Watches Blog Wrist Watch Reviews

Roger Dubuis was the brand at SIHH with the booth that was the talk of the town. Not because of their watches in the first place, but because of the incredible large gold eagle and the live American eagle they had on their booth. Roger Dubuis definitely knows how to draw attention.But what about their watches? Youve probably seen the Roger Dubuis Excalibur Automatic Limited Edition (ref. RDDBEX0398) where the dial is a round table with 12 knights as hour markers. What about their other SIHH 2013 novelties?We zoom in on the Roger Dubuis Excalibur Quatuor (reference RDDBEX0367) that was presented to us during the SIHH 2013 exhibition in January.In all honesty, I have seen the huge Roger Dubuis [...]

This version is the M28 large size version powered by a cal. R18 movement. It might not have any unusual or special features, but it is a classical, very well executed manual wind movement that is sufficiently refined to qualify for the Geneva Seal. The dial is a unique shade of copper that is a very close, but not exact, match for the case. A nice touch are the polished, reflective arabics; but by far the highlight of the dial are the beautifully blued and gently curved hands. Enjoy the photographs MTAll images can be clicked on for larger versions. [...]

Welcome to The Fast The Fratelli. The goal? To find the best Racing Chronograph of the past ten years. The rules? Each editor selects two watches that must be able to track elapsed time for at least one minute. The watch choices also must feature a tachymeter scale, and the movement needs to be mechanical. And most of all, each watch must be thoroughly awesome. But well leave that up to the Fratelli to decide.First up is my super high-end chronograph pick, the Richard Mille RM 50-03 Manual Winding Tourbillon Split-Seconds Chronograph Ultra-Light McLaren F1. Unpacking that lengthy title is a task in itself, which I plan to tackle in reverse. However, for brevity, I will henceforth refer to i [...]

Richard Mille struck gold when they teamed up with former World Champion, Yohan The Beast?Blake. But now, the Richard Mille RM 61-01 will be the last of its kind.Yohan Blake burst onto the scene as Usain Bolt's charming teammate, winning legions of fans through his affable persona, ferocious alter-ego, and blistering performances on the track. He announced himself on the world stage, winning the 2011 world title in Bolts absence. A year after that promising win in Daegu, he buddied-up with Richard Mille. For the London 2012 Olympics, he donned a prototype model while the brand developed its first piece for mass consumption.A sleek and stylish reinterpretationThe RM 59-01 tourbillon was relea [...]

Richard Mille must have thought that a watch for polo players doesnt need a reverse function. Instead, he made sure that the sapphire crystal is simply unbreakable. Six years ago, Richard Mille created their first timepiece for this elegant but hard-handed sport.Pablo Mac Donough (born in 1982) is an Argentinian polo player who won his first tournament age 14 ( Potrillos Cup). Since 2011 he is one of the elite members of the Richard Mille team and in 2012 the first watch for polo was born: the RM053. Limited to 15 pieces only, created after Mac Donough explained the Richard Mille engineers his world of shocks, blows and forces polo players face in a game that sees solid balls launched throug [...]

We are always looking forward to the SIHH presentation by Theodore Diehl, who works for Richard Mille. He is a great talker, and author, and today he presented us the Richard Mille RM 50-03 McLAREN F1 timepiece. Richard Mille is known for his brilliant technical timepieces, but with this 40 grams tourbillon split seconds chronograph things got just more brilliant.Richard Mille RM 50-03 McLAREN F1Aside from the 980.000 Swiss Francs (excluding 8% sales tax that is) price tag, this Richard Mille is not for everyone. It is a highly complicated and technical looking timepiece, that doesnt tick everyones boxes, but it is definitely an impressive watch whether you are into these type of things or n [...]

We know we dont cover many ladies watches here on Fratello Watches, but this Richard Mille RM 19-02 Tourbillon Fleur that was presented to us this morning is really something you have to see. It is one of the two pieces that Richard Mille introduced during the SIHH 2015. Normally they have about 8 10 pieces every year, but they decided not to blow all their ammo during SIHH and get snowed-under with all the SIHH novelties from other brands. Later this year, Richard Mille will unveil more timepieces to reach their normal number of new watches.However, lets talk about this Richard Mille RM 19-02 Tourbillon Fleur first. We will cover the other novelties from Richard Mille during the rest of th [...]

