CastellationsLooking back in history, ramparts would provide protection to those residing within the confines of a city or castle. Indeed, there have been many noblemen who have been grateful for the protection afforded by substantial castellated walls.The battlements of medieval castles appeared to majestically interface with the clouds above whilst keeping the inhabitants safe. Their strength has stood the test of time, with many historical structures attracting tourists who choose to admire their august appearance.Eberhard & Co. have chosen to?mark a significant landmark in their?history with a column-wheel?chronograph, typically found on?several of the finest chronograph?movements. I...
Why we didn t feature U-Boat beforeIf you are not from The Netherlands, Belgium or Luxembourg, you can skip this small introduction for sure. However, if you want to know why we didn t feature more U-Boat in the past, keep on reading.Earlier this year, I was on a short trip to London and U-Boat UK invited me over to meet with them. I have to be honest with you and say that U-Boat wasn t exactly on my radar for a long time. The reason for this is that they were marketed in The Netherlands (where we are based) in a terrible manner approximately 10 years ago. However, I decided to go to see the people at U-Boat in London and to my surprise they acknowledged the fact these early days weren t the...
A 1984 Speedmaster Mark V Reference 376.0806It s Speedy Tuesday! Today we have something quite special, an OMEGA Speedmaster Mark V from 1984. OMEGA introduced the Speedmaster Mark series in 1969 with the Mark II and it lasted till the Mark V (1984). The OMEGA Speedmaster Professional (either 145.022 or – as we know it now – 3570.50) was always available as well during these 25 years.Chris L from Manila sent us some pictures of his Speedmaster Mark V, that is in his collection since 2006. A time piece that is hard to get (there is currently only 1 for sale on Chrono24) for Speedmaster enthusiasts. Although most of the Mark series are very well documented on the legendary Chuck Ma...
GoodPlanet and OMEGARemember our trip to Capri in May 2011 to join OMEGA during the introduction of the new Seamaster Planet Ocean? During this event, Yann Arthus-Bertrand joined for an evening and it was announced that OMEGA support his work for the GoodPlanet foundation. The GoodPlanet foundation released a movie ‘Planet Ocean to demonstrate what s going on in our oceans today and what the consequences of our abuse of these oceans might be in the future.Last week, Fratellowatches attended the screening of this movie in Amsterdam. Hosted by OMEGA and Mooi PR, the Planet Ocean movie was shown to the press in The Dylan hotel in Amsterdam. After a nice reception with drinks and some foo...
Manero Tourbillon Limited EditionCarl F Bucherer watches have been there since quite a while. Already in 1919 Carl F. Bucherer introduced a line of ladies watches in the Art Deco style. From that moment on, Carl F. Bucherer is producing and selling watches that include chronometer certified watches, chronographs, diving watches with super compressors cases, perpetual calendars and so on. However, it wasn t until 2001 that the watches were produced with ‘Carl F. Bucherer on the dial. Before that, it just said ‘Bucherer . In 2001, Bucherer repositioned their watch brand as ‘Carl F. Bucherer and became famous for their Patravi collection.In the meanwhile, Carl F. Bucherer a...
In April I went to the German watch capital called Glashtte, near Dresden. There are 10 watch brands located in this little town which has a rich ticking history. Only three of these brand can call themselves manufacture, which means they produce their own movements in-house, and Nomos is one of them.The main Nomos building is situated inside a former railway station which still can be seen by several details in the building and by the simple fact that trains still pass by just a few meters away.After a pleasant meeting with Mr Uwe Ahrendt (CEO) and Ms Ute Fischer-Graf (PR) the factory visit started.?From the large glass meeting room, which is right next to the tracks, we go down the stairs...
3rd Generation Speedmaster pre-ProfessionalIt s Speedy Tuesday! Earlier this year, Bert and I went on a horological trip to Switzerland and visited the OMEGA museum in Biel. One of the people from the museum showed us a number of Speedmasters that they had on archive (that is: not displayed in the museum). One of them was this very early Speedmaster 105.003 also known as the 3rd generation of Speedmaster pre-Professional model. One can dispute that, as there were three reference numbers before the 105.003.The CK2915 as the very first Speedmaster, the CK2998 is the second generation of Speedmasters and then there was the 105.002. This watch is basically a CK2998, but at this time, OMEGA intro...
