Girard-Perregaux is one of the brands that is being undervalued by a lot of watch enthusiasts. Undeserved in my opinion, as it is a true manufacture with their own in-house developed movements with superb level of finish. I noticed that the interest in this brand has been growing over the past 12 months (according to the latest figures from Chronolytics) and also note that our previous articles on Girard-Perregaux (especially the review on the F1 Chronograph and Opera series) are quite popular amongst FW readers.The new Girard-Perregaux 1966 41mm in rose gold is a timepiece that I had on my wrists for quite a while. When I first opened the box, one of my first thoughts were Finally, a perfec...
If you ve been following this blog for the last few weeks or so, you ve probably seen the report about our factory visit to Norwich on the day of the launch of Meridian watches. We were honoured to have the scoop about this watch brand. In an earlier stage, you might also have seen the teaser drawing as shown below. Contributing guest writer Jake Price received a Meridian MP-05 for review and reports here on Fratellowatches.The brand in question, Meridian Watches, launched at Salon QP Thursday the 8th of November and were given a warm reception by those lucky enough to be at the event. Their aim is simple: to make watches that are Made in England…for the World. I think they are succeed...
At the same time of the start of the SalonQP 2012 event in London, Fratellowatches introduces a new brand that will be shown for the first time to the public at SalonQP. Our own watch photographer Bert Buijsrogge recently visited Meridian in England to give you the full story on this new brand in case you couldn t make it to SalonQP in London.Just a couple of weeks ago we received a phone call from someone, suppressed number of course, asking if we were interested to come to England to see some cool watches. England you say? Not exactly the center of horology anymore now is it? True, but it sure is the center of something else! Long story short, one week later the plane took off heading to N...
Me and Mr Jones…….we got a thing goinonThe song, Me and Mrs. Jones, was a song originally performed by Billy Paul back in 1972. It alludes to the extramarital relationship between a man and his lover Mrs Jones.My relationship with F.A. Jones is more wholesome. Florentine Ariosto Jones was the American entrepreneur who founded the International Watch Company back in 1868. IWC have produced many beguiling timepieces since its inception.However, one that got away, was a limited edition hand-wound Portuguese F.A. Jones I saw a few years ago. The watch was available in different metals, but my favourite had a white dial and blued Breguet hands. It reminded me of my innocent youth as a...
High frequenciesI am on the cusp of being a grumpy old man. I can see it is on the horizon. My future is laid out in front of me. I now think it is my failing hearing that is the cause. Apparently as you become older the hairs in your ears, which resemble bearded barley, begin to break or become entwined.My failing hearing manifests itself in missing elements of conversations. I seem to momentarily find myself with a daft grin on my face as my brain computes the gaps in the sentences I have only partially heard. Some refer to this as Cocktail Party Syndrome, an inability to differentiate a sound from background noise.Recently I heard about the Mosquito sonic deterrent. It is a high pitched s...
Speedy Tuesday is here! This time we show you something special that one of our readers sent to us. Chris from Australia sent us photos of his Omega Speedmaster Professional Moon Phase Skeleton. A platinum Speedy Pro that Omega created in 2003 together with master watchmaker Armin Strom.Armin Strom is well-known for his skeleton and engraving work and is responsible for this beautiful hand finished ref. AT145.0058 Speedmaster movement caliber 3604A.This movement, based on the Lemania 1884 is the skeletonized version of the Lemania 1874. A movement we ve seen in other Speedmaster Professional Moon Phase watches as well, being Omega caliber 1866.Only 57 pieces have been made of this skeleton S...
Ever since its introduction at the?Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) in 2011, we ve been waiting to get our hands on this Audemars Piguet Millenary 4101, ref. 15350ST. In the past, we ve almost only covered their Royal Oak collection (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here and then some more (114 times)).The only time we covered the Millenary collection was when we mentioned the Star Wheel and the introduction of this Millenary 4101 in 2011. We called it one of the nicest surprises in 2011 but in fact, we only got to lay our hands (and lens) on one just recently. Luckily, the sensation when looking at it was still the same as tha...
On the 8th of November the doors to SalonQP in London will open. One of the most interesting items during the event will be the launch of a new watch brand with a ‘Made in England -slogan called Meridian. This hand crafted watch – of which you see one of the early sketches below – has been manufactured in Norfolk, England.The case, case back, hand-stitched leather strap or webbing strap, dial, hands are all manufactured in England. Meridian sources mechanical movements from Switzerland but are hand-finished in Meridian s style – with added complication – and assembled in their workshop as well.Meridian watches are certainly not meant to be safe queens, but need ...
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...
Our friends over at Hodinkee did a very interesting hands-on review with Eric Clapton s Patek Philippe ref.2499 Chronograph Calendar timepiece in platinum. Only two 2499 watches have been made in platinum, only one of them was sold on the market. Click here to read all about this magnificent Patek over at Hodinkee s.Watch the video below for Ben Clymer s visit to Christie s in New York City.Up Close with the Patek Philippe Platinum 2499 owned by Eric Clapton from HODINKEE on Vimeo....
Seiko is confusing us a lot with their sub brands, reference numbers and model names, but this can also be the result of the lack of availability of them here in Europe. Especially watches from the Grand Seiko range or the Prospex (Marinemaster) collection we are discussing today, are very hard to get in Europe. Authorized dealers of brands like – let s say – Breitling, Omega, , IWC etc. do not carry them at all. We don t know whether this is Seiko to blame or the jeweler s businesses, but it seems that they are just not on the haute horology map (yet).Undeserved, as you will see after reading this review on their SBDX011 Marinemaster 1000M. Also undeserved as there seems to be q...
