Most people who know me know that Im not a huge modern day IWC fan. This week two incidents made me have the IWC Mark XVIII Le Petit Prince as 52Mondayz watch for this week anyhow.IWC Mark XVIII Le Petit Prince edition, ref IW3270 04C 52Mondayz, week 29The first matter was the news that Georges Kern stepped down from IWC and went to Breitling. Mr. Kern was one of the reasons that Im not such an IWC fan. After having seen his speech in front of a group of investors, I realised that IWCs philosophy didnt match mine. Something which was clear by IWCs watches of roughly the last 10 to 20 years as well by the way.Models which kept my interest throughout the years though were the IWC Pilot Watche...
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omega, the most popular watch brand in the world but unaccessible for the majority of people. Of course. However, we show you the 5 most accessible and (relatively) affordable omega watches in this article. We notice a lot of people buying a (high) number of cheaper watches, but really long for a omega. It might be wise to refrain from buying all the cheaper watches you come across, and save up for something big. Something omega.Five Affordable omega WatchesWe show you five different affordable omega models, from really accessible models like the Oyster Perpetual to the classic Explorer?and Datejust II and specific watches like the Milgauss and Air-King.There is no reason to speak of entry-l...
Whether were discussing Grand Seiko or Seiko, its clear that watch fans are on the lookout for a Submariner killer. Therefore, when I saw news of the new Grand Seiko Evolution 9 SLGA015 diver, I perked up and read the press material right away. Is this the all-conquering watch that we desire? Lets seeThese days, Grand Seiko and Seiko like to keep themselves separate, but for an old-school die-hard like me, thats tough. I love Seiko divers and I dont really care where they come from Ive managed to collect most of Seikos vintage divers, so Im always looking at what both brands have to offer when something new drops. Both Seiko and Grand Seiko play on lineage as much as anything, so its fun to ...
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...
Merriam-Webster's definition of a perfect storm is a critical or disastrous situation created by a powerful concurrence of factors. That sounds bad. And if you saw Wolfgang Petersen's biographical disaster movie The Perfect Storm, you know what it literally does and means. The term perfect storm was first used in 1998, and besides being used for catastrophic situations, it can also apply to something that works out extremely well. A perfect storm is when hype makes sense, you could say like James Bond wearing his Omega Seamaster 300M 007 Edition in No Time To Die. The man, the myth, the movie, and the watch together created the perfect storm.I started with a definition from Merriam-Webster, ...
For 2020 Breguet has chosen to expand its Marine collection. In March, we saw the release of a new rose gold Marine Tourbillon quation Marchante 5887. Today sees Breguet adding another six new watches to the Marine collection. Although not technically new, they are very welcome additions.The Marine 5517, 5527, and 5547 have been familiar faces in the current Marine collection that was introduced in 2018. To expand the collection, Breguet decided to introduce them with full gold bracelets.my appreciation for the Marine collection had grown tremendously.Its funny how things change over time. As I mentioned in my article on the Marine Tourbillon quation Marchante 5887, for a long time, Bregue...
Perhaps it has something to do with the universality of stainless steel dive watches, but whenever I see one for the first time, I can always picture it on my wrist immediately. There's something about the form-fitting lines of a purpose-made dive watch that naturally transports it to my wrist within my imagination. The Hamilton Khaki Navy Scuba is no different.It all comes down to points of reference. I enjoyed writing about the MBF Bulldog, but I had no concept of the wearing experience. However, the proportional scale of the Khaki Navy Scuba Auto allows it to adapt to any possible situation.Dive cred for under 700 EurosThe stainless steel bracelet has quite a bit more character than one m...
Today on TBT, I'll take a look at one of my favorite watches: the Omega Speedmaster 105.003 Ed White. Yes, I know, this is two weeks in a row for me with a Speedmaster, but I figured that any time is a good time to speak about a straight-lugged Speedy. And?-this one has somewhat of an interesting background that's worth a listen.A Straight-Lugged SpeedmasterA few years back, I decided it was time to get serious about tracking down a premoon Speedmaster. At that time, vintage Speedmasters were nowhere near as expensive as today, but they were still not easy to find and, much like today, were often filled with replacement or incorrect parts. Still, I hadn't decided on what watch I wanted and ...
Even when youre not into watches, or into Speedmasters, it is nearly impossible that you have not been confronted with a gold coloured astronaut, a picture of the gold Speedmaster Apollo 11 50th anniversary or an advertisement of the Moonwatch.What did you expect? Omega has been keen on their role as the official supplier of chronographs to the NASA astronauts since 1965. The 25th anniversary was already celebrated with a special engraved steel Moonwatch (2500? pieces), a white gold Speedmaster Professional (limited to 500 pieces), a very limited run of 50 pieces in platinum and a special run of the steel Speedmaster Professional watch with a display back for the Italian market (999 pieces)....
The year 2020 has been tough on James Bond fans. It was a tough pill to swallow when No Time To Die was postponed for a second time. Like so many, I was more than ready to see Daniel Craig in action one last time as 007. And just when you thought things could not get any worse, the news came in on the 1st of November that Sean Connery passed away at age 90. The Scottish actor was the first and, to many, the best James Bond. In the light of Connerys passing, we decided to create a list of our 7 favorite Bond watches.Discussing a list of Bond watches is as much fun as it is incomplete. Sure, you could cough up all the watches we have seen in 25 official Bond films, but that would not start a d...
