Chronos24.pl and Fratellowatches.com are proud to present you this new, special, bi-weekly section dedicated to our fellow watch journalists and bloggers. Ever wondered what they really like? C read on.Without going into the long-lasting dispute about who is a journalist, who is a blogger, and which of this two is better (like it matters) we tried to find out about a? more interesting topic: what are the personal favorite watches of watch editors and which timepieces would they purchase when having unlimited resources. In the next coming weeks (every other Monday) we will bring you some of the biggest names from the world of watch editors, both acclaimed authors with an impressive track-reco...

Many of the readers of Fratellowatches come from the United States according to our statistics. In that respect, we feel that this part of our readers are probably more familiar with Hamilton than we are. You should know, that Hamilton wasn t very known in Europe until a few years ago when their PR machine started here as well. Especially with the Khaki models, they quickly conquered the market for affordable mechanical watches. The presentation we received by one of the Hamilton representatives last year in Basel was reason for us to have a closer look at this brand. We asked or a Hamilton Khaki Pioneer Pilot Chronograph watch and we received it for a hands-on review.The Hamilton company ha...

Chronos24.pl and Fratellowatches.com are proud to present you this new, special, bi-weekly section dedicated to our fellow watch journalists and bloggers. Ever wondered what they really like? C read on.Without going into the long-lasting dispute about who is a journalist, who is a blogger, and which of this two is better (like it matters) we tried to find out about a? more interesting topic: what are the personal favorite watches of watch editors and which timepieces would they purchase when having unlimited resources. In the next coming weeks (every other Monday) we will bring you some of the biggest names from the world of watch editors, both acclaimed authors with an impressive track-reco...

Gerard Nijenbrinks is a friend of the show since the early start of this blog and actually much longer than that. He is the guy from whom I bought my first Speedmaster, in October 1999. He has his shop Horloge Platform since 1989, where he currently specializes in pre-owned and vintage watches only after having been an official retailer for a number of brands as well.Always in for a new (horological) project, Gerard came up with 52mondayz.com, an fun and personal initiative where he will show one watch from his personal collection every week. So, starting on the 24th of February, he will post a picture of one of his watches every Monday. This project will continue for one year, showing 52 di...

It s Speedy Tuesday! This week we have our friend and fellow blogger Christopher Beccan of Bexsonn?telling us about his vintage Omega Speedmaster Professional 145.022-69. This reference 145.022-69 was the successor of the caliber 321 Moonwatch (145.012) and – especially in those first years – available with a few different case backs.One of them is the one of Christopher s watch, with straight text engraving. Then there is another similar case back with additional ‘Apollo XI 1969 engraving and considered to be very rare. The other two are more common, the Seahorse case back without engraving (typically before 1970 but after October 1968) and the other one has the round eng...

Just recently, our long time friends Elizabeth Doerr and Ian Skellern started their own on-line magazine on watches called Quill & Pad. With their knowledge on numerous horological subjects as well as their (combined) experience in publishing they already treated us with quite a few interesting in-depth articles on Quill & Pad since its launch.Anyhows, Elizabeth Doerr and Ian Skellern want to properly celebrate the start of their joint-venture with a number of cool prizes to win. The only thing you have to do is start reading Quill & Pad and subscribe to their newsletter. More can be found here.One of the fabulous prizes you can win is this?Manu Propria fountain pen by Angular Mo...

Official Press Release: As one of the fundamental primary colors embodying all that is eternal, powerful and elegant, the Girard-Perregaux flagship 1966 and Vintage 1945 collections now feature dials clad exclusively in blue.By its choice of elegant tone, the Swiss Manufacturer offers lovers of fine watches an extra touch of originality and acknowledges the prominence that color has played in many of its historic timepieces. In the closing years of the 18th century, Girard-Perregauxs founder Jean-Fran?ois Bautte, was one of the first master watchmakers to make successful use of this distinctive tone, in what was seen at the time as a revolutionary development. It has been a regular feature o...

It s Speedy Tuesday! This week we have a rare bird for you: the Omega Speedmaster Broad Arrow Rattrapante. To be totally honest with you, we kinda forgot about this one actually. However, friend of the show Ruckdee from Thailand (who contributed with his Speedmaster Mark II before) reminded us of this rattrapante timepiece.The Broad Arrow collection has been discussed before (here and here) and is a significant part of the Speedmaster collection.? This rattrapante however, only lived a short life in the Speedmaster family.Ruckdee bought it in 2009 when he heard that it would be taken out of production. The other reason – or excuse – is that the Speedmaster Broad Arrow uses a move...

Every since we ve met with Arnold & Son in Basel last year, we can t wait to see more of this beautiful brand with English roots. Their head of movement development Mr Chaulmontet demonstrated their new timepieces with such a sincere passion and enthusiasm that we are looking forward to the upcoming Baselworld exibition. Our friend and fellow blogger Christopher Beccan of Bexsonn.com did a wonderful job in reviewing the Arnold & Son Double Balance GMT timepiece from the Instrument Collection.Shown below is the photo we took ourselves from this very same Arnold & Son Double Balance GMT or DBG GMT last year. A stunning timepiece with two visible balance wheels through a large apert...

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...

Ever since I started to develop a serious interest in watches, I ve been exposed to the advertisements of A. Lange & S?hne in (mostly) German watch magazines. This must have been around 1997 or 1998, just a few years after the A. Lange & S?hne manufacture got ‘re-invented . Since then, I ve always had a weak spot for their Lange 1 timepiece, especially in white gold but never was lucky enough to be able to pull the trigger on one.Big was the joy – and smile on my face – when A. Lange & S?hne in Glashtte sent me one of their timepieces to perform a review and photo-shoot on. The A. Lange & S?hne Lange 1 Time Zone in platinum is one of my favorite watches, as...

