Breitling is one of the brands that doesn t get a lot of coverage here. Perhaps because they make me think of two tone Crosswind models with those UTC bracelets, but I am aware that this is not entirely fair to this brand from Grenchen, Switzerland.However, I found this vintage Breitling Chronograph from the 1970s with a Valjoux 72 handwound chronograph movement. This movement has also been used by for their (Oyster) Cosmograph Daytona models from that period. The Breitling has – more or less – the same small dimensions as these 1970s Daytonas. A 37mm diameter case and 13mm in height.The small and sleek case with the big ‘pilot crown for easy winding makes this watch als...
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...
Marc Newson is the designer brain behind Ikepod s designer watches. Although gone for a few years, they are back on the horological map since 2010 again. Since last year, Ikepod also introduced an hour glass designed by Newson. Each hand made hourglass comprises highly durable borosilicate glass and millions of stainless steel nanoballs, and is available in a 10 or 60 minute timer.This 3 minute video demonstrates how the Ikepod Hour Glass is being crafted and will keep you interested from start to end.The Hourglass from Ikepod on Vimeo....
This week s MotoringExposure article on watches is about Omega s Speedmaster Missions case. There is one (#34) up for sale on eBay for $145,000.- USD and as this is a very rare occasion, I thought it might be well worth blogging about. Of the 50 cases produced in total (in three batches of 40 and another 5 in 1997 and yet another 5 in 1998), this Missions case belongs to the first batch. These cases consist of 22 Speedmaster Mission models (with NASA mission patch at 9 o clock) and 1 Speedmaster Replica to honor the first Speedmaster CK2915 of 1957. So, in total, $145K USD will bring you 23 timepieces, a loupe, a spare caliber 1861 movement and a nice case.Click here to go to my more in-dept...
Urwerk is one of those brands where reading time isn t the primary concern, as there are other devices (e.g. iPhone or BlackBerry) that are much more accurate and cheaper to do so. Now, this rule goes for every mechanical timepiece, but one could try to justify a $7,000.- USD for reading time and it will be quite difficult to do so with a +/- $70,000.- USD Urwerk UR-110 (nicknamed ‘Torpedo ).Urwerk is not about accuracy, reading time or creating ‘just an expensive luxury timepiece, it is about micro-engineering. Felix Baumgartner and Martin Frei, the founders of Urwerk, are trying (and I think they are succeeding) to follow nobody and set their own limits when it comes to haute...
Besides a new Limited Edition Speedmaster Professional to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the 1971 Apollo 15 mission (restricted to 1971 pieces), Omega unveiled their latest addition to the Speedmaster family. The Speedmaster Omega Co-Axial Chronograph. You ve read it correctly, it says Speedmaster OMEGA Co-axial Chronograph. The emphasis is clearly on their new chronograph in-house caliber 9300 and caliber 9301 movements with co-axial escapement, or as they say in Switzerland ‘L echappement Co-Axial .The difference between the caliber 9300 and 9301 are in the finish of the movement, where the 9301 should be seen as the movement with a luxury finish like a 18ct red gold rotor and bal...
Perhaps it is the BaselWorld buzz, but?we are really excited about the Patek Philippe Aquanaut Travel Time (5164) timepiece. With its crown protector on the right side and correctors on the left side, it is moving towards the legendary design of the Nautilus. This 40.8mm Aquanaut features an extra timezone (as its name implies), a day/night indicator and a date sub dial. Despite all this – useful – functionality, Patek Philippe made sure to keep the dial as clean and readable as possible.Shot through a display under bad circumstances, this photo doesn t do any justice to the watch of course. I advice you to hop over to the official Patek Philippe website to get a better view on t...
