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...
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All images in this post may be clicked on for larger versions.You would be forgiven for thinking that the big number in its own box is the date, and the two hands on the dial are for the minutes and hours; and perhaps that strange little stubby hand in its own round window off to the top is in fact for power reserve, or perhaps continuous seconds.Youd be wrong.For starters, the watch is actually a jump hour (only adjustable in one direction: forward) with the big number being the hour; minutes and seconds are on the large dial, and the little stubby hand is in fact the moon phase display. Of course, not having a date, you cant set this accurately. Winding the crown forwards in the traditiona...
Although we put a lot of care and work into our own Speedmaster archives here on Fratello, they are only available online (with the exception of the print publication we once did for the Speedmaster). Sometimes, it is nice to have something in print to enjoy on the couch with your favorite beverage. Books like Moonwatch Only, the Mondani books on omega, and now Magister are a nice way to spend a few hours in the evenings and weekends on your favorite watches.The Magister BookCollector and watch enthusiast Andrea Foffi released a special book on the Speedmaster topic. Meet the Magister book, covering 70 special Speedmaster watches from his collection. We already published about this book bein...
In our on-going quest for affordable mechanical watches I stumbled upon Oris. Oris is a brand that only produces mechanical watches, there is not a single quartz watch in their catalog. Besides that, it is an independent brand that has produced watches from this little Swiss village called H?lstein since 1904. Their key to success is perhaps best captured in their slogan real watches for real people, something that we here on Fratello Watches certainly try to promote as well. Although there is still a lot of fun in writing about high-end complex pieces as well of course, but at the end of the day, most of our readers and you can include us into this category as well leave a watch shop wi...
For todays Speedy Tuesday article, we have a contribution from Nick Gould. Nick is a watch spotter and contributes to several watch magazines and blogs regularly.We love spotting watches on people, including those who are famous, as long as its genuine. In this case, Nick spotted a watch on the wrist of an actor that has discussed his share of watches on Mr Porters online journal. His most precious watch is a Seiko he received from his father. One he bought in Saigon in 1968, on his first of two tours in Vietnam. Thats a story (and watch) difficult to beat, by any brand ambassador, you could say. Milo Ventimiglia isnt an official watch brand ambassador, and he seems to be enjoying different ...
After exactly one month of silence, I am back ?? Holiday, and especially moving, took (and takes) more time than I expected. My cableprovider still has problems to connect me to the internet in my new home, but luckily I have some unsecured wifi networks in the area.I dont know if you watched Wimbledon 2007, but I was surprised that Roger Federer was wearing a omega Daytona when he received his Wimbledon-cup. Ofcourse, the Maurice LaCroix sponsorship is over since 2006, but the love was purely a contract it seems ?? By the way, he signed his sponsorship contract with Maurice LaCroix in 2004 for 5 years.. so it ended prematurely for whatever reason.Then, on the 6th of July, a number of watche...
Even up till today, theres a Speedmaster with an LCD screen in the collection, the X-33 (since 1998). But even before that, there were several LCD Speedmaster references in production.Today, I will focus on just one of these models, the reference 186.0005. These were produced from the mid to end of the 1970s. The LCD Speedmaster always intrigued me, even during my first days of watch collecting. Whether it has to do with my year of birth (1977) and growing up with digital watches, or the fact that it reminds me of my friendship with the legendary Chuck Maddox (I once bought one for him here locally for 200 Dutch guilders and shipped it to him), the LCD has a special place in my Speedmaster h...
In 2021, Omega updated the iconic Speedmaster Professional Moonwatch with the caliber 3861 movement. A very good reason to update our Speedmaster Buyers Guide as well!This guide dates all the way back to 2014, and since then, a lot happened. Not only did we have our own way with Omega and the two Speedmaster Speedy Tuesday watches (in 2017 and 2018), Omega also introduced a number of interesting Speedmaster watches to the collection. What about the Speedmaster Calibre 321 from 2020, or the new Moonwatch Master Chronometer models in gold? Time for us to update this Speedmaster Buyers Guide.In this Speedmaster Buyers Guide, we give you an overview of the most important references of the Speedm...
Already announced in December 2013, but weve finally come to see it in the flesh during the SIHH 2014 in Geneva last week. The Reverso is perhaps the most iconic Jaeger-LeCoultre timepiece and since a few years it is possible to buy this Tribute to 1931 or simply 1931 model that comes very close to the original watch from the 1930s.After releasing a few boutique specials of this watch, Jaeger-LeCoultre decided to make this Grande Reverso Ultra Thin 1931 with its pink gold case and chocolate-toned dial available for all JLC retailers.A while ago we did a hands-on review with the stainless steel version of the Reverso 1931 (which you can read here). The case dimensions of this new pink gold ve...
The wait is finally over. We know the models omega has released for 2021 (so far, at least). The first one were covering on Fratello is the 36mm yellow rolesor omega Explorer.Leaning heavily on the brands association with Everest expeditions, the press material refers to the original size of the watches purportedly worn by Hilary and Norgay upon their successful 1953 summit of the worlds tallest mountain. However, those watches were not the Explorer models they would go on to inspire. While it appears true that omega did furnish that legendary expedition with Oyster Perpetual watches, so too did British brand Smiths supply the climbers with timepieces. While several members of the team wore ...
omega GMT-Master Black And BlueThe rumor machine was working full throttle before the Baselworld show started. Rumors included a new omega GMT-Master II with either a Coke (black and red) or Pepsi (red and blue) bezel. Eye brows were frowned when the curtain was lifted up and showed the stainless steel omega GMT-Master II reference 116710BLNR with a black and blue bezel.We waited a few days before posting news on this new GMT-Master II (except on our instagram account) as this was a combination we didnt expect as well and needed to give it a place first. After we tried it in the flesh during our appointment with omega in Baselworld, weve come to the conclusion that it is actually a nice addi...
