Bloomberg and suddenly everyone is talking about it. But what does it mean, for the market and especially for you, as a consumer? Lets have a closer look.Two Reasons For Offering Certified Pre-Owned WatchesIn...

When given the choice, Id choose a mechanical watch over quartz every time. For readers of a site like Fratello Watches, my opinion rests within the majority, but its most certainly in the minority when viewed from almost any other lens. The advent of the quartz movement was so disruptive and, lets be honest, so superior from a timekeeping perspective versus anything else before it that actually deserved to win out when compared to most of its competition. Of course, the problem with quartz movements is that theyre often machine made, lack soul, and are almost too good. What Ive come to realize though, and granted this is still infrequent for me, is that a quartz watch can be a nice thing (s...

Once in a while, we receive stories from our readers on their Omega Speedmaster that we feature here on Speedy Tuesday. This week, it is Phil s story about his 18 carat gold Speedmaster Professional that he dubbed ‘Dave Navarro . I ve met Phil on-line, via his instagram (@Phillterr) account and later on met him in New York during a watch event for which he was invited as well. For today s Speedy Tuesday feature, we have Phil s story on how he became interested in Omega and specifically his gold Speedmaster Professional.Without further ado, here s Phil s story.The Dave Navarro SpeedmasterLike many people, I tend to give my watches a nickname, often a name related to either the experienc...

Breitling is a brand that we recently featured as one of our top buys for collectors in our Vintage Market Update C The Chronographs. I mentioned that theres a broad back catalog of pieces worthy of consideration due to their looks and innovative features. When I published the article, though, I stepped back and realized that while I did the brand some service by surfacing the topic, an opportunity existed to give collectors a better sense of the brand. Of course, we ve touched on the brand in a couple #TBT articles where we featured the Top Time 814 and, more recently, the 765 CP.? Still, how could Fratello Watches best cover the brand and begin to make some of the vintage Breitling lines m...

For all the stories we write about Seiko here at Fratello Watches, we spend that exact opposite amount of time talking about Citizen. There are some reasons for that: namely, theyre a tough company to track down and they almost solely focus on non-mechanical watches these days (despite owning Miyota, one of the largest suppliers of mechanical movements). On the vintage side, were guilty of having never featured a watch from the brand. There are reasons for that which Ill detail in the next paragraph, but weve held off long enough. Today, ladies and gents, we kick off our coverage of the other brand from Tokyo and take a look at the Citizen 51-2273 diver.Before we get into the details of the ...

My first encounter with a Cartier Santos was in my late teens (early-mid 1990s). The owners of the local cafeteria annex snooker place were completely Cartier powered. Cartier Santos on the wrist, wearing Cartier glasses, fingers covered with Cartier rings, and on the other wrist Cartier bracelets and so on. I knew about this watch, but I can t recall where this specific knowledge came from. I guess this is applicable for a lot of people that would recognize a Cartier Santos for just being a Cartier Santos. I actually do remember that I asked the end-boss of the cafeteria about his Santos watch. He proudly told me he was a Cartier fan, and collected many things Cartier. When I dig a bit deep...

Just over 5 years ago, we covered the Omega Speedmaster From The Moon To Mars edition from one of our readers from Singapore. At the time, you could pick these watches up for $2600 on the pre-owned market. Today, full sets are being offered for just under $5000. Literally all Speedmaster watches (new, pre-owned and vintage) went up in price in the last five years, but I did not expect the From the Moon to Mars edition to almost double in price.From the Moon to MarsI write this with a bit of astonishment, as the Speedmaster From the Moon to Mars, reference 3577.50, did not seem to be a big hit to me at the time. This has a couple of reasons, but mainly because I felt there was no real story t...

Two electronic watches on Fratello Watches the same day, what are we thinking? The one I m wearing this week, however, is totally different from the Grand Seiko Robert-Jan covered here today though. The Casio G-Shock GST-W130L is 52Mondayz week #7 watch.Casio G-Shock GST-W130LShowing the World Time function, with here UTC in the upper two round digital displaysHence, what is so totally different about these watches? I wouldn t say that the movement Casio uses here, their caliber (Casio uses the term ‘module ) 5515, isn t high-end. In a totally different way, however. It s probably not beautifully decorated and finished, but it s extremely functional. Solar-powered, and multi-band time ...

Not particularly a fan of quartz, but I don t hate it either. Especially when it is done right, in a special way or with specific functionality (think Breitling ExoSpace or Omega s X-33 for example). The Grand Seiko does not provide digital or ‘specific functionality, but the quartz movement surely is special. In fact, I prefer a Grand Seiko 9F quartz movement over some of the (non-Grand Seiko) mechanical movements out there. So before you click away, because it is about quartz, you might want to keep reading.Some times, quartz can be done in an interesting way, even without digital functions. Like did with their Oysterquartz movements, it was in production for roughly 25 years (star...