Only last week, I received this exact question at least three times during a discussion on purchasing a (new) watch.I received this question by email and twice during a discussion in the flesh. In a time where has issues delivering their goods to the final customers, or at least to fulfil the demand, there s a limitation on what you can buy. But if we include vintage and pre-owned watches, there s still enough to choose from. We re not into paying over retail for anything, so forget about the grey market supply for . Or douchy ADs who are willing to sell you one for a premium.You Asked Us: What would you buy?So basically, the question was directed at me. What I would buy. I can t decide f...
An interesting combination by Bell & Ross and Shaw Harley-Davidson. Shaw Harley-Davidson is the current world champion in modified Harley motorcycles and together with Bell & Ross, they present the one-off custom Nascafe Racer.As my motorcycle knowledge is very limited (understatement), I hereby copy an excerpt of the Bell & Ross press release:The methods used by Bell & Ross master watchmakers when developing and assembling their timepieces was employed by the Shaw Harley-Davidson master technicians when building the project bike, which is based on the Harley-Davidson? FXSTB Softail? Night Train, one of the more radical Softails C long, low and naked and named by Willie G. Da...
Watch designer Genta designed a number of watches that turned into icons. Best example is the first stainless steel luxury watch he designed in 1972, the Royal Oak for Audemars Piguet. Later on, he repeated this with his Nautilus for Patek Philippe and the Ingenieur for IWC. All these watches are being referred to as ‘Jumbo , as they were considered to be HUGE then. Today, we seem to be laughing at 39/40mm diameter watches. One of the readers of Fratellowatches, Martijn, has two of Genta s cult watches and sent me some photographs.The IWC Ingenieur SL1832 ‘Jumbo is part of Martijn s collection of IWC watches. Recently, he added a white dial Audemars Piguet Royal Oak ‘Jumbo...
I ve been a fan (and wearer) of Santoni shoes for quite a long time and I was thrilled to see IWC introducing a new Portofino watch with a Santoni strap. Last week, the Ace & Dik boutique in Amsterdam turned into an IWC and Santoni shop for two whole days. Host of the evening, Alon Ben-Joseph and his colleagues, provided a great platform for admirers of Italian and Swiss craftsmanship. Two people from Santoni were present as well, to answer questions about their products and to demonstrate how their shoes are being made, colored and polished.Visitors of the boutique were able to try on all IWC watches and to see the new Santoni straps (and shoes) for themselves. The 45mm Portofino Hand W...
Rebellion, Masters of The Power Reserve, will be revealing their Predator Chrono Mono-Pusher during this coming BaselWorld show. Last year, they introduced the Predator Chrono with the regular start, stop and reset buttons. This year, they are going Mono-Pusher. This means that there is only one button – on top of the crown – for starting, stopping and resetting the chronograph mechanism.Will this Predator Chrono Mono-Pusher be a true competitor for Hublot s Big Bang, AP s RO OffShore or the LW SpidoSpeed Chrono? All these watches are crafted from high-tech materials and have a strong relationship to the racing world.Click here for my article on this pre-Basel release by Rebellio...
Heuer (and later on TAG Heuer) has a strong relationship to racing, hence the names of their watches (Monaco, Monza, Silverstone, Daytona, Carrera and so on). In 1975, Heuer shocked the world by introducing a timepiece with a LCD and LED combination. Quartz driven of course and operated by two separate movements. In 1977 – which was a fine year – Heuer ditched the LED display and replaced it by a LCD display as well. The LED screen was a power consuming display which probably caused a lot of reliability issues.LED-Forever, a website dedicated to these type of watches, has put up one of the rarest versions of them all, the Heuer Chronosplit Ferrari Edition (r102.703-3) as sold in ...
Urwerk is one of the manufacturers of haute horlogerie with the most futuristic timepieces you will find today. This manufacture from Geneva, lead by Baumgartner and Frei, introduces the UR-110 Torpedo timepiece. Or better yet, timemachine. Having seen a few in the flesh in Singapore and during the BaselWorld shows, creations from Urwerk always give me the same euphoric feeling regardless how often I see them.Their new UR-110 Torpedo timepiece is an amazing piece of craftsmanship from Geneva. The arrow shaped Torpedo-hour indicators increase with one hour by rotating just before they are up next to display time on the scale on the right side of the dial. Urwerk has created a superb movie (cl...