Linde Werdelin SpidoLite II Tech Green and GoldJust before Baselworld, Linde Werdelin introduced the new SpidoLite II Tech watches, part of the Spido Family. An updated version of the first SpidoLite collection and a more technical version of the previous SpidoLite II collection (which we reviewed here). In Basel, Bert sat down with the Linde Werdelin team and was able to shoot some photos of the new SpidoLite II Tech Green and Tech Gold.All technical information and pricing information can be found in our previous post, here.As you can see on the picture above, the material of the case shows resemblance of the forged carbon material that brands like Audemars Piguet have applied to some of t...
Armin Strom ManufactureMy first encounter with the Armin Strom Manufacture and their work was with a skeletonized OMEGA Speedmaster watch. That s right, Armin Strom has worked for 10 years on various skeletonized OMEGA timepieces. However, in the 40 years being active as a watchmaker and engraver, he also started working on his own timepieces since 1984. During the years, his business – both for other companies and his own – grew and in 2009 the Armin Strom AG moved to a large production facility in Biel. This was also the year that Armin Strom introduced their first in-house developed and manufactured movement, the ARM09. During the Baselworld 2013 exhibition we paid a visit to ...
OMEGA Speedmaster Professional Apollo 11It s Speedy Tuesday and today we put this stealth Speedmaster Professional Apollo 11?limited edition in the spot lights. Stealth? Yes, as it appears to be a regular Speedy Pro ‘Moonwatch until you take a closer look at the caseback. The special engraving tells you that this is a limited edition (9999 pieces) to commemorate the Moonlanding on the 21st of July 1969, at 2:56 GMT. This Speedmaster Professional Apollo 11?ref. 3560.50 (or ST 345.0223) was introduced in 1999 for the 30th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission in 1969.Apollo 11?– SpeedmastersDuring the Apollo 11 mission, astronauts Michael Collins, Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong wer...
Pontos S Diver PT6248On March 10th of this year, we already introduced the Maurice Lacroix Pontos S Diver to you on Fratellowatches. However, all we had were the press photos and as you know, we d like to take our own pictures of (new) watches. So during the Baselworld exhibition in April, we visited the nice people at Maurice Lacroix and had a look at their new collection.The Pontos S Diver is a new watch in the Pontos collection and we think they are going to hit jackpot with it. A very cool looking diver s watch, either with bracelet or leather NATO strap.Diver s Watch – Diver s FeaturesIn order to be a diver s watch, it definitely needs some necessary diver s watch features. This m...
Speedmaster DateIt s Speedy Tuesday! Today we have an OMEGA Speedmaster Date reference 323.30.40.40.04.001 or ‘Panda Speedy as the owner calls it. OMEGA has been using these ‘Panda dials in different models, including the Speedmaster Professional (Apollo 11 35th Anniversary edition in 2004 and the Speedmaster Mitsukoshi edition for the Japanese market in 2003). This Speedmaster Date also has a white dial with black sub registers, looking like a Panda face.As you can see, the Speedmaster Date case is not much different from the Moonwatch with its brushed sides and polished facets on the lugs. The 40mm case is just slightly smaller than the Moonwatch / Speedmaster Professional an...
Day-Date ref 118138 and 118139The watch that doesn t need further introduction, the Day-Date. Introduced in 1956 as the first chronometer wristwatch that had a day and date complication. A classic timepiece from the start, that – in the meanwhile – has and had a lot of prominent owners. This year during the Baselworld 2013 exhibition, introduced a few new variations to their flagship collection, yellow, Everrose and white gold Day-Date models on a leather strap with the following dial colors: cognac (yellow gold), ?cherry (white or Everrose gold), chocolate (white or Everrose gold), green (yellow gold) and blue (white or Everrose gold).?Day-Date , a Ladies or Men s Watch?Origi...
