You all know Universal Geneve as a watch brand that had some great models like the tri-compax chronographs and the Polerouter model. The Polerouter has a lot of vintage watch fans, and there is even a dedicated website for this particular model (click here).Universal Geneve also made military watches, and one of these models were sold to the Royal Dutch Army. These watches were issued to the Dutch soldiers during the late 1930s, just before World War II started for The Netherlands (on the 10th of May 1940). The dial of the Universal Geneve features a ‘W symbol, which was the initial of Queen Wilhelmina of The Netherlands. Queen Wilhelmina ruled The Netherlands from 1890 till 1948 and ...
Ben Saunders (pictured left), who seems to be the most favorite candidate of Dutch talent show ‘The Voice of Holland , chose a Submariner ref.16613!Ben Saunders went to Jaap (on the right) of Precisionwatches to get his new crown. Ben, who picked up his new watch at PrecisionWatches, used to wear Cartier before. This coming Friday, we will probably see him wearing his new during the first The Voice of Holland show in 2011.More information on the Submariner 16613 can be found here....
I am not a big fan of Breitling watches, with the exception of the Navitimer. I have owned one and wasn t very impressed with it, to say the least. However, Breitling is on a roll with their new in-house constructed movements.Breitling s most interesting model, the Navitimer, is now available with their chronograph Caliber 01 movement. Column wheel chronograph with a vertical clutch and the classic tri-compax dial layout (sub dials at 3, 9 and 6 o clock). If it wasn t for the price of approx $7,600.- USD, I d put it on my list.My guess is that Breitling will quickly sell their stock of 2,000 pieces in stainless steel. The run of 200 pieces in 18 carat red gold probably won t sell as fast as ...
Gerald Genta, designer of numerous icons in horological history, presented a design to Swedish watch brand Arlanch. We all know Genta best for his outspoken Royal Oak and Nautilus designs, but he also designed a number of watches under his own label (now owned by Bvlgari). This eight sided timepiece for Arlanch reminds me of the design used by Genta s own complicated timepieces he did in the 1990s.Picture by Antiquorum, lot #390 of the 5-12-2007 auction.The Arlanch logo on the sub dial, functioning as a second hand looks very cool, just like the lower side of the watch with a small wave in it. The hands remind me of the ones on a Royal Oak. Gabriel Arlanch, owner of Arlanch in Sweden is prou...
Jaquet Droz, owned by the Swatch Group, wasn t always the high-end brand as we know them now (see my former post). In the 1970s, Jaquet Droz produced watches using mechanical movements by A.Schild (and probably Landeron for the chronograph movements) for a decent price. Once in a while, you will see them pop-up on eBay or Chrono24 and prices start around a few hundred dollars to $1,700 USD.As you can see above, I was able to borrow a NOS Jaquet Droz and take some pictures of it. The watch was still in the original box and had its original Jaquet Droz tag on it. Never worn. The other model is a chronograph in stainless steel and has these funky looking purple minute markers. This two register...
Introduced during Baselworld 2010, the new green Submariner ref.116610LV (click here for the initial photos I took) immediately got its nick name: The Hulk Submariner. Not being too enthusiastic about the colors of the dial and bezel myself, I did notice that there was quite some interest for this watch from the start.Now, few months later, this The Hulk Submariner s availability improves every week and it seems to become the favorite watch of many aficionados. At least at the Dutch Forum. My friend Michael bought one last week and shows it here on Fratellowatches. I have to admit, that after having seen it in the flesh, it is much better than it was in the display in Basel. The lights p...
There is even more Linde Werdelin news this week! On the 20th of January, they will introduce their first chronograph watch. Looking at the sneak preview pictures, it seems to me that there will be something Spidolite-ish involved.Price and specifications still unknown. My guess is that Linde Werdelin used a F.Piguet 1185 movement for this chronograph, as they ve shown with the Oktopus Moonphase release that they are stepping up a notch. As soon as Linde Werdelin gives more (detailed) sneak preview information on this chrono, you can read it here ??...
On the 30th of October 1972, Gerald Genta (then having an important assignment for Audemars Piguet) filed a patent in the United States for his master piece, the Royal Oak. From what I read, he already documented this design in Switzerland on the 6th of December 1971.As you can see in the drawing below, is that the famous bezel screws of the Royal Oak are not aligned in the round direction of the clock. Perhaps it did not matter for this patent registration, or it has been done on purpose to show that the screws would actually work. This drawing should be reflecting the first AP that made it to the flesh, the ref.5402ST a.k.a ‘Jumbo .The patent of Gerald Genta/Audemars Piguet is easy...
Linde Werdelin, friend of the show, introduces a new model based on their (already) classic ‘The One for the US market only. The Hard Grey DLC will be limited to 11 pieces and have a price tag of $7,300.- USD. These timepieces are only available through pre-order and Linde Werdelin expects to deliver them before this coming Christmas.The Hard Grey DLC is, as the name already implies, a DLC coated timepiece with a grey (microbille) finish. A microbille finish (executed before the DLC process takes place) ensures a tougher coating. Practically indestructible, this new Linde Werdelin timepiece.Linde Werdelin throws in two straps, a folding buckle and an ardillon buckle. A grey full-skin ...
Since a year or two, a friend and I are running the ‘a Passion for Watches‘ group on LinkedIn. Over 3,000 watch enthusiasts joined and a relative high number of them participate in discussions. One of the more recent discussions is really worth mentioning here, as it started three months ago and still receives comments on a daily basis. The initial post was quite a simple question, Audemars Piguet or Hublot. Which one would you buy if this was the choice?. The votes are unanimously for Audemars Piguet.Although being a huge Audemars Piguet fan myself en would pick it any time over a Hublot, I will have to admit that I am a bit biased and never did much research in the current line...
