This year, Cartier is celebrating the 100th anniversary of their Tank watch. Created by Louis Cartier in 1917, inspired by the (then) new Renault tanks that were used at the front during WW1. Based on this design, Cartier has made beautiful variations; the Tank Louis Cartier, the Tank Américaine and the Tank Française. Cartier Tank […]
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As most of you know, we have a special and creative feature on Fratello Watches: Watches & Pencils. As of today the official shop / website about this feature is launched. In short: What is Watches & Pencils again? It all started with the idea by founder and Fratello team member Teun. A few years […]
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Rolex is one of the major partners in Formula 1 since 2013. Besides Pirelli and DHL, you see ROLEX mentioned about everywhere along the track. Rolex is the Global Partner and Official Timepiece of Formula 1. Last weekend, the Grand Prix of Belgium was raced on the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. I had the privilege to visit […]
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Last year we reported about the new project by (amongst others) Octavio Garcia, former Head of Design at Audemars Piguet. The Gorilla Fastback was born and we brought you a review and a #52Mondayz feature on this watch. Today, we show you the new Gorilla Fastback collection consisting of three pieces: The Acid Green, RS […]
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Normally, our contributor Gerard talks about one of his watches in this 52Mondayz feature. Whilst he is enjoying a deserved holiday, I decided to do this week’s write-up for 52Mondayz. It took a while before I decided which watch I wanted to cover, but going through my modest collection I stumbled upon my trusty Seiko […]
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Toc19, a hand wound watch that makes a personal statement Toc Watch, or Toc, launched their first watch at the end of July and crowdfunded it in just 24 hours. It was pretty incredible for Will and Max to watch as their year-long project became an overnight success. They are eager to push on from […]
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Last Sunday we were invited to join the introduction event of TAG Heuer and their Max Verstappen 2017 Special Edition timepiece. Although Max Verstappen lives in Monaco these days, he considers The Netherlands to be his home country. The event took place in Amsterdam and for the occasion, Max Verstappen was ‘flown in’ to receive […]
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This invitation is mainly aimed at our German speaking readers, a lunch and presentation in the Tourbillon Boutique in Baden-Baden to celebrate this year’s Speedmaster, Seamaster 300 and Railmaster Trilogy by OMEGA. Invitation Tourbillon Boutique Baden-Baden x Fratello Watches OMEGA Trilogy Event Tourbillon Baden-Baden proudly invites you to discover the OMEGA Trilogy collection 2017 is […]
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Gold Speedmaster 3695.50.31 One of my first encounters with a gold Speedmaster was with the BA145.022-69, which translates into the famous yellow gold Apollo XI commemorative edition from 1969 with a burgundy bezel. It must have been late 1999 or early 2000 that someone showed it to me. It paved the way for my (later) […]
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There are a number of online auctions and marketplaces out there, but one particularly great platform for purchasing watches online is Catawiki. They auction off over 2,500 watches every week and each watch must first be reviewed and approved by their team of 12 watch specialists. The expertise of the staff combined with their secure […]
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Back to basics. In 1983, designed and developed by Kikuo Ibe, Casio introduced the first watch according to their Tripple-10 concept. Waterproof to 10 bar, drop-proof to 10 meters and 10 years battery life. The Casio G-Shock DW-5000C was born and could withstand a pressure of even 20 bar. This weeks 52Mondayz watch, the Casio […]
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It’s holiday season and so I thought it would be a good time to publish an episode about watches and vacations. Prepare for a relaxed and sunny episode. Pack your suitcase: What to wear?! Overall most of the people choose their vacation watches from a practical point of view. Some things to consider: Water resistant: […]
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IAAF World Championships Since 1985, Seiko is the official timer of the International Association of Athletics Federations, or IAAF in short. This year, Seiko invited us to come to the IAAF World Championships in London and – amongst others – have a look at the actual timing equipment and activities during the event. I have to […]
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De Stijl De Stijl (literally translates as ‘the style’) is a Dutch art movement most famous for work by Mondriaan (‘Composition with lines’) and Rietveld (Red & Blue chair). One of the school’s I attended as a young boy was called ‘Mondriaan’ as I lived in a village where Piet Mondriaan lived for a while, […]
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Roger Tallon The watch industry has its own superstar designers. The first name that comes to mind for most of us is of course Gérald Genta. You also have a bunch of design studios, like Giugiaro, who has collaborated with a number of watch brands (Seiko Astron GPS for example). However, there are a handful […]
