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Watches – News, Reviews, Brands and Releases
During my early teens ? we're talking late 80's into the 90's ? I can recall walking by Mayor's jewelers in any one of the many South Florida malls and looking longingly at the Rolex's displayed behind thick security glass. I've mentioned before that South Florida is Rolex land and it's for all the right and wrong reasons. What was the reason for the popularity? Call it a mix of Oceanside utility blended with seedy braggadocio and that pretty much comes to the point of why the Submariner is so ubiquitous in this region. Of course, Rolex makes a carnet of other watches and it's one of the non-sports models that enters the focus of today's TBT article. This watch, when I looked through those [...]
Today, our friend and colleague journalist Michael Clerizo broke the internet with his story How Paul Newman's Legendary Rolex Cosmograph Daytona Was Foundaand Where It's Going Now published on Wall Street Journal.I am not going to quote anything from the article, as I believe you should read the entire story over at WSJ. Other websites also covered the big find. The watch was actually in the hands of James Cox, he dated Paul Newmans?daughter Nell for many years and was gifted the watch by her father. Although they are not together anymore, they remain close friends. Cox?will be offering it for auction on October 26th in New York at Phillips. This happens to be the first watch auction in tha [...]
On today's installment of TBT we'll take a look at a highly polarizing watch, the Rolex GMT Master 16753. It's a Rolex that evokes serious 1970's and 80's imagery with its color scheme and two-tone metal combination, but it has somehow remained relevant to collectors. You could easily chalk admiration for the watch up to being a vintage Rolex, but I don't think it's that simple. Let's take a closer look.If you're a vintage watch admirer, you're certainly familiar with the Rolex GMT Master. Introduced in 1954 and designed in conjunction with Pan-Am for its pilots, it's a legend amongst sports/tool watches. Amongst our team, there are several of us who own or have owned vintage stainless mode [...]
In the past couple of years FIDES, the investment group that owns the Geneva Hong Kong branches, has been carefully getting this group back on its feet. An interesting development since Antiquorum NY has been completely separated from Antiquorum Geneva Hong Kong, is the newest divide line has been drawn: the websites have been totally separated. The NY company is keeping the www.antiqurorum.com and Geneva has launched the new www.antiquorum.swiss to differentiate itself as a separate company. I thought it would be annoying, but it's really not. The Geneva based auction house has also launched its own app and looking forward to seeing how this new independence continues to evolve.FIDES has [...]
This year, I was happy to see a stainless steel Rolex Sky-Dweller during our appointment at BaselWorld. Introduced in 2012 already, but always in precious metals. Todays steel Rolex Sea-Dweller is partly precious metal, as the fluted bezel is made of white gold. Lets have a look.Steel Rolex Sky-Dweller reference?326934Although some say the new 43mm Rolex Sea-Dweller with red writing is the big news from Rolex this year, I think it was actually their Sky-Dweller in stainless steel that impressed me. A steel Rolex Sky-Dweller, with a 42mm case and a wonderful complication: the annual calendar. You will only need to correct the date on March 1st, and all other months are good to go. A clever me [...]
This years marks the 50th anniversary of the Rolex Sea-Dweller. For that occasion, theres the new Rolex Sea-Dweller reference 122600 with red writing on the dial. A larger case, a cyclops, red writing on the dial and a new movement. Lets have a look.The New Rolex Sea-Dweller Ref. 126600Almost 3 years ago, I wrote about the new Rolex Sea-Dweller reference 116600. You might remember that this was the long awaited successor of the 16600, but now with ceramic bezel and matte finished dial. Between 2009 and 2014, there was no Sea-Dweller in the collection. As of now, that reference is being discontinued (run for the stores, you investment buyers) and being followed up by this new Rolex Sea-Dwelle [...]
Rare Berries: Rolex GMT-Master BlueberryWhen you're doing a deep dive into specific watches?you often encounter iterations with small variations compared to their root model. Visually and with financial consequences. This episode is about?a watch that?stands out in terms of a specific alternative coloured element: the Rolex GMT-Master (ref. 1675) variant with a blue bezel, alias the blueberry GMT-Master'. Such a distinctive color and element. It is one single element that instantly made this watch a true rare berry:Accent or Not?I'm truly fascinated by the art of creating accents. How do you let specific elements stand out without taking the spectator as hostage and let him/her forget about [...]
Silence. It's the sound of the Rolex Daytona 6265 Big Red upon opening the safe deposit box and it's sadly the noise, or lack thereof, that this highly finished chronograph creates 99% of the time. In the roughly 20 years since giving way to automatic followers, the formerly unwanted manual wind Cosmographs have become icons valuable icons. In its least expensive form, get ready to cough up somewhere in the range of $35,000 for a correct example. Whether that rates as a lot of money or not depends on your situation, but let's agree that it's a significant sum for a watch and for me, it makes for an infrequent wear. On TBT today, I'll try to unravel some of the mythos of the Daytona and wh [...]
