The second Watch Strap Review of November?is here, dear readers! We have another country to add to the ever-growing imaginary map of the Watch Strap Review subjects. The strap maker hails from Karlsruhe, where I lay my head at night too, so for the first time I managed to actually meet my subject in real life. Joe from Lionstraps is a very cool laid back guy,?has?a large variety of straps and a great eye for new materials and techniques. He is well known by Seven Friday fans?being huge on that 28mm strap game but also takes offers for other projects. As a matter of fact, there are a few things in the mix between me and him in terms of future strap projects but lets keep that a secret until w...

June 8, 2017: You can now sign-up for the same adventure as described in this article. Sign-up for the Grand Seiko Experience with Fratello Watches.About a month ago, early October, I traveled to Japan to join the Seiko Media Experience 2015 tour with 6 other journalists from various watch publications. It was a trip to remember and I decided to report about this trip in three separate articles.Part 1 C Visit to the (Grand) Seiko and Credor facilities?in Morioka and Shiojiri;Part 2 C Astron GPS and Prospex collections;Part 3 C Seiko Museum visit and interview with Mr Hattori.This is part 2, covering Seiko s Astron GPS and Seiko Prospex collections. We were staying at a beautiful location, in...

A Happy Thanksgiving to our American readers!Sometimes, albeit rarely, Im pleasantly surprised when I open a package containing a watch Ive bought online. More often than not, its the condition that is enlightening, but every once in awhile, its the overall build quality and design of the piece. Todays #TBT highlights such a case where I really thought I was adding an also-ran to my horde, but the result was far more positive. The fact that the watch is a Hamilton makes it even more pleasurable. Why? Well, Ive mentioned it before, but I have a soft spot in my heart for the brand because they were American and also because Ive spent so much time in the central Pennsylvania area near to where ...

If you already own an Omega Speedmaster Professional Moonwatch or two, and you decided that you want to collect them or at least want more of these, you will find yourself browsing the web for vintage references as well as limited editions. And let s be honest here, there are quite a bit of limited editions when it comes to the Speedmaster. They surely do not all appeal to me, but there are a couple of ‘no brainers between them as well. What about ‘basically any of the Apollo XI commemorative models? The beautiful blue Gemini IV, the Panda dial Mitsukoshi or the Apollo-Soyoz with Meteorite dial are all worth collecting, to mention just a few. Then there are of course the Snoopy...

Today Watches & Pencils goes into hyperspace. Lets talk about the helmet shaped big boy (44mm x 51mm, 15mm thickness) from the 1970s with reference number ST?145.0023, a.k.a. Darth Vader. Chuck Maddox?came up with this fantastic nickname.?Scratch-resistant and lightsaber-proof with a glossy Jet Black finished tungsten metal jacket and armed with deep red sub-dials it beats several watches in appearance. If you use your imagination you could even match/blend it with the typical helmet of the lord himself:Omega Seamaster Darth Vader (ST 145.0023) with aftermarket leather racing strap.Two layersJust like Darth Vader, this watch also wears a suit: it is build out of two separate layers. The ...

In certain circles, there are watch collectors who regard Tudor as little more than window dressing: a watch with a case that houses a pedestrian movement. Thats probably a bit harsh, but the model at the sub-brand is changing. With the debut of an in-house movement at this years Basel show, Tudor is now firmly standing on its own. Historically speaking, though, it is hard to completely knock the naysayers as models like the Submariner and Day-Date were essentially lookalikes, including some lovely visual differences, with off-the-shelf movements. Today, though, well comb through the brands history to shed light on a popular model with collectors. It certainly followed the formula of usin...

This year Grand Seiko is celebrating its 55th anniversary! That is right, the first Grand Seiko appeared in 1960 and Seiko in The Netherlands celebrated this with a boutique event in Amsterdam. Their boutique is not only Grand Seiko, but you will find models from a number of collections. However, the focus for last Monday s event was Grand Seiko.There were a couple of people from the Seiko Watch Corporation from Japan as well as a watchmaker from Morioka where they manufacture the mechanical Grand Seiko and Credor watches (read about that in my Seiko Factory Visit report here).Together with Dutch Watching Magazine, Fratello Watches could give away some invitations to the event, which were qu...

