P-51 rang a bell with me, as I read a lot of Buck Danny comic books when I was younger and I have a dad with a huge interest in WW2. However, when Jonathan Kamstrup (CEO of REC Watches) told me this watch had a dial made of a metal sheet from a 1960 s Mustang car, the use of the P-51 type confused me a bit. According to REC Watches though, the designer of the original Ford Mustang car compared the sleek profile of that 1960 s car with the North American P-51 Mustang plane. It was because of this that Ford s lead designer at the time,?John Najjar Ferzely, proposed the ‘Mustang name for the first concept car.1966 ‘Ford Mustang and World War II ‘P-51 Mustang fighter planeRE...

Last week it was exactly one and a half year ago, that I wrote an article about the MCT Sequential TWO for RevoOnline. At that time the watch was not on the market yet and the white gold version I photographed, was still an unfinished prototype. So time to get my hand on a production model, but now in pink gold!Why am I doing another story on the same watch? Well just because this is one of the most amazing jumping hour watches (wrong word) that came on the market lately. A moving time display like this, had not been seen before. There is a lot to see, every time when the hour changes and while I know the watch quite well, it still does not bore me at all. I did use the word jumping hour bec...

A Happy Holiday to all of you who are celebrating!? Forgive the late publish today on Christmas Eve, but I m currently on holiday in the state known as Flori-duh – where the craziness may begin early, but little gets done until late.? Double that with a household full of kids and you really get the picture!? Enjoy the time…and grab an egg nog and sit down for a lengthy read!December 4, 2015 was the Friday before I left Germany for the USA in the name of business and pleasure. Normally, a week before I leave for such a trip, I think about what it is that I need to do on the weekend to prepare for such a journey. Boring tasks such as visits to the grocery store, packing, or taking ...

Most of you Speedmaster enthusiasts and collectors love a bit of NASA history as well. Now, you probably remember that when Omega introduced the Speedmaster Dark Side of the Moon (we reviewed it here) in 2013, it was referring to the Apollo 8 mission in 1968. The second human space flight by NASA and the first where a spacecraft left Earth orbit to reach for the Moon and orbit it. Astronauts Borman, Lovell and Anders were the first to see that dark side of the Moon and perhaps even more important, to witness Earthrise.The mission took from December 21st till December 27th, so exactly 47 years ago this week. The 24th of December was one of the greatest days in manned space flight history, as ...

Weve all heard about this guy. The name originates from Frankenstein and implicitly points to some kind of evilness. How, I assume we want, do we defend ourselves against Frankenwatches? Is it even possible? Behold, I will reveal and discuss some dark places and founded a theory why we most likely will all meet him some day.First of all, this was my first stereotype creative reaction when the term Frankenwatch was served to my brains:I guess everbody knows Frankenstein, but do we really?know the story? Furthermore, did the most fanatic and strict collectors do before they came up with this name for watches that have been tempered with? Before we zoom into Frankenwatch, lets briefly review th...

The IWC Ingenieur reference 3239 that I review here was introduced in 2013, IWC s year of the Ingenieur. You have to know that ?IWC is restyling an entire collection, every year, to keep it fresh and up-to-date. So in 2013, IWC introduced a number of new Ingenieur models. From a simple straight-forward stainless steel model to a carbon version and a platinum model with perpetual calendar.Well, if you are a long time reader of Fratello Watches, you probably know that I have a preference for so-called ‘purist watches. I have and have had my share of Gerald Genta designed timepieces, including an IWC Ingenieur of a previous collection. I decided to trade that Ingenieur for another Genta ...

Our host with the most, Mike is on holiday now so he passed on the torch for this weeks #tbt. However as you can expect when I get to do this every once in a while it is always a bit out of the ordinary. As some of you might remember I already wrote about this model over a year ago. That was among my very first articles published on Fratello Watches about? Cool and Affordable Vintage Pieces. This week I have Part 1 of a project that hopefully will be followed by Part 2 in a few months time. We have a before review of a watch I bought for a project that will optimistically receive a full spa treatment and come back looking young and refreshed. Lets stay with the details now and have a look at...

Yesterday evening, Christie s held their Speedmaster 50 Auction in New York. Although no-one of our team could be there on location, we did get some help from Sacha Davidoff for this report. He is one of the founders and owners of the Roy & Sacha Davidoff boutique, the place?for vintage watches in Geneva. He was in New York to witness the auction and spoke to one of the guys who submitted a substantial amount of watches for the auction, Riccardo Bernard.Christie s Speedmaster 50 Auction lots on display in New York City.Sacha Davidoff: Riccardo Bernard is the major contributor, in terms of the Christie s Speedmaster 50 auction collection. He is a collector with an affinity for space and a...

When Jaeger-LeCoultre released their Master Calendar in 2013, I wasn t sure what to think about it, since there is so much competition in this section. Most of these calendar watches have the same dial layout, with a day and month aperture just below 12 and a moon phase above ‘6 , set on a light coloured dial. Jaeger-LeCoultres version did not really add anything, to what was on the market already, besides the beautiful manufacture caliber of course. This year however, Jaeger-LeCoultre announced another version of their Master Calendar but now with a stunning new eye-catching dial, and unique at the same time.Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Calendar with Meteorite dialLets start with the rev...

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...

