Auction house Bonhams 1793 is hammering watches (pocket watches and wrist watches) on the 22nd of May. Their catalog has been published today for this auction in Knightsbridge (London) and has some nice pieces.Between the fair share of usual suspects (, Omega, IWC etc), this 1940s Hanhart chronograph with hand wound caliber 40 movement caught my attention. Not because of the condition, which seems to be quite poor, but because it resembles with Hanhart s current ‘Pioneer collection so well. Their MkI watch from the Pioneer collection with black dial and Arabic numerals is based on those very first mono pusher chronographs with caliber 40 movements (1938).Hanhart uses a movement (calib...
Marvin was founded in 1850 by two brothers (by the name of Didisheim) in Saint-Imier, in the middle of the Jura. Before we write yet-another-romantic-but-sad-story about a watch company that didn t survive the quartz crisis in the 1970s but DID have some nice watches before that time we are going to stop here.Just a few years ago, Marvin Watches Co was brought back to life again by its current owners, true passionate people about watches and the watch industry. We know, because we ve met them during BaselWorld and at their current headquarters in Vaumarcus, Switzerland.The nice thing about being a watch manufacturer with some history, is that you might have some antique catalogs and drawings...
After the Explorer and Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso, Mad Men s Don Draper has now been spotted with an Omega. In episode 6 of the 5th season of Mad Men TV-series, Don Draper impatiently checks his Omega Seamaster DeVille watch sitting in a diner waiting for his lady.Despite being introduced as a watch with a water resistant case, the 1950s Seamaster watches were very elegant and not that far away from the more luxurious Constellation collection. In the 1960s, Omega started to develop the Seamaster as a diver s watch, as we know it today, and introduced the Seamaster DeVille as their more dressy collection of watches.Don Draper wears a Seamaster DeVille with a black dial and a date indicator, li...
The first Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Compressor I laid my hands on was a Master Compressor Memovox in 2004 and as far as I recall, there were no other Compressor models at that time. I really liked it – and still do – but it seems that the Master Compressor models in general are not as well received by collectors and enthusiasts as the more conservative Reverso and Master collections. I ve tried and tested Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso and Master watches in the past, but never gave the Master Compressor really a chance.In the past, we ve reviewed a couple of Jaeger-LeCoultre watches, like the Gyrotourbillon, the Reverso Gyrotourbillon 2, the Master Minute Repeater, Master Tourbillons and...
Yesterday, IWC introduced their new Pilot collection of watches at Airport Eelde in The Netherlands. Besides the product presentation, done by their Head of Design, there was also one of the TOP GUN pilots explaining to us how important time is for a pilot.In the picture above you see RJ pretending he is a TOP GUN pilot in a jet. In fact, the watch on his wrist is the actual watch of the TOP GUN pilot that was present during the event.IWC restyled a hangar, with two very nice planes (a Spitfire and a L39 jet), lovely stewardesses and a great bar and a long table with room for everyone to enjoy a superb lunch. Friend of the brand Michiel Borstlap (proudly wearing a Big Pilot) made sure there ...
Today, I received a mail by a long time watch friend that included a picture of Tom Hanks wearing an OMEGA Speedmaster Professional. This photo was featured in an article (this one) in The Washington Times about Tom Hanks and his political preferences. I am pretty sure you saw or know the Apollo 13 movie, where he plays the role of NASA astronaut Jim Lovell.In the Apollo 13 movie, he is wearing [more or less] the same Moonwatch as the NASA astronauts did. It is nice to see that Tom Hanks also likes to wear a Speedy Moonwatch in his own time, where he probably can just pick out any watch he wants to have.Actor, director and producer Tom Hanks is not on the list of official OMEGA ambassadors b...
Urwerk is almost a normal watch manufacturer, because just like many other brands, they ve included a pocket watch to their collection of impressive timepieces. However, Urwerk wouldn t be Urwerk if it wasn t something really special. The UR-1001 Zeit Device is, in their own words, an ber complication both measuring and quantifying our era, from a solitary second all the way to a monumental 1,000 years. A 1,000 years? Yes, you ve read it correctly.During our visit to BaselWorld 2012 we were able to see this beautiful UR-1001 Zeit Device in the flesh. The first thing you ll notice when picking up this pocket watch is the weight and the size. The dimensions of this Urwerk 1001 are a whopping ...