Just recently, I wrote an article for the German WatchTime portal about Omega s Constellation and the uncelebrated anniversaries of both the original 1952 model and the 1982 ‘Manhattan edition. Just now, I noticed this teaser image on Omega s Facebook page (over 200.000 fans today).In case you re not on Facebook or not one of the 200,000 people, below is the image they just released.For those of you who can t read German, I will re-post the English version of the Constellation article I did for WatchTime below. I guess some of the conclusions are old now (already), but it still gives you a nice overview of what happened with the Constellation collection through the years.Omega Constel...
Photographer Mike Mellia, friend of the FW show, had access to some stunning Harry Winston timepieces during the TimeCrafters show in New York City last September. The event was held at the Park Avenue Armory in NYC, where many great brands show cased their new watches to the public.Mike Mellia had press access via Christie s watch department and took his photo equipment with him to do some fabulous shoots. The following photos are exclusively for FratelloWatches and if you click them, you ll get to see a larger version. Also make sure to visit the Christie s blog Longitude, where more work of Mike can be found.HW Project Z1 Triple Retrograde ChronographHW Ocean Triple Retrograde Chronograph...
An Astronaut s Speedmaster!Fratellowatches is excited and proud to show you one of the actual astronaut s Speedmaster Professional watches worn by Reinhard Furrer. Reinhard Furrer was one of ESA s astronauts during the Space Shuttle mission in 1985.On the 30th of October 1985, the Space Shuttle Challenger lifted off from Pad A of Launch Complex 39 at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA. This mission, a Spacelab mission that was funded and directed by [West] Germany was ‘nicked D-1 besides the official Space Shuttle program code STS-61-A. D-1 stands for Deutschland-1 and a part of this succesful mission was controlled by the German Space Operations Center in Oberpfaffenhofen (near Munic...
Last Friday, Christie s in London was having the 50 years of James Bond auction, where Bond fans could bid on officially used items in the famous 007 movies. We are – of course – especially interested in the watches that Bond wore in his movies.In Skyfall, 007 is again wearing an OMEGA Seamaster on his wrists. Both an Aqua Terra and a Planet Ocean, two sub collections of the famous Seamaster series. The Planet Ocean that Daniel Craig wore during the movie shoot, has been auctioned for the stunning amount of $157,250 GBP (?$254,273 USD / CHF 236,473).There was a lot of rumor and gossip around this watch, as OMEGA kept it quiet for a long time which watch would be used in Skyfall. ...
Like every Tuesday, it is Speedy Tuesday! If you own a Speedmaster, or a Speedmaster is part of your watch collection, at least wear it on Tuesdays! It is also a very good reason (or excuse) to purchase a Speedmaster – new, pre-owned or vintage – of you don t have one yet.This week s Speedmaster is the new Speedmaster Racing. We ve seen it during the BaselWorld 2012 show, when OMEGA showed it to us in their press booth. Luckily, every year OMEGA takes the time to give us a private viewing of their new collection. One of the watches that caught our attention was this new Speedmaster Racing.We say ‘new , because there have been Speedmaster ‘Racing models in the past as...
We said it many times already, being a watch enthusiast is not about money or having lots of it, it is about watches. Tissot is positioned as the entry level [luxury] watch brand of the Swatch Group and we thought it would be nice to pick one and have a closer look.In cooperation with The Watch Hut – UK s largest watch website – we picked this Tissot Heritage Visodate Automatic timepiece from their stock to review it here on Fratellowatches. This watch, a classic round shaped timepiece with a leather strap and an automatic winding movement has a price tag of 385 GBP (approx. 480 Euro / 620 USD).The Watch Hut was kind enough to send us a model to try & wear and it didn t take ...
There seem to be a lot of questions about the watch we are featuring today on Speedy Tuesday. The Omega Speedmaster Professional Moonphase with Aventurine dial.Even on our favorite Omega Forum some people started to wonder whether it was a phantom Speedy or that it really exists. Well, we ve definitely had it in our hands during our BaselWorld visit and in the meanwhile, we ve seen a few photos floating around of this Speedy model for sale at a Californian Omega boutique.Although we like this ‘Speedy Aventurine a lot, there are a few things that keeps us busy. First of all, the wording ‘Professional on the dial seems a bit strange to us. Although it has definitely the same case...
The Bremont MBII was designed by Nick and Giles English, the brands founders, to be the definitive aviation chronometer and to embody everything that is meant by the phrase made in Britain. This limited edition piece created in conjunction with British retailer The Watch Gallery in London was to take that a step further and create a totally one off MBII that would be severely limited in numbers.With thanks to Alt1tude.com for the pictures.This unique collaboration has taken the best the MB (Martin Baker) range has to offer, as well as a few surprises, and rolled it in to one watch. The result? The MBII/TWG, limited to 30 pieces worldwide.The watch itself doesn t look too dissimilar from the ...
DuBois et Fils, you might have heard about them but probably not yet about their new chapter in the company s history. Thomas Steinemann, CEO and owner of DuBois et Fils has a long time career in the watch industry but it wasn t until now that he started living his dream.We aspire to build a sophisticated watch that combines classic and modern influences. We want to stand out from the crowd and inspire our customers C in line with the tradition of DuBois et fils, said CEO Steinemann. All watches manufactured by DuBois et Fils are according to fine and traditional Swiss watchmaking spirits. Also, watches are limited to 99 pieces per series to ensure exclusivity.The mechanical watches made by ...
