Part of the fascination that drives my interest in watches is the endless variations in design and, even more so, completely new ideas that result in something I have never seen before. Most of these true innovations come from small independent brands that do not need to cater to the mass...
It’s Sunday, which means it’s time for another Sunday Morning Showdown. This week, it’s an epic battle between two retro dive watches. Each is inspired by its respective brand’s 1960s classics. Jorg’s pick is the Favre Leuba Deep Raider Revival, a modern version of the brand’s Deep Blue. Mike’s...
I first strapped the Panerai Luminor Base Logo PAM01086 to my wrist on a gray Sydney morning. Anchored to my wrist was one of the most storied dive-watch silhouettes in the world — simple, formidable, and, yes, iconic. Over the next two weeks, I wore it everywhere, from work and coffee runs to...
We’re a week away from the third annual British Watchmakers’ Day. A record 48 brands will showcase wares and share stories with the buying public. Of the brands exhibiting, 26 will also present limited-edition timepieces exclusive to attendees at the show. This time, new parameters are in place...
Some colorways naturally lend themselves to a particular watch style. Think, for instance, of a blue-and-red “Pepsi” combination for a GMT watch, stark black and white for a Flieger, or simply the marriage of blued hands over a porcelain-white dial on any number of dress watches. I’m sure I’m...
Another Friday, another list. This week, we follow up on last week’s list of the top five Rolex GMT-Master II alternatives with the best alternatives to the Rolex Explorer II. It’s a logical step since the two models offer much of the same functionality. But they are inherently different watches...
Three years ago, the Raymond Weil Millesime Automatic Small Seconds timepiece won the GPHG 2023 Challenge Watch Prize. That was a bigger surprise to most watch fans than Audemars Piguet winning the Grand Prix for the Code 11.59 Ultra-Complication Universelle RD#4. Since that award-winning watch,...
I have always thought of the IWC Portugieser as an elegantly styled chronograph or a clean time-only watch. Until today, that is, because the brand from Schaffhausen introduces an all-black Portugieser Chronograph in Ceratanium. Yes, please take a moment to let that sink in. Previously, the...
The original Pepper0ni and Hawaiian pizza watches that our friends at Time+Tide cooked up with Studio Underd0g in 2024 started life as an April Fools’ joke the year before. Then, they turned into a very real, very tasteful, and very successful collaboration. They toured the world through a...
The Moon is a source of inspiration for many. Art, music, movies, you name it — the Moon is everywhere. It’s also in watches. Let me introduce two watches with a prominent role for our planet’s satellite, the Chronoswiss Lunar Chronograph Aurora and Space Timer Gravity. These two timepieces...
These days, “heritage” might be the most overused word in watch marketing. Every other press release seems to reference archives, vintage inspiration, or a glorious past. But at what point does heritage become a crutch rather than a strength? In this episode of Fratello Talks, Nacho, Daan, and...
It’s time for a short confession: generally, I am not the biggest fan of skeletonized watches. While I greatly appreciate the possibility of witnessing a caliber in action, I much prefer to see it in action through a sapphire display in the case back. It’s purely an aesthetic thing because, as a...