I found my grail watch In this series, each Fratello editor will share their grail watch. Its the watch they want the most, and sometimes its their exit watch. Heres my story.The word grail, of course, relates to the Holy Grail or the Holy Chalice, the cup that Christians believe Jesus drank from at the Last Supper. The quest to find the Holy Grail made its way from religion to fictional literature, cinema, and video games. Today, many places around the world claim to be the home of the Holy Grail. Whether or not the cup is real, whether it (still) exists, and where its precisely located are heavily debated questions. Valencia Cathedral in Spain is one place claiming to have the actual Holy ...
The definition of ultra-thin just got a new meaning when Piaget introduced their Altiplano 38mm 900P timepiece earlier today. It is the worlds thinnest mechanical watch with a hand-wound movement. A watch that merely measures 3.65mm in height. The 900P reference finds it roots in the very first ultra-thin movement made by Piaget in 1957, caliber 9P.Piaget has a thing going on for ultra-thin watches, thats for sure. Since 1957, Piaget has developed and manufactured 23 ultra-thin calibres (out of the 35 movements that they developed and produced in-house). 12 of these ultra-thin movements has set new records for being the thinnest movement world wide.The skilled watchmakers of Piaget are const...
IWC introduced the stainless steel Ingenieur with integrated steel bracelet in 1976, designed by Gerald Genta. Last week, during the SIHH 2013, IWC again introduced the Ingenieur collection. One of them, Ingenieur ref.3239 comes very close to the original Genta designed Ingenieur, according to IWC. If you are a regular reader here on Fratellowatches, you can probably skip the next few sentences.Gerald Genta, one of the first dedicated and independent watch designers (he was on the OMEGA payroll for a long time) designed the Royal Oak 5402ST in 1972. Audemars Piguet asked him to come up with an all stainless steel luxury watch. Rumour is, that this was an overnight request and that he deliver...
When, last year, Cartier announced the reintroduction of its Pasha collection, it was something of a special treat for the enthusiast. During the virtual Watches Wonders 2021, the French brand has launched new variations: the 41 Pasha de Cartier Chronograph and the 30mm women's version. For those who missed the sporty Chronograph, or wanted to get a smaller version, it's a real treat!?Well-known for its oval-shaped case, the 41mm Pasha de Cartier Chronograph is back. This time, however, Gerald Genta's design gets a little update. Before we dig into that, lets focus first on what remains unchanged. The two cabochon-topped pushers have the same size. Also, the dial features the same sporty-ye...
Welcome to WASP 5.0, the fifth edition of the Fratello On Air Pod-column, Watching Sports and Sporting Watches. This week, Rob and Balazs celebrate reaching their fifth episode by sharing some of their favorite players from around the four major North American sports leagues.RB had planned to pick one player each and assign each superstar an on-field/court/rink watch and one off-field/court/rink ticker. Apparently, this was Robs idea. Unsurprisingly, Rob got confused and just picked two players from each league and gave each of them a very special timepiece.Weve got surprising choices like Ryan Fitzpatrick, two NHL goalkeepers, and the eternally sexy John Stockton. Additionally, we have some...
The bread and butter of IWC are their pilot's watches. The Swiss manufacturer has been offering aviation timepieces for a very long time. There are only a handful of big names in the industry with this type of pedigree. Surely IWC is one of them. Their line-up is versatile spanning from dress watches like the Portofino collection to diver's watches such as the Aquatimer and many more models. Yet the backbone of IWC are still the timepieces that take inspiration from aviation. This year the Schaffhausen-based brand goes all in on this theme. Their 2019 novelty list includes reinterpretations of familiar watches as well as some new models. The list is huge, and we will not be able to cover eac...
When watch lovers look at the Omega Geneve collection most of them think about the lower valued so called entry-level vintage Omegas. It is wide known among Omega collectors that back in the day when Omega introduced the Geneve collection it was meant to be one of the flagship lines of the brand though. By the mid- to late 1960s Omega shifted their attention.The Speedmaster collection was very successful (and we all know why). The Seamaster collection with its diver watches was also doing great and with the introduction of a few new Seamaster chronographs the brand was getting to a wider audience than ever before. Older collections like the Omega Geneve was re-positioned and put in the marke...
When I just started out liking and looking at (serious) mechanical watches, Ebel was one of the brands that I really liked. Especially their chronograph with Zenith El Primero movement was particularly interesting, easy to recognize as these models have a snap-on case back. Over the years, the movements changed (from Zenith to Ebels in-house caliber 137) but the characteristic case shape with the 5 screws and nice satin finish stayed. Although I wouldnt mind having the Ebel chronograph with El Primero movement (Ebel caliber 134 based on Zeniths caliber 400) actually the same one as Don Johnson was wearing in Miami Vice the new 1911 BTR Chronograph models are more up-to-date and just as int...
After what feels like a lifetime, Im back penning an article for Fratello. Did you miss me? Did you even notice? I wont be offended if its the latter. Mainly as the team at Fratello has been pumping out solid content all summer. On my side of things, a couple of significant events occurred that required my full attention. A job promotion and a house move in tandem profoundly impacted my free time, consequently pushing aside my hobbies. But when things began settling down again, I had one pastime that I wasnt going to let slip by. In July, I attended the Goodwood Festival of Speed in the south of England. And now, I want to share my experience through lens and literature.If youre unfamiliar w...
Does the use of the color green make for a natural and competitive battle between the omega Submariner Hulk and the newly released Seiko SLA019 or is there simply too much that separates these deep water tool watches to make the comparison interesting? Well, since you're here and because the two watches are pictured side by side, you know that we're going to take a look. In fact, we'll spend more than a cursory amount of time with each of these divers because, more than proclaiming one the victor, it's a nice opportunity to look closely at a couple models that are amongst the most popular within each brand's lineup.Hailing from Geneva, Switzerland, the omega Submariner Hulk 116610LV is a wat...