Just before SIHH 2014, I received this Officine Panerai Luminor Marina 8-Days reference PAM00510 for a review. A week of wearing this Panerai made me go back 10 years ago, when I first bought a Panerai Luminor Marina. A watch that I fell immediately in love with at the time, with its large case and thick vintage looking calf strap. This time however, the Panerai comes equipped with an in-house developed 8-days power reserve movement instead of the Unitas based hand-wound movement it had before. Let s have a look at this PAM00510 that was introduced to us about a year ago, during the SIHH 2013 exhibition in Geneva.I even quite well remember where I saw the Panerai Luminor Marina up close when...

It s Speedy Tuesday! Ever since we saw the new Speedmaster 57 Caliber 9300 models – but especially after a couple of weeks of wearing it ourselves – the Fratellowatches team is in love with this particular model. In case you missed it, read our thorough hands-on review of the Speedmaster 57 Caliber 9300 here. This week, we show you the stainless steel Omega Speedmaster 57 Caliber 9300 from one of our readers and followers on Instagram.Using his instagram account?@GeoMags, we noticed that he was wearing this Speedmaster 57 Caliber 9300 on some of the Speedy Tuesdays (use the #speedytuesday hashtag for over 500 photos of Speedmaster watches on Instragram or just to join the Spe...

Chronos24.pl and Fratellowatches.com are proud to present you this new, special, bi-weekly section dedicated to our fellow watch journalists and bloggers. Ever wondered what they really like? C read on.Without going into the long-lasting dispute about who is a journalist, who is a blogger, and which of this two is better (like it matters) we tried to find out about a? more interesting topic: what are the personal favorite watches of watch editors and which timepieces would they purchase when having unlimited resources. In the next coming weeks (every other Monday) we will bring you some of the biggest names from the world of watch editors, both acclaimed authors with an impressive track-reco...

Already announced in December 2013, but we ve finally come to see it in the flesh during the SIHH 2014 in Geneva last week. The Reverso is perhaps the most iconic Jaeger-LeCoultre timepiece and since a few years it is possible to buy this ‘Tribute to 1931 or simply ‘1931 model that comes very close to the original watch from the 1930s.After releasing a few boutique specials of this watch, Jaeger-LeCoultre decided to make this Grande Reverso Ultra Thin 1931 with its pink gold case and chocolate-toned dial available for all JLC retailers.A while ago we did a hands-on review with the stainless steel version of the Reverso ‘1931 (which you can read here). The case dimensions...

Omega unveiled the Seamaster Planet Ocean Orange Ceramic in platinum and the Seamaster Planet Ocean in platinum in black set with a diamond in the ceramic bezel, diamonds in the case and a diamond shaped Omega logo on the sapphire case back. Yes, that s right, although everyone expected a novelty in orange (after some teasers on the official Omega Facebook and instagram channels) Omega decided to introduce two new pieces. Limited to 8 pieces each, both models were unveiled today by Omega in Geneva in their boutique at the Rue du Rhone.Also to become later on available in stainless steel with this new technology of orange ceramics, Omega first introduces this new watch in Pt950 platinum. Not ...

You know we love the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak collection so you are probably not surprised by the fact that we will give it some fresh SIHH 2014 attention now. While the Royal Oak Offshore models like the ‘Safari or ‘Navy were always in 42mm (case diameter), somehow Audemars Piguet decided to emphasize on this by mentioning it in the collection name. It seems to be a common mistake that people think these watches are 44mm, but they weren t & aren t. The new collection also has a new reference number, starting with 26470 (instead of the previous and much memorized 26170).As you can see above, the Safari model is still there. Where the current or former model had a light cre...

The SIHH 2014 started today and we had appointments with a number of brands already, including Piaget. We wrote about the new Piaget Altiplano 900P before (here), but didn t see it in the flesh yet. The groups of people present during the presentations are quite big (> 30 persons), so there is little room to do some quiet photography work. In any case, we hereby show you some live pictures of this ultra-thin 38mm timepiece.Piaget has a long history of creating and producing ultra-thin watches, it has become their signature actually. Their famous caliber 9P from 1957 only measured 2mm (manual winding). Their calibre 12P from 1960 only measured 2,3mm, for a self-winding watch. From the 35 m...

The SIHH 2014 in Geneva will start tomorrow and Fratellowatches will be there to bring you the latest news with our own photos and stories! We also recently opened our Press Release section on our website, so you also will be able to read the official press release information that we receive from brands. However, we will of course continue bring you our unique content as well like you are used to from us.Today we received the pre-SIHH 2014 news on the Parmigiani Fleurier Metro collection. Not too long ago we paid a visit to the Parmigiani HQ and production facilities and we were more then impressed. Our photo report of that visit can be found here. The Metro collection is their latest intro...

Press Release: In 1907, Jaeger-LeCoultre laid the foundations of what was to prove a key element in the identity of its watches. That was the year when the association between Paris-based businessman Edmond Jaeger and Swiss watchmaker Jacques-David LeCoultre gave birth to the worlds thinnest pocket watch featuring a blend of aesthetic refinement and horological sophistication that only a Manufacture uniting the full range of skills under one roof could hope to achieve. Today, Jaeger-LeCoultre confirms its ability to anticipate the future of Fine Watchmaking by unveiling the Master Ultra Thin Minute Repeater Flying Tourbillon watch, the eleventh creation in the Hybris Mechanica collection and...