Speedmaster Quartz LCDIt is Speedy Tuesday! Yesterday, we received an email from our reader Niels about this Omega Speedmaster QUARTZ LCD 1620. We ve seen these quartz LCD models going up in value like crazy over the last 10 years, so we reckon they are quite collectible!Niels explains:The Speedmaster Quartz LCD I d like to introduce was bought by my father in January of 1979. When I got interested in watches a few years ago he told me about an old digital Omega he had in his desk, at the time I was looking at Omega Speedmasters online all the time so you could imagine that I was quite surprised when I saw his watch in the drawer.It was a model I had never seen before on the internet. That s...
Disclaimer: The watch photographed was an early production prototype. I m told there will be a number of changes to the final version, they re also looking into the possibility of additional/ alternate dials…The Maitres du Temps Chapter Three is an interesting piece because it carries clear DNA from its creator – Kari Voutilainen (the dial) – whilst at the same time retaining the brand s own DNA (the rollers). It s a substantial but not oversized watch at about 42mm in diameter; contained inside are time functions, small seconds, date, synodic moon phase indication, day/night indicator and second time zone display. The latter two functions are hidden under panels on the dia...
If you are a long time follower of Fratellowatches you probably already know that we are huge fans of Omega s Speedmaster collection. We do not only care about the Speedmaster Professional ‘Moonwatch , we also like a lot of the other Speedmaster models that Omega introduced since 1957. Whether it is the modern Speedmaster 9300 chronograph, a vintage CK2915 Speedmaster pre-Professional or something completely different like a Speedmaster X-33, we (almost) love ‘m all. Like this Speedmaster Day-Date ref.176.0016 for example, sometimes being referred to as the Speedmaster Mark 4.5.We decided to do a short write-up on a Speedy every Tuesday. Just because. If you are willing to play, ...
We wish to reveal how we (idea of Watchonista) tricked you to celebrate the 1st of April, 2012! The hoax was the post entitled Breaking news: Hublot secures the rights to brand the helipads of the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil! and a lot of blogs, forums and social media guys participated in this hoax.Yesterday s post stated that Hublot and its CEO Mr. Jean-Claude Biver had successfully negotiated with the National Civil Aviation Agency about the exclusive rights to brand the helipads of Sao Paulo, as part of the 2014 World Cup s organization, which will take place the Brazilian City.Obviously, this statement was just a figment of Watchonista s imagination as, to our best knowledge, Mr. Biver ne...
To be frank, we ve been following Bell & Ross from the start. It started with their watches with the ‘Bell & Ross by Sinn wording on the dial, heavily influenced by the models of Sinn. Nowadays, Bell & Ross clearly have their own identity with the three collections they have: Vintage, Marine and Aviation.During our visit to them at BaselWorld, we sat down with a team of Bell & Ross and discussed their timepieces. We zoomed in on their Vintage collection, and mainly at the new WW2 Bomber Regulateur. Inspired by the time keeping instruments used by bombers in the late 1930s and 1940s, this Bell & Ross WW2 Bomber Regulateur is the third timepiece of the Vintage collec...
Arcadia is the boutique brand of the Fleurier Watch Company that was originally found in the 19th century and brought back to life in 2007. With three types of collections (four if you include the watches made on request), Arcadia is able to?fulfill the demand of all sorts of watch consumers. Arcadia has a Contemporary line of watches to which the reviewed AC01-V2 ?belongs, a Vintage collection that grabs back to chronographs of yesteryear and a collection especially for ladies.We received an Arcadia AC01-V2 for review and we d like to share the pictures we took with our readers.This AC01-V2 chronograph by Arcadia has this unusual shape and is packed with all kinds of cool details. The AC01-...
The A. Lange & Sohne Datograph is a watch that needs no introduction. Its one of the iconic watches of the modern era. Its never been copied, simply because it cant be. And even though the movement was first conceived in 1999, it has the feel of an incredibly fine 19th century pocketwatch C the layout is 100% traditional, with German silver bridges, screwed chatons to hold the jewels, a side-coupling column wheel chronograph with instantaneous jumping minutes and flyback function, and a very archaic screw-poised balance wheel with a swan neck regulator sitting atop a hand-engraved balance cock.All images can be clicked on for larger versions. This article has been one absolutely mammoth ...
With the exception of the newly released Reverso?Ultra Thin Tribute to 1931, the Classique is perhaps in many ways the quintessential Reverso: it s been in JLC s catalog for many, many years; it can be appreciated by both men and women (the size is a nice in-between that makes it a largish ladies watch but a slim mens dress watch) and is powered by a hand-wound caliber 846.It s also perhaps the closest thing we have to the original size, too. The bracelet is very flexible and comfortable for all wrist sizes; highly recommended over the strap if you have small wrists. (Fratello Tip: If you have very small wrists like my wife, you can make the extra links into a ring, see below.)Interestingly...
Today s subject is one of the less common Patek Philippe models: the Ref. 5055. It s powered by their staple Cal. 240 micro rotor movement, with the added complications of power reserve, moon phase, date and offset sub seconds. The movement of course carries the Geneva Seal, as with all Pateks.As usual, all images in this post may be clicked on for larger versions. Enjoy! MT...
This version is the M28 ‘large size version – powered by a cal. R18 movement. It might not have any unusual or special features, but it is a classical, very well executed manual wind movement that is sufficiently refined to qualify for the Geneva Seal. The dial is a unique shade of copper that is a very close, but not exact, match for the case. A nice touch are the polished, reflective arabics; but by far the highlight of the dial are the beautifully blued and gently curved hands. Enjoy the photographs! MTAll images can be clicked on for larger versions....
