Nothing makes my day as much as discovering horological anomalies. Anything that requires me to mine through forums, archives, and the minds of experts thrills me. The sense of adventure is real And many of them are so fascinating that it's hard to pick just a few of them Today, well look at an unusual crown system and watch case, a witty strap, and off-beat bezel lock systems.Some of these historic enhancements never caught on and that's why you may never have heard of them before. Many of them were cumbersome or impractical. As that was the opposite of what they were designed for, they were shelved. At the end of the day, they only gave watch owners headaches and so they ended up on today'...
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Hi and hello watch fans and welcome back to Watching Sports and Sporting Watches. In episode 8.0 and we will begin with a short interview, as the Hungarian Horntail takes the reins and welcomes his most charming guest to the smooth booth yetSpoiler alert: its Rob. But thats all were going to say about that. After Balazs has put our resident motormouth through his paces, we kick him into touch in favor of Dave down the pub Sergeant, who phones in (quite literally) to chat some hockey.And to round out the show we have another exhilarating installment of Robleys Believe It Or Not. This week, we will be touching base with the real/fictional stories of Eric Money, Ray Caldwell, and Nicolas Rieuss...
When Bulgari acquired Daniel Roth back in 2000, it acquired the designs and watchmaking know-how that included Roth's patented Papillion time-display method. Fifteen years later, that acquisition led to Bulgari's creation of the Papillon Tourbillon in a large 45mm Roth-inspired case.In 2021, we see the Papillon take on a new form as it joins the celebrated Bulgari Octo family. However, the addition of the central tourbillon created a beautiful harmony, with the butterfly and the whirlwind in the classy Octo Roma case: call it The Butterfly Effect.The Papillon rebornThe original Roth-inspired 45mm Papillon is a large and oversized watch by current standards. This year, Bulgari decided it was ...
Jaeger-LeCoultres original 1931 reversible case served to protect the fragile glass on the dial side by flipping the case on the wrist. With the steel case-back facing up, the glass beneath was less prone to damage. The necessity for this design was born out of British polo players wanting to track time without damaging the crystal during polo matches in post-war India. Its a well-known legend, but these days sapphire crystal has become strong enough to withstand whatever life throws at it. The scratch resistance of sapphire is so much that many of JLCs Reverso collection have sapphire displays on both sides yet retain the iconic reversing case.New for 2021 is the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Tr...
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 13 mission. It is perhaps the most talked-about mission besides the Apollo 11 Moon landing. The mission that had a rough start, to begin with, and almost ended with a fatal accident in space.The Speedmaster didnt fix the issue onboard the Apollo 13 service module at approximately 200,000 miles distance from Earth, but it did play an important role in the safe return of astronauts Haise, Swigert, and Lovell. You can read all about it in the article explaining why theres a Snoopy on the dial that I wrote a few years back.Omega was awarded NASAs Silver Snoopy Award in October 1970 for the role played by the Speedmaster during the Apollo 13 miss...
When the watch brand from Biel dropped a new small-seconds version of the Aqua Terra, I wasn't sure what to make of it. The central-seconds model appears better balanced and therefore remained the superior and preferable AT, in my opinion. But when Jorg and I went through the extensive AT collection online, we spotted something interesting. Something different. Something that got us very curious. Amidst a sea of black, blue, and gray dials, the reference 220.12.41.21.02.005 caught our eye. Thats the 41mm steel AT featuring a silver dial with beige detailing and a matching beige rubber strap. We had to see that watch in the metal, so we asked Omega to send it over. That wasn't a problem, and ...
Welcome back to our Watch On Your Wrist? Instagram extravaganza Tag your watch snaps with fratellowatches to be in with a chance to win!Every week, we select four images. You can vote in the article for your favorite image. The winner moves on to the semi-final round (held every fifth week between the previous four weekly winners). Win that and youre into the final, which will be held at the end of the year. There will be five finalists in 2020 and ten from next year on.Basically, if you like winning things and there will be a prize for the champion of 2020 this year represents your best shot. So get snapping, get tagging, and get sharing. And dont forget to vote (once) for yourself Obvious...
The Speedmaster First Omega in Space is now being discontinued. What makes the Speedmaster FOiS 311.32.40.30.01.001 so special and do you need to order one while you can?The word has been out for a while already: the Speedmaster FOiS is being phased out. Omega also confirmed to us that its over and done with. In a lot of countries, they are already sold out and not being restocked. In some countries, you might still be lucky to find one at an Omega boutique or an authorized dealer.Although I like the design and idea of the watch, I never felt a lot of excitement for the Speedmaster First Omega in Space. Mainly due to the sapphire crystal and the modern case back. The number of votes for this...
Hot on the heels of their first airline-inspired release honoring Swissair, we have a second new colorful watch to view, the Breitling Navitimer Pan Am Edition.? Much like the Swissair piece, the Pan Am pays tribute to another airline from the Golden Age of commercial travel.? Pan Am is arguably the most famous airline to ever exist despite the fact that they ceased operations way back in 1991.? I never flew them, but I recall many family members and friends hopping aboard their wide bodies out of Miami International and over to foreign destinations such as Heathrow.? And then, who could forget 2002s Catch Me If You Can with Leonardo Dicaprio as a captain-in-disguise on Pan American Airways?...
Welcome back to A Brief History of Time: omegas Complete Brand History. This marks the third installment in our in-depth look at the Geneva watchmaking giant. Today, were excited to share the next chapter in its illustrious history.In Part One, we took a look at the early life of Hans Wilsdorf, his founding of the omega brand in 1905, and how his foresight made omega an early pioneer in the development of wristwatches. In Part Two, we explored the birth of many of omegas most legendary models. We also saw the brand further its reputation as the top choice of professionals and the powerful. Today, well explore the continual evolution of omegas professional range, and discover how the brand be...