As some of you might remember not too long ago we published a photo essay on our recent trip to Junghans. They were presenting their new chronograph, the Meister Pilot and Fratello Watches was there to give an impression on the piece firsthand. It was a memorable weekend filled with vintage cars, planes, watches and amazing people from all over the world. I managed to have a few words with the kind people at Junghans (thank you for the opportunity Anne-Katrin) regarding some watches for a review and while we could not put our hands on the new pilot chrono (yet), we still managed to get a few watches in. I realized that we here at Fratello Watches have never actually dealt with Junghans and w...

Seiko is a paradox. On the one hand, theyre on the leading edge of innovation with models such as their Astron, but theyre also well aware of their history and frequently bring back reissue models such as the Grand Seiko SBGW047 we reviewed and, more recently, the 7A28 Ripley seen in the movie Aliens. Theyre also a company that behaves a bit unconventionally on the global stage. If you walk into any of the recently opened boutiques outside of Japan, youll see that some carry more JDM models than others while some struggle to obtain them all. Honestly, it confuses me slightly as to what exactly is available in which market. So, its with great surprise, but not really, that we stumbled upon of...

You either like them or you dont, Gerald Gentas master pieces from the 1970s. Genta designed Omega watches for years (i.e. Constellation and Seamaster models) before he started his own company in 1969. Although designing watches was mostly a job that people did who were on the payroll of a watch manufacturer, it was an immediate success.As we all know, Gerald Genta is the genius behind the Royal Oak watch (1972) from Audemars Piguet and the Nautilus watch (1976) from Patek Philippe. Both brands have a long history in watch making and both companies are considered high end watch brands. Genta also designed the Ingenieur SL 1832 watch for IWC in the late 1970s, but the design of that particula...

Not too long ago I did a review of this year s Panerai Luminor Submersible Titanio (PAM 615?for the reference coders) and now I am back with this much talked about Panerai Luminor Submersible Carbotech (PAM 616). When they showed it to us in Geneva during the SIHH, I took note of a lot of ooohs and aaahs from colleagues around me that have a thing going on for Panerai watches. I am not a Paneristi, but I did understand what the fuzz was about.Panerai Luminor Submersible 1950 Carbotech PAM 616 on the wristPAM 616 ReviewCarbotech CaseDuring the SIHH, I wrote the following about the Carbotech case material:In order to produce the Carbotech case, Panerai had to bind the long thin sheets of carbo...

Eric Wind, Vice President of Christie s?International Watch team in New York, invited me to come to Geneva and have a look at the lots of the upcoming Omega Speedmaster 50 auction in December. I was already aware of this auction some time ago and?I am (and will be) following it with great interest. Our own Speedy Tuesday got a nice little mention in the absolutely fantastic catalogue as well and the auction happens to take place on a (Speedy) Tuesday in December (15th), in New York.So I ownew to Geneva last Sunday to have a look at 20 of the 50 lots that were there. It is only a 1,5 hour flight from Amsterdam so I planned an early flight and made sure I had enough time to look around and tak...

For us watch aficionados wrist shots are like the well known selfies. Most of us?take ‘shots on a daily basis. ‘snap shots in general, but if you look careful you ll find some nice ones now and then. Besides the classic shot their are quite a lot?of variations. For example: last week I spotted a nice?variation on the wrist shot: a ‘pocket shot This brings me to a question: What is the definition of ‘wrist shots ? Maybe we don t understand it at all:Okay, I guess that s not what ‘wrist shots are. There isn t an official definition (besides the one used in Ice-Hockey) in the dictionary so it s up to us. My personal definition:A single close-up photo of the watc...