Patek Philippe not only surprised us by introducing white dial versions of the Nautilus collection, they also made us gaze at this other white dialed watch. The Patek Philippe Grand Complication 5402P, a split seconds and perpetual calendar in platinum.The 5402P is the successor of the 5004P, a rattrapante chronograph? with perpetual calendar in a 36.7mm case, also available in other case materials than platinum. Not only the dimensions of the watch case and the dial lay-out changed, Patek also did some innovations regarding the rattrapante mechanism. A number of technical measurements (a.o. a new isolator system and a new split-seconds lever) improved the reliability of the split seconds ch...
The first Speedmaster watch, the CK2915, is up for auction at Dr H Crott auctions on the 11th of May. Together with a lot of Patek Philippe and watches, they have this 1958 Speedy CK2915-2 listed in very nice condition. It has been serviced in 2011 at Omega in Switzerland, but they ve managed to keep it as original as possible in my opinion.This particular Speedmaster was produced in 1958 by Lemania, which was owned by Omega at that time and were licensed to do so, and shipped to Argentina. The picture above shows the beautiful symmetrical case (39mm) with straight lugs and the lack of crown guards that they ve added to the Speedy a few years later (starting with reference 105.012).Auction ...
Watchmaking is not limited to Switzerland, or Germany, or Japan. We ve seen a lot of nice watches coming from other parts in the world as well, like The Netherlands, the UK, Sweden and in this case, Finland. Stepan Sarpaneva was born and raised in Finland, educated by the Finnish School of Watchmaking and flew out to Switzerland for even more horological education followed by work for a number of prestigious watchmakers and manufacturers. Back in Finland, Stepan concentrated on his own timepieces called Korona.In the recent past, Ming Thein did a hands-on review of Stepan Sarpaneva s K3 Northern Stars timepiece (click here to read) accompanied by some dazzling photographs of the watch. You d...
If you ve ever been to NASA s Kennedy Space Center recently, watched the Apollo 13 movie or.. even better.. witnessed it yourself, you know that the NASA astronauts used to have a strong preference for Chevrolet Corvette sports cars.The picture above shows the Apollo 12 crew with their beloved Chevrolet Corvettes. Astronauts Charles Pete Conrad Jr., Richard Francis Gordon Jr. and Alan LaVern Bean with their 1969 Corvette Stingray coupes. Wired magazine did a nice article on NASA astronauts and their Corvettes last year, from which the picture above was taken (click here).In the book ‘Last man on the Moon by astronaut Gene Cernan, he also refers to the Corvettes several times, being th...
It is almost impossible that you didn t hear about the 40th anniversary of Audemars Piguet s Royal Oak this year. Designed by the legendary Gerald Genta in 1972 as a luxury sports watch in stainless steel at the price of ten times a Submariner at that time. Last January, Audemars Piguet introduced a slightly modified successor of their icon watch, the Royal Oak ‘Jumbo (ref.15202ST). The dial of this new version is closer to the original Jumbo (ref.5402ST) as Genta designed it in the 1970s. Of course, Audemars Piguet refrained from using their in-house caliber 3120 movement (it is too thick for the Jumbo case) and keeps it real with the caliber 2121 movement, based on Jaeger-LeCoultre...
Patek Philippe introduced some white dial versions for their Nautilus collection during the BaselWorld 2012 exhibition. Fratellowatches had a chance to get them in front of the lens during our meeting with Patek and we re happy to share our photos with you. We also were able to get the new Patek Philippe 5204P (split seconds chronograph and perpetual calendar) in front of our lens, we will get to that fantastic timepiece in another blog post.As you may know, the Nautilus is – together with the Royal Oak – a watch that get mentioned a lot here. We love icons, especially when designed by the late Gerald Genta. Last year s BaselWorld brought us a new version of the Aquanaut (Travel ...