Here is the first round this weekend on the Speedmaster World Cup Semi-Finals. In the quarter-finals, we saw the Speedmaster Snoopy 2015, the Tintin ultimately dominate their match-ups for the win. Some groups had clear winners, others showed a proper fight.In the Semi-Final 1, we will see a battle between the reporter and adventurer Tintin and NASAs watchdog Snoopy. Both cartoon characters, but with the difference that one didnt make it on the watch due to a tough crowd that watches over Herg s heritage and one that did make it to the watch, Snoopy. In the latter case, the cartoonist Charles M. Schulz that came up with Snoopy was a big supporter of NASAs race for the Moon. He officially let...
If you were to ask watch enthusiasts what their favorite complication is, the answers will be very diverse. Ask them to list the most practical, and it is likely that GMT functionality would land near the top. Especially for frequent travelers, a GMT watch is the perfect timepiece. The all-new quartz Grand Seiko SBGN011 and SBGN013 could be the ideal travel companion for many of those frequent travelers.When finding the right GMT-watch for your travels, a question could be whether you prefer to travel stylish or sporty? I prefer the latter, but by no means does one necessarily exclude the other. And thats certainly true when it comes to the Grand Seiko SBGN011 and SBGN013.Although they are p...
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...
Get your digital copy of our Seamaster 300M Magazine In 2018, Omega revamped its iconic Seamaster 300M. A watch that got many people into watches in the first place, as it became the James Bond watch in 1995. The Seamaster 300M is a watch that received updates every few years since its initial introduction, always being up-to-date with the latest Omega innovations.One thing was lacking though, an in-house developed movement. Omega adopted the Co-Axial escapement in 1999 but didnt use its in-house developed movements until 2007. Although the Seamaster 300M was using a movement with Co-Axial escapement, it didnt have an in-house Omega movement before 2018. In that year, the 25th anniversary of...
With bags of goodies from LVMH hitting the market at the same time, theres a lot to choose from. The stand-out piece? The Zenith Pilot Type 20 Rescue.Take a look at these new releases from Zenith and let us know which one youd like to see covered in an in-depth review in the comments below.Zenith Pilot Type 20 Rescue 03.2434.679/20.I010Youve heard about the fact that Zenith is the only watch company actually allowed to put the word Pilot on the dial, right? You hadnt? Wow, I hope the rock youve been living under was nice. Seriously, as much as I love Zenith (and I do love Zenith), Ive repeated that fact so many times Ive started saying it in my sleep.Every so often, however, it really feels ...
I have to admit that I had never heard about Gilt, but it is a US based luxury shopping platform. As of yesterday, theyre also selling a number of very cool watches.Friend of the show Ben Clymer of Hodinkee is the curator of the whole lot. A number of interesting pieces are being put up for sale. One of them is this cool Paul Newman Daytona, I guess it is a ref.6239 as the lot doesnt tell.Price tag, $85,000.- USD.Go Gilt, click here....
A few weeks ago, whilst cleaning up my attic, I found a box with all sorts of watch stuff. Inside were also two discs that I received in December 2007.On there, an interview between astronaut Wally Schirra and Chuck Maddox. This interview was recorded on February 17th 2007 in Beverly Hills, a few months before Schirra passed way age 84 on May 3rd 2007. Chuck Maddox passed away a year later, on May 12th 2008, age 46. A sad day that I vividly remember, as I received a phone call from Dale Vito (Ace Jewelers) who brought me this news whilst being on a family trip in Munich.Wally Schirra was the only astronaut who flew on board of the Mercury (MA-8), Gemini (6A) and Apollo (7). As you probably k...
Its Speedy Tuesday A few months ago, I wrote about the differences between the Speedmaster Professional (regarded as the Moonwatch) and the Speedmaster Reduced. We now have a similar watch to the Reduced, a 39mm automatic Speedmaster watch, especially for the Japanese market. However, where the original Speedmaster Reduced was equipped with a piggy back movement Omega caliber 3320, this Japanese Speedmaster reference 3513.53.00 has an Omega caliber 1152 movement, based on the ETA/Valjoux 7750.Where the Omega caliber 3220 movement is a piggy back movement (Dubois-D praz 2020 chronograph add-on module on top of the ETA base movement), the caliber 1152 or ETA/Valjoux 7750 in this Japanese marke...
The original IWC Big Pilot's Watch is a classic. But it's also an XL heavyweight that you're constantly aware of. It practically takes a giant to wear the 46.2mm original inconspicuously. The new smaller version of the BP comes in a more practical size L. And, although I don't want to give it all away already, flying on auto with the slimmed-down IWC Big Pilots Watch 43 is possible. You're only aware of the watch when you want to be and that is a massive upgrade.The new steel Big Pilots Watch 43 comes with either a traditional black dial or a more fashionable and contemporary blue variant. The big box we received at Fratello HQ contained the blue-dialed version and came with a brown and a ve...
Its Speedy Tuesday When you buy a new Omega Speedmaster (Professional), you can either choose between a stainless steel bracelet or a leather strap. However, there are many more ways to wear your Speedmaster in a cool way. From simple NATO straps to high-end alligator straps or even using a NASA-like velcro strap. In this article we show you how you can wear your Speedmaster. The straps can really change the entire appearance of your Speedmaster, giving a new Speedmaster a vintage look or make it a very classy watch using an alligator strap.Omega OEM calf strapWe kick-off with a brown calf strap from Omega. This strap (reference 98000195) is also issued with the chocolate brown Speedmaster P...