Click on all images for larger.After many sleepless nights of deliberation, it was time for a change. I sold my Lange 1815 to make room for something new in the collection. What would it be? After much hunting and poring over catalogs and visiting dealers, I decided on a Jaeger Le-Coultre Reverso Grande GMT (RGGMT from here on) in steel. The standard alligator strap wasnt very flexible or comfortable for me, and left the watch sitting high, so I went for the bracelet model.That was in early 2009. Two and a bit years on, am I still in love?Lets back up a little. There are three things that can happen to a watch after youve owned it for a while: either it grows on you, you like it as much as y...
Just recently, Montblanc held a watch event in The Hague, The Netherlands. Just a week after the SIHH2011 exhibition in Geneva, Montblanc showed us some of their new models. As established as this company from Hamburg is with regards to writing instruments, their timepieces did not get much attention from collectors until Montblanc took over the Minerva factory. With Montblanc s Villeret and Rieussec collection, they stole the hearts of many collectors of haute horlogerie timepieces. I examined their collection carefully, and picked a favorite that I could see myself wearing at some point in the future. The new Vintage Pulsographe.The Vintage Pulsographe with its black dial and rose gold cas...
collector Mike Wood is offering 10 (!) vintage timepieces for sale at the Military Watch Resource. An incredible collection of some very sought-after models. Trades are not welcome according to the for sale ad, so if the money is flowing back into his passion for watches, I am very curious to know what it will be…Starting in the left upper corner (and going clockwise), you see a: Thunderbird Turnograph in 18ct white gold and stainless steel, circa 1968. This is a very rare watch as it was issued to the Peruvian Air-Force (Fuerza Aerea del Peru). Fitted to USA Jubilee bracelet. (Ref. 1625); Mk I Great White Sea-Dweller. No original documentation. (Ref. 1665); Black Panda Sigma Dial O...
Already mentioned a few posts earlier (about the SIHH), the IWC Portofino Hand-Wound Eight Days timepiece with hand made Santoni strap is something to look forward too. Although I am a bit skeptic about the quality / durability of their in-house movements, IWC knows how to design a watch. It seems that almost every model in their catalog is very likable, also by non-watch aficionados. Now, if they can crank up the quality of the caliber 50000 movements a bit (I ve seen too much? 7 days power reserve models with troubles in the last few years), I might be interested in getting one myself as well at some point.The IWC Portofino Hand-Wound Eight Days is surely a timepiece that I would like to t...
The SIHH 2011, or Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie started last Sunday and all 19 exhibitors are flooding press, social media networks and watch forums with information about their new watches.Below, you ll see an overview of what I think are the most interesting watches presented during the SIHH 2011 (till now). For your convenience, I categorized them per brand in alphabetical order.A. Lange & SoehneThe ‘other brand from Glashuette that wants to – and perhaps can –? measure themselves with the top of the bill haute horlogerie brands from Switzerland. Besides a few impressive new Saxonia timepieces and the Lange Zeitwerk Striking Time timepiece, A.Lange &...
With the F1 of Spa-Francorchamps coming up this weekend we look back at our trip there some weeks ago. We joined IWC and AMG for the 24hrs of Spa and had the opportunity to wear an IWC Big Pilot s Watch. Having that watch on the wrist for a few days, I got quite used to it despite the fact that I feel that 40mm is the perfect size for a watch. That being said, let s have a look at the IWC Big Pilot s Watch IW501001 and if I would buy one.IWC Big Pilot s Watch First ImpressionsMy initial thought when opening the box was that it s clearly called Big Pilot s for a reason. With a stainless steel case that measures 46.2 mm it s one of the biggest watches I have ever worn. With a thickness of 15.6...