All images can be clicked on for larger versionsOne of the more exciting new watches by Seiko in recent memory is the SNZH53 – also popularly known around the web as the ‘Fifty Three Fathoms . There are also white, black and green dial variants, and a gray PVD case. It is powered by the ubiquitous Seiko 5 7S36 movement – a workhorse that can be found in just about every automatic Seiko under $300. There s not a lot to say about the movement other than a) it s entirely in-house, but assembled with almost zero human intervention; b) it lacks manual winding and hacking; c) it winds very efficiently indeed thanks to the ‘Magic Lever pawl system; d) there s a day-date fun...
I have read different stories about the (relative new) history on the Yacht-Master models. So, what else can I do on this wednesday evening and sort it out :). If I do a Google-search on Yacht-Master history I get a few hits, but the information in there talks about the introduction of the steel/platinum ( calls this combination Rolesium) version in 1997. That can t be right, since the introduction was during the Basel fair in 1999. Lucky me, I have this Mondani book called ‘100 years of , which is a must-have for aficionados anyway, and all the Yacht-Master information can be found in there. As I am sure not everyone is eager (or able) to pay 275 euro for a book, I will quote some...
Today, Steef notified the Dutch Forum members about a website that covers diving watches and diving stories. The owner of the website, Michael O Leary, military and commercial (COMEX) diver, is also a watch aficionado. Most interesting is his story about the COMEX ref.16600 Sea Dweller and the fact that he dives with his Double Red Sea Dweller (ref.1665) from 1972. It all started with his Submariner ref.5513 that he got for his 21st birthday in 1978, and from there on, he built this impressive collection of (vintage and COMEX) watches.Be sure to visit Michael s website at: https://diving-watch.net/.I remember a conversation I had with fellow watch nut Zeger while we were on our way to a w...
Boesch Motorboote from Kilchberg (Lake Zurich) creates reddishbrown mahogany boats since 1920. Boesch boats are famous for their quick starts, especially useful for water-ski matches. To celebrate its 80th birthday, IWC created the Aquatimer Chronograph Boesch, limited to 300 timepieces. Which is, compared to most other limited editions in this segment, really limited. The caseback of this watch has a mahogany inlay with a marine screw propeller and the dial shows the Boesch logo below the date window.Watch-Site, one of my blog sponsors, has this IWC Aquatimer Chronograph Boesch in stock and was so kind to let me do a review on this time piece. The pictures below do represent the actual watc...
My 2007 Panerai Luminor Base (Logo) has to go, if you are interested, please let me know. It comes complete with box+papers, OEM rubber strap, bezel protector etc.You can either contact me by mailing me ([email protected]) or by visiting the Chrono24 and check the contact details. https://www.chrono24.nl/panerai/1439107.htm...
Starting on the 19th of January, the annual SIHH is being held in Geneva. The SIHH, Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie, represents a number of fine watch manufacturers like Audemars Piguet, Officine Panerai, Jaeger LeCoultre, Vacheron Constantin and a few more. One of them is Cartier. Cartier once started out as a jeweler and in the 1900s, it was one of the first to create a wrist watch. I think everyone knows (or should know) the Santos-Dumont story.Anyway, I didn t classify Cartier as being a haute horlogerie brand for a long time. I just recently became interested in the brand, after talking to Treo. Treo is the owner of a dedicated Cartier website called Troisanneaux. After talk...
Here in The Netherlands, the year 2008 is almost over. Only a few hours left of a very stirring year. I use the word stirring, because a lot of stuff happened in 2008. The two most important events of 2008 are in contrast with each other. The first one is the loss of Speedmaster and chronograph legend but most of all a greatly appreciated (watch) friend – Chuck Maddox.The second important event is that I asked my girlfriend on first Christmas day to marry me (and she said Yes!). I gave her a Christmas present and had the proposal engraved in the case back of the watch. It took a while before she noticed it (it seems that girls are mainly focused on the dial and case and do not turn the...
The German based R-L-X forum has a number of excellent authors aboard. One of them is Percy, also known by his initials PCS. Percy wrote a great review on three (later on four) watches that are priced just over 7000 euro in the current catalogue.The Cosmograph Daytona is only marginally available. Although the waiting lists aren t as ridicilous anymore as a few years ago (when you had to watch 6 years to get one, if you could get on the list at all), you still have to wait for one a few months at the authorized dealer (7200 Euro). In the grey circuit, you can get one for approximately 8000 euro. The Sea-Dweller DeepSea has been introduced during the last Basel Fair, and its available alrea...
Sigh. Another watch forum?. Yes. Although Perpetuelle is more than just a forum on watches. On Perpetuelle you ll find a nice on-line library containing a lot of watches with their technical specifications. It is like having your Armband Uhren Katalog online. The forum part consists of a number brand forums, but also a generic watch forum, a forum on vintage watches, a diving watch forum, a ladies watch forum and a forum for watch techies. The atmosphere is very refreshing to be honest, at least when you compare it to the big watch portals where reading the disclaimer before you post is mandatory.Another great feature is that you can fill a virtual watch box with the watches you have or want...
Today, there was a watchfair in Houten/Netherlands. There is currently nothing on my ‘shortlist , but it is only a half an hour drive from the city where I live in, and it s always nice to meet up with some other watch fanatics. It seemed that the whole Dutch Forum crew was there. I also shook hands with a few of my forum sponsors, including JK of JK Watchstore.He showed me this new Sea-Dweller Deepsea, a.k.a Dipsy (ref.116660). Although is catching up with the orders of this watch, it isn t a watch that you ll see often for the coming months. The watch is BIG. At first sight, a lot bigger than my regular Sea-Dweller (ref.16600) and my fairly big IWC Ingenieur (3227-01). However, a...