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Roughly a month ago, Oris reached out to us and asked if we’d be interested in testing a new watch prior to the lifting of a press embargo (yes, you’re looking at a watch released “out of cycle” – not at Baselworld). Naturally, we answered affirmatively to the rhetorical question and the mystery watch was […]
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For some reason the Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra collection struck me as younger, but Omega put out a press release about the 15th anniversary this year of this watch. In 2002, the Aqua Terra was introduced as another sub collection of the Seamaster family. Although Omega has only a couple of watch families, like the […]
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Owners and their watches, providing an insight in what moved them to buy a certain watch or in this case, a Speedmaster. Once every while we like to feature a reader’s story on their Speedmaster(s). This week we have the story of Iain and his wife Jackie and how they came to purchase their Omega […]
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Guess what!? This is the 26th episode in the 52Mondayz column. That means that we’re half way. Half way the year that every week I wear a different watch which we present to you here at Fratello Watches. Breitling Chronospace A56012.01 And this week I’m going quartz again. A quartz watch from a brand which […]
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Formex Swiss Watches, an independent Swiss watchmaker and direct online distributor of action-sport-influenced watches, just released a free App that lets you try on their watches with your smartphone. Being detached from any retailer and selling exclusively through their online shop, Formex Swiss Watches manufactures high quality watches at very attractive prices. Their new App […]
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A few years ago, we had a contributor that was particularly strong in photography and knew his watches. I am talking about Ming Thein. Ming decided to focus more on photography and became a very successful one. He also reviews photography gear and became an official Hasselblad ambassador in 2016. In the meanwhile, he never […]
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Whether they were the first to produce something new or provided a contribution to society or their own brands, a number of watches were historically significant. There are so many that paved the way into new eras that to narrow it down, we’ll focus on just three interesting ones available at Catawiki’s weekly Watch auctions. […]
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I turned 40 this year and decided to finally pursue my long time wish to play golf. I have played field hockey as a kid and teenager so have some sense for ball sports. During my study and first jobs, I had some golf lessons but never pursued. This year I decided to go for […]
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I just ordered a watch. No really, just now. The Eza AirFighter. After seeing the press release, I made sure to secure one for myself. That doesn’t happen very often I might add. But first, let’s have a look at the new Eza AirFighter. Eza AirFighter Without trying and meaning to be nasty, this watch […]
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You might be familiar with Hackett London, the menswear retailer from the UK. But did you know there is a Speedmaster Hackett? Hackett was founded in 1979 by Jeremy Hackett and Ashley Lloyd-Jennings. In 1983 however, they opened their first shop under the name ‘Hackett’ in Parson’s Green, London. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of that, […]
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This week I was pleasantly surprised by a visit from one of The Netherlands’ most headstrong watchmakers, Fred Dingemans. Entirely by hand, Fred produces mechanical watches under his brand name d.m.h. Short for Dingemans Mechanische Horloges, or Dingemans Mechanical Watches in English. Fred Dingemans d.m.h. unique pieces It was in March 2009 that I wrote […]
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Since 2010, Seiko is offering these “cocktail time” watches that were clearly inspired by living the good life. First only for the Japanese market (also referred to as JDM sometimes, Japan Domestic Model) and since a couple of years also for the rest of the world to enjoy. It wasn’t until a few years ago […]
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Although less common today, defense departments would collaborate with watchmakers to provide their military with the right tools for the job as early as the 1880s. These extremely accurate watches are still treasured for their unique utilitarian aesthetic and historic value. The watch experts at online auction platform Catawiki have shared a few of their […]
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Lonville might be a brand you never heard of before. Although it has some history (from 1873 till the early 1950’s) I won’t bother you with it. The Lonville today has little to do with the watches the company made back then. Initiated in 2009 by Joost Vreeswijk, a Dutch entrepreneur, Lonville is a small […]
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It has not gone unnoticed that we celebrate the 5th anniversary of the Speedy Tuesday feature this year. Early this year we – together with Omega – announced a Speedmaster limited edition to celebrate these 5 years of Speedy Tuesday, which is an amazing tribute to some pretty hard work over the years. Also, just […]
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