Whew, I had a lot of fun writing the Vintage Market Update that we published earlier this week, but it was a long article! Since then, Ive had some time to reflect on it and Ive come away with a couple thoughts. First, I really enjoy sharing my thoughts with you, our readers, about vintage watches and the marketplace. Second, its great to give a previously non-discussed watch center stage for a period. Sure, it results in newfound attention for the watch, but I like to err on the side of exposure versus keeping something in hiding because it makes sense to discuss worthwhile pieces. Well, todays #TBT focuses on a watch that really hasnt received much press anywhere and thats a shame because ...

When my interest?in mechanical chronographs?started?somewhere in the late 1990 s, the IWC Pilot Chronograph was quickly identified by myself as one of the nicer chronographs on the market (for me). At the time, the watch came either on a leather strap or on the nicely finished stainless steel bracelet. IWC used a nicely finished ETA/Valjoux 7750 work-horse movement for that model and the dial had that typical 7750 lay-out, sub dials on 12, 9 and 6 o clock. It was their 39mm reference 3706 model, long-time out of production now. It was followed-up by a 42mm version (reference 3717) with small red seconds hand on 9 o clock. Today it is a 43mm version (reference 3777) with the typical 3 date ap...

What happens when you receive a Speedmaster for your 13th birthday? Right. A few decades later you are organizing The Ultimate Speedmaster Exhibition together with your brother (and fellow collector) to celebrate the 1st anniversary of your vintage watch boutique.Last Wednesday, the 28th of October, Roy and Sacha Davidoff (a boutique visit report can be found here) held the Ultimate Speedmaster Exhibition in Geneva. Unfortunately, I had to cancel my trip last minute so I could not be there myself, but luckily they made sure to soften the pain a bit by making some excellent images of the evening and the watches. I met Roy during a watch trade show in Munich last year and not long after, I vis...

Its been roughly a quarter since I wrote my last Vintage Market update, so its high time for another installment. Ever since publishing that article and committing to writing another, I ve mulled over some potential topics. Clearly, a pure regurgitation of the fact that prices continue to climb C especially in the chronograph arena C would be a short article. So, Ive decided to focus on some additive topics that certainly use that price rise as a backbone and Ill attempt to dig a little deeper into some things that Ive seen while alluding to what may come. If youre in the northern hemisphere, theres likely a foreboding Autumn chill in the air that signals the long winter ahead, but there pro...

Weve featured a lot of iconic timepieces on Fratello Watches, both new and old, including divers, dress watches, chronographs, and others. We obviously go into great depth on a near weekly basis on Omegas legendary chronograph, the Speedmaster and since Ive joined the fray, Ive tried to touch upon most of the key chronographs. So, the other day, while I was playing around in our archives, it came as a surprise to me that we had yet to cover one of the most epic chronographs created: the Breitling Navitimer 806. Today, on #TBT, well endeavor to right that error, though, as Im going to talk about such a watch.We certainly mentioned the Breitling Navitimer 806 in this Summers Breitling Experts ...

As part of the Opus saga, this exceptional new timepiece takes its inspiration from a symbol of the 1950s: the jukebox.Opus is first and foremost a human journey, which began in 2001 in collaboration with independent watchmakers. It imagines new models that defy the laws of innovation and the way time is read. It is a journey that Harry Winston shares with the most passionate collectors of extraordinary pieces.In 2015, Harry Winston Timepieces has written the fourteenth chapter in this unique saga. By partnering with Franck Orny and Johnny Girardin, two visionary watchmakers, the brand provided an exceptional chance to push the limits of the imagination even further. It all began with a blan...

The Mondaine Stop2Go wristwatch in all aspects has a movement (cal. 58-02) which looks as close as it gets to the original Mobatime Swiss Railway Station Clock. Of course Mondaine had adapted the design(*) many years ago already, however with the Stop2Go their watch now runs and stops like the original clock as well.Although being a quartz controlled watch, the Mondaine Stop2Go watch s second hand doesn t tick to the second. It s hard to count exactly, however I d say the second hand ticks approximately 3 times per second. By this it looks to run much smoother, almost like a mechanical, or more like an electrical watch.But here comes the trick. The second hand of an official Swiss railway st...