When considering mechanical chronographs, the 1980's and early 90's are often viewed as forgettable. Blingy, bad taste, bi-metal, quartz, or me-too automatics are just some of the characteristics that come to mind to describe the era. Then you have the brands Ebel, Movado, Concord, and even Omega making some very of the times pieces. Whatever you think about these watches and the era in general when it comes to watchmaking is likely a set of controversial topics best left for bar rooms or back alleys. Aside from the fact that some of these watches are starting to make their way back into the focus of collectors, it can't be argued that this was a different period Z. Cavaricci's anyone? A...
In this weekly Pre-Owned Picks series, a Fratello editor will select some watches from the pre-owned market and explain why it is an exciting offer (or watch).The pre-owned watch market is very significant. People who dont want to pay the full price for a watch, seek for a discontinued model or collect (vintage) watches rely on the offers in the pre-owned watch market. Unlike car manufacturers, watch manufacturers neglected the pre-owned watch market for a long time. Incredible, as it is an important and profitable part of the car industry. Some watch manufacturers also slowly trying to get a grip on the pre-owned business by introducing their Certified Pre-Owned program. However, brands (f....
Omega recently added two new dials for its successful Seamaster Aqua Terra collection. One in blue, and one in green. While blue could already be found on previous Aqua Terra models, green was only used for details, like on the PGA edition of the watch.An entirely green dial is new for the Seamaster Aqua Terra collection. And, quite to my surprise, I must say it looks damn good. I was already quite impressed by the green accents on the Aqua Terra PGA edition (which we reviewed here). To me, those accents made it one of the most attractive watches in this collection. And now, a few weeks ago, Omega started to deliver these green (and new blue) dial Aqua Terra watches to its boutiques.The bran...
One of the exciting experiences during watch fairs is the encounter with rare super complication watches. A few brands demonstrate what they are capable of C continuously stretching the limits of what is considered possible in watchmaking. In 2003 Jaeger-LeCoultre presented the first model of their Hybris Mechanica family. Since then, the brand adds one spectacular family member after another. Each new model is not just a modification of the previous one but a completely new approach, new design, and new movement. This year, too, Jaeger-LeCoultre doesnt disappoint us: the Reverso Hybris Mechanica Calibre 185 is the brands new mind-blowing creation.As you probably know, the concept for the Re...
We like to talk about vintage watches a lot within the Fratello team. Though most of what we write about is primarily focused on the most recent releases and developments, for many of us, a lot of the fun can be found in the sometimes weird and often wonderful world of vintage watches. Its a world full of history, remarkable watches, incredible stories, and quirky details. It inspired us to come up with a series of articles focusing on the best watches per decade from a select group of brands. Some of them are priceless, and some of them are still affordable. In this installment, we will take a look at the best A. Lange Sohne watches from the 1990s.This week, we will continue our journey th...
Giuseppe Bonanno (January 18, 1905 ?e???? 2 May 12, 2002), better known as Joseph Bonanno, was a Sicilian-born American organized crime figure who became the boss of the Bonanno crime family in 1931 until his retirement in 1968. Joseph Bonanno was instrumental in forming The Mafia Commission, which was designed to oversee all Mafia activities in the U.S. and serve to resolve conflicts between the Mafia families. Joseph was married to Fay and they got three childeren. Salvatore Bill Bonanno (who was quite a character himself as well), born 1932; Catherine, born 1934; and Joseph Jr., born 1945.Joseph Bonanno received this Patek Philippe ref.1516 from other Sicilian mobster Charles Lucky Lucian...
Ive always been a fan of Bvlgari, but in the last year, my fandom has changed significantly. Once upon a time, I was attracted to this roguish Roman revolutionary because of the fashion-first aesthetic. The watches were loud. The watches were proud. Crucially, however, they were cool. That was enough for me. In the past five years, Bvlgaris investment in manufacturing techniques has snowballed. Consequently, show-stoppers like the Bvlgari Octo Finissimo, which weve covered extensively on Fratello have become the norm. But all this research and development got me thinkingwhere could this lead? It would seem that Bvlgaris potential is now limitless. The brand always had the style, but now its ...
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 is the g...
This week, I am checking out some intriguing watches from Holsteins premier independent. Yes, I am talking about the plucky soloist Oris. In its heyday, Oris was outputting up to 1.2million watches and clocks per year. The onset of the low-cost and reliable quartz timepieces from Japan in the 70s and 80s, however, took a toll on the brand.The choice was either to follow the herd and produce quartz with a Swiss twist or, like so many Swiss watch-makers, fold and fade into obscurity. For a time, Oris did?produce a range of quartz pieces. But fortunately, a management buyout in 1982 changed the fate of Oris. The brand became Oris SA and swore never to make a quartz-operated wristwatch.Oris Dive...