Since a couple of years there is a trend of watch brands opening their own boutiques or flag ship stores. This way, the watch brand has more control with respect to the quality of the sales staff, has direct contact with its customers and perhaps decreases the number of watches disappearing into the grey market. Also, the brand is able to create the perfect atmosphere for its clients that fits the brand in the best way.Will retailers disappear? I dont think so, at least the big chains (think Wempe, Tourneau etc) will survive as well as shops that really specialize in certain (niche) brands (think Chronopassion, Marcus etc). Small individual stores might get into trouble in the end, due to [...]

Somewhere last year, I was invited to come over to Richard Mille in Switzerland to visit their watch case factory and their HQ in Les Breuleux, Switzerland. With a small group of watch journalists, we arrived at the Richard Mille boutique in Geneva to have a look at all the (new) models they have. A great way to start the factory visit, as I have to admit that I wasnt familiar with most of their models or reference numbers. Although I witnessed their presentation of the Richard Mille collection in SIHH, the brand wasnt really on my radar. After this visit to Richard Mille in Les Breuleux, I have to say that they are definitely on my radar. Keep on reading.In the Geneva boutique, located in t [...]

Jean TodtJean Todt is no stranger to travel. He is the President of the FIA, Fe?de?ration Internationale de l'Automobile, an organisation which oversees motorsport and promotes road safety. His work takes him around the globe.Travel is nothing new for Mr Todt. He would grace television screens most weekends during the Formula One season, sat at the pitwall. His immense intelligence was successfully employed in the higher echelons of motorsport, masterminding strategy. He was instrumental in helping Scuderia Ferrari secure 14 Formula One World titles and 106 Grand Prix victories.Jean Todt during his Ferrari-period, already wearing Richard Mille timepiecesWhilst travel is often perceived as gl [...]

Rafael Nadal, who won Roland Garros for the 7th time last Monday, reported his Richard Mille RM027 Tourbillon stolen from his hotel in Paris. This $374.000 USD tourbillon time piece was lend to him by sponsor Richard Mille. Unfortunately for Rafael Nadal (and Richard Mille), it wasnt the first time that he lost one of his precious RM pieces. It happed before in 2010 with his $500K USD Richard Mille.French news paper Le Parisien reported that the police traced the swiping card from hotel room and ended up arresting a bar tender from the hotel. The bar tender confessed the theft and led the police to the watch on Tuesday night. The bar tender hid the watch near a Metro rail track where the pol [...]

New from Raymond Weil in their adventurous Freelancer range is this green dial version. Working with Sellita, Raymond Weil created the exclusive Calibre RW1212 to power the automatic, smart-casual timepiece.When people ask about my hobbies, and I tell them I write for an online magazine about watches, I get a few standard follow-up questions:Is that a thing?Do people still wear watches?Are there enough watches to warrant an online magazine?These questions I tend to bat off without going into too much detail as I can predict the intended audience would lose interest.But there are a few questions that perk me up:My family member gave me a service watch. Would you know anything about it?Could y [...]

Oh hi there, its This Week in Watches for June 2, 2019.Yes, its been a few weekends since weve come out with This Week in Watches.? The news has been fairly light since Swatch Groups?Time to Move?event and we took the opportunity to give you a look at many of the?Apollo 11 50th Anniversary?happenings around the last weekend.? Well, guess what?? Theres more Apollo today, but we also have some news of watches.? Lets begin.Tissot Chrono XL NBA CollectorYou know, the old Dream Team that boringly beat up on a bunch of second tier players in the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics must have had a profound effect on my European brethren.? Theres rarely a week that goes by that Im not asked if Im related [...]