You ve probably heard it by now, OMEGA introduced the remake of the First Omega in Space Speedmaster. The watch worn by Walter ‘Wally Schirra on the 3rd of October 1962 during the Sigma 7 flight, was the Speedmaster ref. CK2998. This is a second generation Speedmaster, a few years before it became the official choice by NASA and renamed ‘Speedmaster Professional in 1965. We had a look at the new remake of this Speedmaster ‘1962 during our appointment with OMEGA in BaselWorld and we d like to share our findings and the pictures we took, with our readers.As you can see, the dial lacks the ‘Professional wording and has the applied OMEGA logo again, like it was used i...
The?Important Modern and Vintage Timepieces auction hosted by Antiquorum on the 11th of March, included some superb timepieces. Not only did I see some very interesting Royal Oak A and B series fetching quite high bids, I also noticed this Star Wheel 125th Anniversary piece from Audemars Piguet. This stainless steel timepiece was made by AP to celebrate their 125th anniversary in 2000 and has been – of course – restricted to 125 pieces only.This watch was part of the Millenary family of AP, and wears very well on the wrist due to the dimensions of 41 x 37 mm. Movement is caliber AP?2224 and is the?genius?behind the complex sapphire disc system for displaying the hours on the minu...
When it came out in 2012 BaselWorld was buzzing because of it. The buzz kind of died C and so did BaselWorld, but thats an entirely different matter C in the nine years that followed. The flagship model presented as some kind of ber GMT, but it never quite make it to the top of peoples wish list. Partly because it all started with models in various precious metals with hefty price tags. But also because a complicated annual calendar with dual time zones is very un-. But still, the Sky-Dweller is the misunderstood genius you need in your life.I declare 2021 the year of the Sky-Dweller. And thats because since this year the ostentatious Sky-Dweller in steel with a white gold, fluted bezel,...
After winning the?prestigious TimeZone s 2011 Watch of the Year award and their appearance on national television in The Netherlands (click here to view the item), Gronefeld Exclusive Timepieces introduces their One Hertz in Platinum.Gronefeld received a lot of coverage here with their One Hertz ‘secondes mortes ?timepiece over the last year. Not only because the watch is just plain beautiful, also because we believe we are going to hear a lot more from brothers Tim and Bart Gronefeld from Oldenzaal, The Netherlands. This small independent watch manufacturer is the cream of the crop and now TimeZone also acknowledges this, it can go pretty fast with these guys.We have done an in-depth...
The Breguet La Tradition was launched in the mid-2000s to much fanfare and many subsequently mixed reviews amongst fans and connoisseurs – here was a watch that put the escapement on the dial side, was constructed in a very traditional 18th century style (note the odd, almost arbitrary shape of the bridges and sub-plates), finished unusually (but very well indeed) and launched at a reasonably accessible price for what it offered.Even the architecture was pretty unusual: the time dial was pushed to the top of the watch, regulateur-style, with the barrel in the center and going train laid out across the bottom of the watch. There s also a little power reserve indicator tucked away at top...
The Omega Constellation Grand Luxe is something really special. Omega introduced the Constellation in 1952, being more or less the successor of the Centenary watch that Omega introduced in 1948 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Biel watch factory. Already being the flagship of the Omega manufacture [because of the fine finish and chronometer movements], the Constellation came in several grades in the 1950s.The ultimate edition was the Constellation Grand Luxe, even one step above the Constellation Deluxe, available in all gold or platinum and with the famous brick bracelet. For those of you not very?familiar?with the vintage Constellation series: the brick bracelet was reintroduced b...
There is no such thing as a Grail when it comes to collecting watches. As soon as you think you ve found one, the next Grail is arising. However, the Patek Philippe Nautilus is the Grail for many watch enthusiasts out there, especially those with a weak spot for Gerald Genta designs. One of our readers belongs to that category, and showed us his Patek Philipe Nautilus 3700/1A. After having his share of OMEGA, and Audemars Piguet watches, it seems that this stainless steel piece de resistance gives him inner peace with his watch collection. He d like to share some of the pictures of his 1977 Nautilus 3700/1A with the readers of Fratellowatches.In the past, we ve written an in-dept article ab...