Last Friday, a friend and I visited the Miljonair Fair. Not that we are millionaires, probably not even together, but Amsterdam Diamond Center (part of Gassan Diamonds) gave us tickets to come to the show.Gassan Diamonds had one of the biggest booths at the fair, including a few shop-in-shop boutiques from Jaeger-LeCoultre, IWC, Omega, Breguet, Ebel, Breitling, Cartier and Ateliers de Monaco. Being a huge fan of Atelier De Monaco, I was very pleased to see them here. Pim Koeslag of Atelier De Monaco took a lot of time to show their timepieces and do some explanation on them.Pim Koeslag giving some explanation on one of their exquisite timepieces to my friend Ger.Below, you ll see some of the...
The fact that Bernie and his girlfriend got robbed last month, is an excellent marketing tool for Hublot. Although pretty sure it was a JLC that got taken from his wrist, it now seems to be a Hublot. You can read more about the robbery here.The money making machine Bernie Ecclestone knows how to turn something negative into something positive (money).Thanks to JIFF for the tip and the original post at a Dutch car blog can be found here....
For the No.1 watch portal of the world – WatchUseek –? I just uploaded an article about the Meridian Antiqua 2010 chronograph from Leinfelder in Munich. An elegantly sleek looking timepiece with exceptional shaped pushers and a fly-back chronograph function. I think the pushers of this chronograph are stunning and serve as a crown guard as well!Read all about this exceptional sailor s chronograph by clicking here....
Although Audemars Piguet thinks that all their watches are limited editions, the Royal Oak Off-Shore Monte Napoleone really seems to be restricted to 100 pieces only. It might even be possible that you have never seen this green Off-Shore before! Dutch watch dealer & jeweler Burger in Maastricht has found one and just put it up for sale on their website. This ref.26075ST.00.D038CR.01 (you wonder how they make these up) Monte Napeolone was introduced in 2005 to commemorate the inauguration of the Audemars Piguet boutique in the Monte Napoleone shopping street (Via Montenapoleone) in Milan.This example was produced (or sold) in 2006 and is in great condition. The big and bright Arabic nume...
Bernie Ecclestone and his girlfriend Fabiana Flosi got robbed in his F1 HQ in London last Wednesday evening. The attackers ordered Bernie and Fabiana to hand over their watches and jewelery, with an estimated value of 200,000 UKP (or 235.000 Euro/$300,000USD).A picture of Bernie in happier times (no pun intended).You probably guessed it already, which watch was he wearing? According to some news sites, it had to be his gold Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Geographique, as pictured below. This leaves me puzzled with respect to the amount (or value) of jewelery worn by Fabiana. Bernie got a head injury after being repeatedly kicked and punched by his attackers (pretty tough, kicking an 80 year old). H...
The Memovox is probably the most sought-after Jaeger-LeCoultre watch amongst collectors. JLC is about to present a limited series of three new Master Memovox International watches at the Parisian concept store Colette. Why? Well, from the 29th of November till the 31st of December, 25 participants are showing off their best pieces of art (and timepieces are included in that definition) during a project called ‘The Cabinet of Curiosities by Thomas Erber .For this event at Colette, Jaeger-LeCoultre has created a special edition of the Master Memovox International watch in a black PVD-coated steel case. This model is issued in a three-piece limited edition.The Memovox was introduced in 19...
Fratellowatches just received this press release:Chrono24 strengthens its number one market position in Asia, Australia and the US as the leading online marketplace for luxury watches like , IWC, Breitling and Audemars Piguet.Karlsruhe/Melbourne, Nov. 22nd, 2010, In February 2010 Internet entrepreneurs and watch enthusiasts Dirk Schwartz and Tim Stracke acquired Chrono24, the world s leading Internet marketplace for luxury watches. Now they have taken over Australian competitor WatchChoice to advance Chrono24s international market leadership, especially in Asia and English speaking markets.Chrono24.com was founded in 2003 and attracts more than 1.2 million visits per month. Over 500 professi...
The trend of ultra thin watches continues! After we ve seen Vacheron Constantin, Piaget and Audemars Piguet introducing thin timepieces (again), next in line is Parmigiani Fleurier. The Tonda 1950 is the subject of my weekly watch article over at Motoring Exposure. Parmigiani has developed a brand new in-house movement for the Tonda 1950, being only 2.6mm in height. I don t have pictures of the caliber PF700 movement yet, but I am very curious about the platinum micro-rotor and level of finish on its bridges and wheels.Parmigiani will introduce this watch during the upcoming SIHH in January 2011.Click on this link to go my article on Parmigiani s thinnest timepiece....
The SalonQP event in London, held from the 11th of November till the 13th of November, was a great success. I ve been to the event on Thursday (opening night) and Friday, and on Friday I ve made a few pictures to give my precious readers an impression of SalonQP.Of course, I also took some pictures of the timepieces that were there on display. However, for all photos, please visit the Photo Report topic over at WatchUseek (by clicking here).If you haven t been there this year, try to visit the SalonQP 2011. I surely had a great time looking at all these magnificent watches, talking to the people over there and meeting with Gerard Nijenbrinks of Horloge Platform Nederland, Ariel Adams of aBlo...
A Cosmograph Daytona in stainless steel is probably the most sought-after timepiece in the world, at least it is – together with the Omega Speedmaster Professional – the most recognized and iconic chronograph timepiece in the world. Since a year or so, a stainless steel Daytona is easier to get than it ever was before. Long waiting lists (+2 years, at some point even more) were maintained by authorized dealers, where the sales people succeeded in giving you the idea that it was actually an honor to be on that list at all. No more. Oh no. Stainless steel Daytonas can now be found at list price ($10.400 USD / 7570 eur), sometimes even below that.John Holbrook, owner of Luxurytyme...