When I started collecting watches in the late 1990s, my watch dealer and now Fratello contributor Gerard told me that I needed a Rolex Datejust. Cant go wrong with a Rolex Datejust as they always work. With anything.. A short and simple statement from someone who had by that time already seen and tried it all. A few years later, just after graduation, I got my first Datejust. It was a vintage Datejust from 1969, with reference 1600, on a jubilee bracelet that was clearly added later. I managed to find a couple of extra bezels, including the fluted white gold one, so I could change it to a reference 1601 when I felt like it. It was also an easy watch to wear on a leather strap.Rolex Datej [...]

Welcome back to Wrist Game or Crying Shame, the regular column that asks you to anoint a currently-available pre-owned watch as hot or not. This week were sticking to a classic. Watches from the Rolex 1601 family are a common sight on the pre-loved market. This ones a clean and crisp option at a good price. But before we get to it, lets recap last weeks resultHola, people. Mike is once again absent, so Im subbing in for him. This time our American dream is floating around on a cruise ship somewhere. I would tell you where, but due to the amount of Seikos that man carries on his person at any one time, theres a very real chance I might get him kidnapped. So while Mike enjoys his well-earned b [...]

Today on TBT we'll take a look at a Rolex that has flown below the radar for some time. It's a watch with sporting intensions, but it's not considered as a sports watch per se. Despite this, the Rolex 1625 Turn-o-Graph was actually issued to pilots in one of its earlier guises and features a toolish rotating bezel. Oh, and if you haven't figured it out yet, this Rolex just happens to come in gold.Let's get into a little bit of history (for more, head here to this more extensive article). The original Turn-o-Graph was introduced in 1953 and the 6202 that appeared looked an awful lot like the Submariner that was still to come. It featured a black inlay rotating bezel and was offered with eith [...]

Welcome back to Wrist Game or Crying Shame. This week, we focus on what I'd call an overshadowed watch. The Rolex Datejust 18K is here. But first?Last week, we looked at the TAG Heuer Carrera Telemeter from back in 2015. I mentioned that this watch kicked off a series of glass box pieces, but was a bit of an oddity styling-wise. You didn't seem to care at all, though, because this watch rolled to an 83% Wrist Game triumph. We switch things up in a big way today, though, with a look at the Rolex Datejust 18K.The Datejust 18K has internal competitionAt times, there are products that are simply so powerful that they leave no room for competition. It's even more surprising when the power is so g [...]

This classic is considered to be the mother of all modern wristwatches, and every collector at least needs to have one or have tried it.The Datejust was actually my first Rolex. I got it in 2002 when I finished university and went straight for the Datejust in 36mm with a white gold fluted bezel and Jubilee bracelet. It is basically one of the Rolex watches I respect most and this year we see an updated version of that classic. Lets forget about the Sea-Dweller in gold steel for a moment (that Michael covered here) or the new Rolex GMT-Master II Batman with Jubilee that I wrote about earlier yesterday. The Datejust release is less controversial, very safe even, and thats what I feel Rolex is [...]

The most classic wristwatch of all times is perhaps the Rolex Datejust. Not the first wristwatch (some are still fighting over that one), but the most recognizable wristwatch that could be seen as the granddaddy of all modern wristwatches. The Rolex Datejust was introduced in 1945, in the same year that the company celebrated its 40th birthday. A lot has changed since then, but a lot hasnt changed either. Put that very first Datejust reference to a modern one, and youll see it clearly has the same DNA. This year, Rolex introduces the Oyster Perpetual Datejust 41 in steel and white gold.Rolex Datejust 41 in Steel and White GoldI only have one Rolex Datejust myself (a vintage reference 1600 fr [...]

Im a big fan of stainless steel watches with integrated bracelets. The Rolex Oysterquartz Datejust with reference 17000 belongs to these watches.Rolex Oysterquartz DatejustC 52Mondayz, week 25The usual suspects in this field are of course the Patek Philippe Nautilus, the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Jumbo, the Vacheron Constantin 222, the original IWC Ingenieur (SL1832) and lately the Girard-Perregaux Laureato. However the Rolex Oysterquartz Datejust certainly fits in as well.A little history lessonAfter a model with an outsourced quartz movement in 1970, Rolex began supplying the Oysterquartz watches with in-house movements at the end of the seventies. Two models became available, the Oysterq [...]