For some reason, The Netherlands has always been one of the centers of Europes watch scene. Among many famous (or infamous) watch nations the Dutch are in the foreground for sure. Just think about (international) platforms with Dutch roots like WatchUSeek, Troisanneaux (now closed), SomeTimeAgo, Monochrome?and last but not least Fratello Watches just to name a few familiar ones. So it is no surprise that they know a thing or two about the watch strap game as well. The company we are about to show you is much more than just a strap seller. Not that it is not hard enough to provide?these cool?straps we have shown you so far, but these guys took this to another level. What they offer is not onl...
Around 2003 or so I saw a watch in a magazine that was produced for the Hungarian Air Force in a very limited number. It was the 3rd edition commissioned by the Air Force. The first two editions were given to different squadrons based in Hungary (Papa and Szolnok), after that the Air Force also ordered watches for themselves. This was the first time (and not the last) Fortis produced a custom made watch for flight squadrons and this was the first time I came across the brand: Fortis.Photo of the above mentioned watch from https://trendmagazin.hu/cikk/a-papai-pilotak-egyedi-karorajaI had a meeting with Fortis during BaselWorld this year and got to see some really nice and unusual watches. If ...
Are you looking to buy an Omega Speedmaster but don t know where to start? We re here to help! Over the past 65+ years, Omega has created many variations of one of the world s most famous chronographs. The classic 42mm Moonwatch has been in the collection since 1965, and to the novice eye, little has changed since then. But if you look a bit closer, you will find that the Speedmaster evolved quite a bit in the decades that followed.In this Speedmaster guide, we ll give you an overview of the most important references of the Speedmaster (Professional) and some of its variations. Although this article isn t meant as a pricing guide, we will give some hints, of course. If you re already a knowl...
We love our watches, theres no doubt about that. Thats why youre here, right? There are all those other things surrounding them though; watch winders, watch rolls, tools perhaps but most importantly straps. No decent watch site can function without a strap review. That was in my head when I came up with this idea and presented it to the team.Nevertheless we gave it a twist. We would like to introduce some of the lesser known craftsmen to the wider audience. People whose work we find interesting or out of the ordinary. Who C most of the time C hand make their products at home, educate themselves and improve their technique so when their product reaches you and you put it on your timepiece you...
Are you looking to buy an Omega Speedmaster but don t know where to start? We re here to help! Over the past 65+ years, Omega has created many variations of one of the world s most famous chronographs. The classic 42mm Moonwatch has been in the collection since 1965, and to the novice eye, little has changed since then. But if you look a bit closer, you will find that the Speedmaster evolved quite a bit in the decades that followed.In this Speedmaster guide, we ll give you an overview of the most important references of the Speedmaster (Professional) and some of its variations. Although this article isn t meant as a pricing guide, we will give some hints, of course. If you re already a knowl...
When we first saw the Tudor Heritage Black Bay a few years ago (2012), we knew that Tudor had gold in its hands. An amazing timepiece that was inspired by Tudor s own heritage (we did a report here and here on their vintage pieces). This year, just one day before the BaselWorld exhibition opened, we were invited to witness the new & old collection of Tudor. They decided to come back with a new version of the Heritage Black Bay, this time in the wonderful Midnight Blue color.Although we already showed you the Tudor Heritage Black Bay Midnight Blue watch in this previous post, we were able to wear the watch ourselves for a couple of weeks and will now share our?findings and photos with you...
It s Speedy Tuesday! We get so many emails from readers who would love to buy a (vintage) Speedmaster watch, preferably complete with the original box and papers. Well, last week I ve come across this advertisement on the omegaforums.net platform and it probably is a rare chance for you to buy a full vintage set of an Omega Speedmaster Professional 105.012.Omega Speedmaster Professional 105.012As you probably know by now, the Omega Speedmaster Professional 105.012 is considered to be the first Moonwatch model that actually was worn on the Moon by Buzz Aldrin. Neil Armstrong left his Omega Speedmaster Professional 105.012 in the command module since the (Bulova) board clock broke down and ast...
