During one of the get-togethers we organized, we came across this very special Omega Constellation that one of the guests brought in. Now, I have to admit that I have a weak spot for the Constellation. Not only the Constellation pie-pan models from the 1950s or the recent Constellation Globemaster, but I also happen to like the Constellation Manhattan and Constellation95. Some call this a guilty pleasure, but I dont feel uncomfortable at all to admit this. Actually, I even own a Constellation95 in gold stainless steel.Constellation ManhattanThis type of Constellation, that is still in production today and referred to as the Constellation Manhattan, celebrates its 35th anniversary this year....
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OMEGA Speedmaster Professional Apollo 11Its Speedy Tuesday and today we put this stealth Speedmaster Professional Apollo 11?limited edition in the spot lights. Stealth? Yes, as it appears to be a regular Speedy Pro Moonwatch until you take a closer look at the caseback. The special engraving tells you that this is a limited edition (9999 pieces) to commemorate the Moonlanding on the 21st of July 1969, at 2:56 GMT. This Speedmaster Professional Apollo 11?ref. 3560.50 (or ST 345.0223) was introduced in 1999 for the 30th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission in 1969.Apollo 11? SpeedmastersDuring the Apollo 11 mission, astronauts Michael Collins, Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong were all wearing Sp...
Hanging out with friends is fun. Hanging out with friends on a Podcast when the friend in question happens to be James Thompson, AKA Black Badger? Thats a whole lotta awesome. Join us, as we pollute your airwaves with some top quality jive, touching on lume, Fordite, and our shared sporting tragediesThe Black Badger brand is one of the best-known non-watch brands in the watch industry. James has been beavering (or badgering?) away up in Gothenberg for the past couple of decades since he fled his native Canada because he may or may not have been being pursued by the KGB (listen to the podcast if you want to find out why that seems possible/likely):Since founding Black Badger, James has been o...
So I won the Fratello Speedmaster World Cup 2020. Actually, I didnt win anything; it was the watch I was assigned to as custodian for this competitions length. Is it my merit that we came out first? I doubt it. It has to be the charm of the 321 Ed White.One thing is for sure; I have not written so much, so many times about one single watch than I did about the 321 Ed White. So this article will be my victory lap. Lets how a look at each piece now. Well pay tribute to my amazing teammates who took up the glove (and failed), one after the other ???Group E: Balazs and 321 Ed WhiteI presented my four Speedies pretty late in the World Cup, being in?Group E. More came after me, but more about them...
..seem to have all the luck, like Edwin at the Lange Soehne forum @ TimeZone.comClick here for his posting...
A few years ago, when I was still in banking, I noticed that IWC became the new omega for many colleagues. Where the omega Submariners, Datejusts, Day-Dates and of course Daytonas were part of the appearance?of many colleagues for many years, there was a clear shift going on to IWC watches. My explanation for this would be that IWC changed its direction a bit from being a manufacturer of tool watches to being the manufacturer of watches for a wide(r) audience. Understandable. At that time I?also??decided to buy an IWC; an Ingenieur ref. 3227-01. Based on the heritage of a pure tool watch, but with the finish and elegance of a modern wearable mechanical timepiece.A watch I wore a lot and I ...
Horological ArtWhat happens when an artist also is?a watch enthusiast? He or she hopefully creates some horological art We have our own artist on-board, by the name of Teun van Heerebeek, who surprises you with his recurring Watches Pencils articles here on Fratello. People including us love this stuff and some of you even contacted us to have it on print (which can be done so via this link). However, there are more horological artists around. Meet Cay Broendum.Cay BroendumYou might recognize his name from his omega and Omega artwork that is shown on his own website(s), or from his interview with Hodinkee in 2013. We thought it would be interesting to talk to him once more. His artwork, t...
Its been more than a week since the new Zenith Chronomaster Original dropped. I took some time to gather my thoughts on what has quickly become one of my favorite 2021 releases. Do I have any reservations? Lets see!So, a person walks into the local Omega AD or boutique. He or she casually browses the display cases, but, meanwhile, this person knows exactly what they want. The Speedmaster Professional is the watch that will find its way to this buyers wrist. A ritual like this has been going on since the late 1960s because this is the legendary watch most associate with Omega.The A386 cameand wentNow, shift to Zenith, and while space exploration isnt a part of the brands backstory, taking par...
The Moonwatch is undoubtedly the most popular Speedmaster model and always has been. But there are variations that we consider to be very interesting as well, and worth collecting. The Speedmaster Mark II 145.014 is such a reference, for example.For a long time, I neglected the Speedmaster Mark II, officially a Speedmaster Professional Mark II, as well. Mainly because of the case shape, which didnt appeal to me. Not in the last place because I thought it would be uncomfortable on the wrist. I regret to this day that I didnt buy one in the early days of being a Speedmaster collector, as these watches could be picked up dead cheap. A few hundred Euro would get you a nice looking Speedmaster Ma...
Dont call it a complication (because, technically, it isnt). Despite that weird fact, the tourbillon mechanism is one of the simplest to understand yet complicated to create that our industry has to offer. Invented to eliminate (or reduce, at least) the effect of gravity on the isochronous performance of a watch, the tourbillon has achieved almost mythic status over its 220-year life. And, as it reaches yet another milestone in its history, it seems only right to acknowledge and celebrate its inventor: the peerless Abraham-Louis Breguet.June 26th, 1801. It sounds like any other day, but it was on this day that, after ten years of hard work and patient development, Abraham-Louis Breguet filed...