Last weekend we received an e-mail from one of our readers, Sammy. He is a watch collector from Germany and in University (studies English and Latin). Recently, one of his lecturers have him the task to write an essay about a topic of his own choice. Sammy chose to write his about the question whether watch collecting is an actual hobby (predictably coming to the conclusion that it is).An interesting topic, as we – probably like yourselves – still have to explain once in a while to someone what watch collecting is about. In the short essay below, we used Sammy s own photos of some of his private watch collection. Have a read and let us know in the comments (below) what you think....

The end-of-year, pre-SIHH, A. Lange & S?hne event is becoming kind?of a tradition meanwhile. However this year was something special, as it was the 200th anniversary of Ferdinand Adolph Lange.200th Anniversary of?F.A. LangeA three day program of which rumours were heard that it was the largest event A. Lange & S?hne organised to date. Far in excess of 200 guests (customers, suppliers and journalists) were invited and flown-in from all corners of the world.Although the F.A. Lange 200th anniversary celebration was the major reason for the event, a very special watch was to be presented as well, the A. Lange & S?hne 1815 Tourbillon Handwerkskunst. I ll come briefly back to the watch...

Within the world of the small pilots chronograph, the Benrus Sky Chief is king. Ok, thats a bold statement, but I think theres some merit behind it. I read a decent number of forums and ingest all sorts of vintage watch-related social media, and something has always stood out to me about the Sky Chief; there are very few apologists about the watch despite its diminutive size. Well, I had only seen one of these in person before in a large case of other vintage chronographs and it did look small. In the end, though, I decided that this Benrus was historically significant enough to add to my collection and, therefore, when the right piece popped up, I grabbed it. Since its now holiday season, t...

Today I would like to discuss a tasty topic: the sandwich dial. After grasping some (historic) facts I will discuss some recent examples from different brands.History and FactsLuminosity to the maxBetween 1930 and 1940 the first sandwich dials were introduced. Although there are several models with a kind of ?sandwich construction from that time (e.g. the Longines 13ZN Chronograph or IWC cal. 83), the term and construction was mostly introduced by Officine Panerai and presented by one of their primal Radiomir models. Around 1938, Panerai watches were still exclusively developed for the Royal Italian Navy and so they had to be very functional and robust. One request from the navy was to make ...

A Tank, Is A Tank, Is A Tank was Cartiers slogan in 2013 when the Tank Anglaise was released. There was a huge presentation during the launch, that featured all the Tanks models? that Cartier ever created. But there is only one Tank that is seen as the king of the collection, since there is one Tank that is the most accepted, most wanted, most copied and most admired Tank of all. But that does not mean that this is also the Tank that was sold the most, because actually the contrary is true.I am talking about the Tank Louis Cartier, or the LC Tank as collectors and connoisseurs like to refer to it. With its smoother and rounder lines, ?it followed the Tank Normale in 1919, and it was the seco...

In past market updates, Ive mentioned that one of the greatest attributes within the hobby relates to the fact that there are always new old models to discover. A daily browse on eBay or any number of forums will often reveal models for sale from brands long gone or slight model variants that may strike ones fancy. This near-continuous ability for discovery keeps the hobby fresh and also allows new entrants a way to buy something credible, while keeping things on a more affordable level. So, its with this theme in mind that I bring you todays #TBT. You see, I hadnt come across todays subject until several months ago, but once I saw it, I knew I had to have one. Ill take you through the uncov...

Only once in a while we cover quartz or other electronic watches. We don t have anything against them, but it should be something interesting or special to give them any coverage on Fratello Watches. We love mechanical watches, but some times there are quartz watches that deserve a bit of attention too. Whether it is about their functionality or their design, or a combination of these two, it has to be something special. Watches (and clocks) we ran into a couple of times that fall into this category are those made by designers Biegert & Funk, called QlockTwo.Their watches and (wall) clocks work according to the same principle: to indicate time in written words. The dials of these watches...

At Fratello Watches we have a clear preference for mechanical watches. However once in a while we, and it might seem that it s mainly me, come across a quartz watch which attracts attention. This time, about a week ago, I got noticed of a very limited edition of an already special Luminox watch model.Let me explain. Luminox are Swiss Made watches and equipped with a unique self-powered illumination system. This unique light technology (LLT) ensures an at-a-glance visibility, no matter what the conditions are. Different to other luminous materials, it doesn t need external light to be ‘charged and to glow.Further, Luminox is the official supplier of watches to the US Navy SEALs. The L...

Last year I made a mistake. When the Omega Speedmaster Pro Apollo XI 45th Anniversary came out, with the titanium case and Sedna gold bezel, I didn t order it straight-away. What followed, was a search for a decent priced (which means – not over list price) Apollo XI watch. In the end I was offered a couple of them, but all way over the initial list price in Euro currency. So, I decided to prevent that from happening again and I ordered the new Omega Speedmaster Professional Apollo 13 Silver Snoopy Award even before I saw it in the flesh in Basel.My luck was that I was super fast with ordering an Apollo 13 Silver Snoopy Award, so I could pick an individual number that?has a special mea...

During a burglary in Berlin, Germany, an Omega Speedmaster Professional was stolen and we ask you kindly to keep an eye out for it. Because it has some special markings, we hope that someone will recognize it and contact us in order to give it back to the rightful owner.It is an Omega Speedmaster Professional 145.022 from 1974 (so that would be a reference 145.022-71 or 145.022-74, depending on the exact production date). This watch is special, as it was given by the FIFA to those who participated in the Soccer World Championship in 1974 and bears the initials of the receiver (W.T.) as well as the FIFA logo. The son of the receiver, who lost his dad at young age, had his initials engraved as...