It doesn t take much research to know that Sylvester Stallone is a huge fan of Panerai watches. He even ordered ‘custom made Panerai watches a couple of times, featuring ‘Slytech on the dial.Amongst others, Stallone had 200 pieces made of the Luminor Marina (ref.?5218-207/A)? with a white ‘Slytech dial (which was auctioned in 2006 for $ 16,520 USD, see picture below). It was called the Luminor Daylight Slytech and exactly this model inspired Panerai to come up with a new model that has similar features. This new white dialed Luminor Daylight is part of the Special Editions PAM000785 set that Panerai introduced during the Hong Kong Watches & Wonders exhibition.Special...
MeisterSinger is pretty well-known among watch aficionados, so there is no need for an introduction on this German brand. However, last week MeisteSinger unveiled their Circularis collection that does need an introduction. The MeisterSinger Circularis is an entirely new collection – consisting of three watches – that carry a bespoke movement, caliber MSH01.It is not an in-house movement nor does MeisterSinger claims it to be one, but it has been developed in very close co?peration with a Swiss partner. This uniquely designed hand-wound movement has a power reserve of 5 days and can act as the base caliber for MeisterSinger watches in the future. Can be, we write, as nothing is ce...
Ever since I was a kid, I have been interested in watches. First in Casio and Swatch watches, but basically in all sorts of watches. Since I was born in 1977, I grew up in the quartz and – for a large part – in the digital era. Digital watches were basically the ones to have. In the meanwhile, the rest of my family was wearing Omega watches, gold Constellations and a sporty 1960s Omega Geneva. My father always told me that this was the brand that went to the Moon, without being exactly precise which model that was.Omega Speedmaster Professional 145.012Fast forward 1999. In the meanwhile I received an Omega watch for my graduation, which really triggered me into watches. In 1999, ...
For many people, a watch is not only a device that tells time, as numerous other devices surrounding us can do that today. It is also a piece of art, jewelry, perhaps a status symbol or perhaps equipment for something else as well. From diver watches to chronographs with pulsation scale on its bezel for specific pusposes.? Then you have those watches that people wear all the time; even when playing sports.We all know the history of Jaeger-LeCoultres Reverso and the British polo players. Have you heard about Cartiers Basculante or Universal Geneves Cabriolet though? Read on!Reversible Watchesphoto from rg_watches from eBayphoto from Universal Genevephoto by Jaeger Le-CoultreFor those of you w...
The German manufacturer Sinn has a long history when it comes to mission timers. Seventeen years ago, in 1997 the now legendary and sought after EZM 1 (EZM is Sinn s trademark and acronym for Einsatz Zeit Messer) was the first in a successful line.Mission timers are watches which have been specially developed for a particular purpose. They always offer excellent readability, and the design of the watch is always dictated by it s function and handling requirements. The watch manufacturer from Frankfurt sent us their Sinn EZM 9 TESTAF model for a thorough review.Sinn EZM 9 TESTAF ReviewThere have been mission timers for different purposes, like diving, flying and border control (like the illus...
I remember when being a kid, our neighbor showed me his new timepiece. A Seiko with a moon phase. I was very intrigued by it, not even knowing it was ‘just a quartz watch and that a mechanical moon phase watch would be much more complicated. It must have been mid-1980s somewhere, so what did I know?In any case, a moon phase disc on the dial of a watch is ever since something magical to me. It became even more magical when I learned about mechanical timepieces in the mid/late 1990s. It is one of the complications on a watch, not being a very useful one, that I really love.It is a real challenge though, to find a mechanical timepiece with a moon phase complication that comes at an affor...