After last weeks publication of my article on watch collecting (and thanks for all the amazing comments!), I also received a few messages about my preference for Omega.Although I did touch on the topic of Omega and its connection with my family, I thought I will freshen up a story that I wrote a few years ago.Why Do I Love Omega?I am often being asked why I only buy and wear Omega watches. Well, thats not entirely the case of course. I also own watches from other brands like Oris, omega, Hamilton, Grand Seiko, Seiko, Chronoswiss, Breitling, Swatch, G-Shock, and a bunch of other perhaps lesser-known ones. And in the past, I've owned IWC, Sinn, Audemars Piguet, Linde Werdelin, and others as we...
You can opt for a BP with a standard black dial C with white numerals and indexes or retro-colored ones in the Heritage version or silver in the Edition Las Vegas, or deep Le Petit Prince blue, if youd prefer. Of all these dial executions, the IWC Big Pilot's Watch IW501015 is by far the wildest. Unexpected, even, although what once was blue now turns green in the world of watches. Green is THE color right now. So what would you do if you had the choice? Would you go for black, blue, silver, or radiant green instead?There are two types of green in the IWC collection. There are four Spitfire references with a bronze case and a matte green dial that has strong military green vibes. And there ...
We love to be surprised by little details in the design of a watch. We look for novel ideas that make a watch special to us. As such, were often drawn toward things that qualify as slightly moreunusual, shall we say.Some watch collectors like to focus on one style of watch and one style alone. Sometimes that could be a category of watches (like dive watches); sometimes it could be variations of one particular model (like Speedmasters, for example). I, however, buy all my watches to wear. Consequently, I prefer variety rather than collecting within a particular niche. It gives me much more versatility so I can match my watch to my mood, the occasion, or perhaps to what Im wearing.Looking for ...
OK Fratelli, pop quiz: 39.7 or 42 millimeters that is the question Of course, you've already seen the watches in the picture above. But I think those measurements alone would already give away which watches we're talking about. Yes, were discussing the Omega Speedmaster. And to be more specific, the First Omega in Space (FOiS) and its bigger brother, the Professional Moonwatch. I never thought I would be able to pull off wearing the 42mm Professional Moonwatch on my 17cm wrist. So, I decided to get the 39.7mm FOiS. But one year later, I ended up selling it and got myself the new Speedmaster Professional Moonwatch. Here's why!Before I really got into watches, I had a 43mm Seiko SNP005 Kinetic...
There are a few brands out there which have a huge group of collectors. These brands are significant not only in the watch world but often in another area of life like sports or science. I think Heuer needs no introduction. Even for a non-WIS the name (TAG) Heuer rings the bell. Early Heuer vintage models are pretty sought-after. In this article we will get to know one of their classic yet affordable versions and its?modern counterpart.Heuer 73473S Versus Autodromo PrototipoThe Heuer 73473 was released in the early 1970s (probably around 1971) same time many iconic car racing and races inspired Heuers like the Carrera. This however has a plain dial with only Heuer' and Swiss' written on it. ...
King's Day is like the 4th of July in the US, but brighter and bigger in the hearts of the Dutch people. Me, I'm Norwegian, but I'll eat my hat if I dont put on something orange this week. This is easily the biggest event that takes place not just in Amsterdam but throughout all of the Netherlands. Be prepared for towns, cities, canals, streets, and parks filled with celebration. We kick it off with our ORANGE King's Day Special ORANGE is the color, and spring is in the air. And if you're just Dutch by proxy like me in my editor's role, join in anyway. I mean, what better way to cheer yourself up than with a madly bright pop of juicy orange? Spring might not have warmed up everywhere yet, b...
Longines is one of those brands that perform very well when it comes to new watches, but also has its share of collectors of their vintage collection. With over 180 years of history, there are definitely some very interesting Longines timepieces to consider. Both from their actual catalog as well as from their past. Nowadays, Longines is part of the Swatch Group and is positioned somewhere between Omega and Tissot. Also based on some watch market data we have, we identified that watch consumers also positions this brand between Omega and Tissot and noticed an increased interest in Longines over the past few quarters.An interesting trend, as I also see a decline in interest in a number of wat...
In this Sunday morning column, two of our writers go head-to-head in an epic showdown for the ages. Strong opinions and hysterical hyperbole are welcome (so feel free to join in with the fun in the comments section below). And don't forget to let us know which watches you'd like to see torn to shreds/effusively exalted next week. We'll try and feature as many of our readers' choices as we can. This week we take to the waves, but stay above them for once. The omega Yacht-Master II and the Panerai Luminor Luna Rossa Regatta Chrono Flyback are approaching the start line, but firstLast week, the battle wed been waiting for took place. To be quite frank, it wasnt the gritty tussle for which Id ho...
Yesterday and today, Grand Seikos and Seikos Media Experience is taking place. Digitally, of course. Where this is used to be a separate journey to Japan, and a fully packed congress room in Basel, were now following Grand Seiko and Seiko on our screens.The same will apply for Watches Wonders and Time To Move, but it is the way it is. Nevertheless, Grand Seiko had a +1 hour presentation on their new global strategy and new watches for 2021. Remember the 2019 24 Seasons collection? Meet the four new GMT 24 Seasons watches of the Grand Seiko Heritage collection.24 Seasons Grand Seiko GMT24 seasons? We have four Correct. But in Japan, they experience each season (Spring, Summer, Autumn, and W...
1858 refers to the founding year of Minerva, a watch company that was located in Villeret, Switzerland. A brand that struggled through its last years of existence, but also a brand with a lot of watchmaking history. If you put some effort into it, you will find for example ? the most beautiful chronograph watches that were made by Minerva.About 10 years ago,?the Minerva brand was sold to Richemont Group, who also owns Montblanc. Montblanc, well-known for their writing instruments, was ready for the next step in horologie as well. Haute horlogerie, to be precise. What better way to have an awesome kickstart if you can depend on movements and watchmaking knowledge from a company like Minerva?...