OMEGA Speedmaster 311.33.42.50.01.001It s Speedy Tuesday! We received – with pride – a number of photos of the 2007 OMEGA Speedmaster 1957 50th Anniversary model reference 311.33.42.50.01.001 from Darren Townend. Friend of the show and serious Speedy collector! Let s zoom in a bit on this awkward – but very cool – Speedmaster model, limited to 1957 pieces only.Different from the MoonwatchThis Speedmaster 1957 was actually introduced in the very same year as the OMEGA Speedmaster Professional 50th Anniversary model with the Seamonster logo printed on the dial (in gold color). In our Speedy Tuesday article of 21st of August 2012, we actually discuss this model in-depth ...
BR01 Aviation Collection 2013Bell & Ross and its iconic BR01 Aviation collection has a few new instruments this year: the Heading Indicator, Airspeed and Climb. Limited to 999 pieces only, although the first 99 pieces are only available in a collector s box that also contains the BR 01 HORIZON, ALTIMETER and TURN COORDINATOR (introduced in 2012). So basically, there are 900 pieces for sale if you don t fancy this collector s box.BR01 HEADING INDICATORThe Heading Indicator piece shows the time using rotating discs. Three discs are in place, for hours, minutes and seconds. Bell & Ross made the dial look like the original heading indicator instrument, using the W, E, S and hour indicato...
Gumball 3000 Anniversary EditionFratellowatches was present on the Gumball 3000 grid in Copenhagen last weekend. With Hublot being the official sponsor for this 15th anniversary edition it was definitely not the only brand on the wrist of the drivers.?The?Gumball 3000?is an annual 3,000-mile (4,800?km) road rally which takes place on?public roads, with a different route around the world each year.?This year the rally starts in Copenhagen and goes to Stockholm, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Riga, Warsaw, Vienna and the finish is in Monte Carlo.Fratellowatches was there to do some watch spotting!Photo 1. On the wrist of A. Dharamsey from Team Wolfpack we spotted this AP Grand Prix All Carbon.Photo...
Speedmaster Broad Arrow or Speedmaster Professional?It s Speedy Tuesday! Don t let the broad arrow hands fool you! Often confused with the Speedmaster Broad Arrow, this Moonphase model is definitely part of the Speedmaster Professional collection. This Speedmaster Professional Moonphase is based on the Speedmaster 57 re-edition ref.?3894.50.37 that was introduced in 1997/1998. It was in production from 1999 till 2003 and has the famous hand-wound Lemania based caliber 1866 movement. This is a modified version of the caliber 1861 movement, that can be found in the current line-up of Speedmaster Professional ‘Moonwatch timepieces.This Speedmaster Professional Moon Phase ref. 3575.20 cl...
Liu Bolin (1973) is an artist from China who s famous for his camouflage work. On himself. You probably have seen some of his work on Facebook updates or other blogs, where he totally disappears or embeds in the background. Liu Bolin is also known as The Invisible Man and?most popular works are from his Hiding in the City series.During the last few days Liu Bolin has been active in Germany and did a very nice camouflage piece in the?MIK in Ludwigsburg (Germany). He made himself disappear in front of a newsstand. On Liu Bolin you will find the German watch magazine called Uhren Magazine. On the right of Liu, you see the watch magazine Chronos. Both German titles and regarded as the best out t...
Oyster Perpetual Yacht-Master II 116680For us, one of the nice surprises this last Baselworld was definitely the stainless steel Yacht-Master II ref. 116680. A few years ago, introduced the Yacht-Master II. It wasn t a successor to the Yacht-Master ref. 16622 but an addition to the collection. While the Yacht-Master was connected with yachting, there was no specific feature of the watch that would support the men on boats. Except for being water resistant. The Yacht-Master II is one of the few watches with a ‘real complication besides a date feature. The regatta (countdown) chronograph will help skippers in the yachting competition to have a perfect start. In this article, we will...
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