Moonwatch Only Book introduction at the Tourbillon BoutiqueLast Tuesday, Speedy Tuesday, we organized an event for Speedmaster collectors and enthusiasts together with the Tourbillon Boutique in Amsterdam. The Tourbillon Boutique is owned by Swatch Group where you will find the high-end brands that belong to this group, including Omega. The perfect place to host an event for Speedy Tuesday and some of its followers.Theme of the event was the release of the Moonwatch Only book by authors Rossier and?Marquie. Gregoire Rossier was present during the Speedy event at the Tourbillon Boutique to speak about his book. It was by coincidence that Gregoire Rossier was present in Amsterdam and we took t...
We already showed you the Omega Speedmaster Grey Side of the Moon, or Lunar Dust as it was called at the time of introduction in BaselWorld. However, Omega is now officially introducing it to the public as ‘Grey Side of the Moon , on Speedy Tuesday.The Speedmaster Grey Side of the Moon didn t change since we ve seen it in Basel actually. The platinum dial, the grey ceramic case and of course the awesome looking alligator strap all remained the same.As we ve wrote in our initial article on the Speedmaster Grey Side of the Moon (or Lunar Dust), the ceramic case actually started out as a white block of ceramic. The white ceramic case was subject to 20,000 degrees of Celsius for three hour...
One of the best surprises of BaselWorld this year was definitely the Omega De Ville Tresor with its Master Co-Axial caliber 8511 hand-wound movement. Available in white gold, yellow gold and Sedna gold (red).Although we know Omega especially for their sports watches in the current collection, their De Ville and Constellation line-up is important as well. These classic looking collection have quite a history and one could say that the Constellation was at one point the flagship of the brand. However, the Constellation took a different course since 1982 with their ‘Manhattan design and the De Ville was until 1999 a toned down collection with a lot of dress watches.In 1999, Omega introdu...
It was on November 9th 1989 when Berlin was reunited after over 28 years of a big wall that separated East- from West-Berlin. On the 3rd of October all of Germany was reunited. Nomos celebrates the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall with two Orion 1989 watches.Nomos was founded in 1990 in Glashtte, in the east part of Germany, only two months after the fall of the Berlin wall and in the same year when Germany was reunited. In 1992 Nomos hit the market with 4 different models, including the Orion. Of course, not only Nomos grew out to be a world renown watch brand from this former DDR village and heart of German watchmaking, also brands like A. Lange & S?hne were revived and...
After shipping the last few items from our previous Give-Away, we already come up with some new interesting give-away items. This time, in close cooperation with Sinn Spezialuhren from Germany.We love Sinn, functional timepieces with a highly innovative focus. This company from Frankfurt am Main in Germany can count on the horological heart of many (on-line) watch enthusiasts out there. Also outside of Germany of course.In case you missed our last Sinn review of their reference 140 ‘Space Chronograph , please click here to read it. In the past, we covered Sinn several times with cool photo shoots by Ming Thein as well as in-depth reviews.Give-Aways by SinnIn order to win one these four...
Tudor is doing an amazing job with their Heritage collection of watches. The demand for the Tudor Heritage Black Bay is overwhelming. Earlier this year, we showed you the new Midnight Blue version of the Tudor Heritage Black Bay. During the introduction of that model, Tudor also showed us a number of their vintage models from their own archive, like this Submariner 7924 Big Crown.As you know, we d like to do our own photography as often as possible here on Fratello Watches. A while ago, I had this Tudor Submariner 7928 in my personal collection and decided to put it on front of my camera lens. This Tudor Submariner 7928 dates back to 1966 and has (on some pictures) the reference 9315 bracele...
Since a couple of years there is a trend of watch brands opening their own boutiques or flag ship stores. This way, the watch brand has more control with respect to the quality of the sales staff, has direct contact with its customers and – perhaps – decreases the number of watches disappearing into the grey market. Also, the brand is able to create the perfect atmosphere for its clients that fits the brand in the best way.Will retailers disappear? I don t think so, at least the big chains (think Wempe, Tourneau etc) will survive as well as shops that really specialize in certain (niche) brands (think Chronopassion, Marcus etc). Small individual stores might get into trouble in t...