Weve been following the Toolwatch guys since their early start and they did a great job in creating a tool to measure the accuracy of your watch. First via their website, but now theres also the Toolwatch app available in the Apple Store and Play Store (Google).Checking the accuracy of your watchFor most of you watch enthusiasts out there, accuracy is an important aspect of your mechanical watch. The chronometer (COSC) standards is one way to guarantee the accuracy of a watch (down to -4/+6 seconds a day on average), but it is only valid for 5 years and perhaps -4 seconds a day still isnt good enough for you. Also, the chronometer testing and certification only applies to the movement itself [...]
It?has been exactly 60 years since?the introduction of the first Rolex Day-Date, reference 6511. This is being celebrated by a dedicated Rolex Day-Date 40 exhibition at one of the largest retailers in The Netherlands, Schaap en Citroen. Even better, their boutique in The Hague was chosen for this exhibition. A home game for us, for a change.Rolex Day-Date?PresidentIn the last 60 years, a lot has changed about the Day-Date, but a lot has also remained familiar. Todays Rolex Day-Date 40 (introduced in 2015) is clearly a descendant of the very first Day-Date from 1956. A child can see that. It is the?watch that was worn by presidents. After?U.S. President, Lyndon Johnson was elected (and wearin [...]
Rolex, 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 Rolex watches in this article. We notice a lot of people buying a (high) number of cheaper watches, but really long for a Rolex. It might be wise to refrain from buying all the cheaper watches you come across, and save up for something big. Something Rolex.Five Affordable Rolex WatchesWe show you five different affordable Rolex 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 [...]
BaselWorld 2016 Rolex WatchesDuring our meeting with Rolex in Basel last March, we got to see a number of new Rolex watches. Sure, we get to see new Rolex watches every year, but this year the Geneva Giant had some pretty cool watches for us to see. The new Rolex Explorer in 39mm is something high on my wishlist, as is the new Rolex Daytona 116500,?but that one requires serious saving-up and a long breath regarding its waiting list (yes, also for us watch journalists).Rolex Air-KingA watch that quietly left the stage a couple of years ago, was the Rolex Air-King. This watch, often considered to be as an entry-level Rolex watch, had its own following and a long history in the Rolex collection [...]
Max VerstappenYesterday, I met with Max Verstappen during the introduction of the TAG Heuer Formula One Max Verstappen Special Edition. Well, the official name of the watch is?TAG Heuer Formula One Max Verstappen Youngest Grand Prix Winner Special Edition, but lets shorten it a bit for my own sake.The cool thing about Max Verstappen is, that he is very down to Earth. It could be his middle name. At first I thought it might be his age, but that cant be it. It is something he just is. A friendly fellow, as he was standing at a?table yesterday, with a drink in his hand, easy to approach and talk to. There is not the smallest bit of show in him. Something I love. Pure, a little bit raw even.Intr [...]
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 Rolex 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 [...]
Today we'll take a look at a significant watch in the history of dive watches: the Jenny Caribbean 1500. Just to clear the air preemptively, the name on the dial states Philip Watch, but as I'll touch upon later, Jenny did build the watch. Perhaps innovation was easier in the 1960's because the market was comparatively wide open and hungry, but with the Caribbean, we shall see how David actually stood up to the Goliaths of the era. TBT is here and it's time to go deep!The Jenny Caribbean 1500 is from the family of the first commerically available 1000M diversJenny (as always said, pronounced like Yenny and not like the character in Forest Gump) was founded in Switzerland in 1963 and basical [...]
Apollo-SoyuzIn 2014, we already covered the Speedmaster Apollo-Soyuz and the background of this watch:?The Apoll0-Soyuz mission in 1975.Two super powers forgot about the Cold War for just a moment by docking the Apollo and Soyuz spacecrafts at an altitude of 138 miles. Launched at the 15th of July in 1975, the docking took place on the 17th of July and lasted for 44 hours. After the docking, the American crew transferred from the Apollo to the Soyuz spacecraft.All men in this mission, astronauts and cosmonauts, wore Omega Speedmaster watches. Interesting enough, commander Thomas P. Stafford (we had a look at his personal watch here), wore his gold Speedmaster Professional Apollo XI that he r [...]
The Rolex Explorer 1016 sprawls on a table, a scant few years shy of its 30th birthday, appearing much as it did when it was produced in 1989.An odd paradox of a watch by this time, its ultimate year of production, for it must have looked like something from so long ago, but yet it bore, and still bears, that newish look of a semi-modern Rolex. These contradictions, and the fact that the 1016 is, in my highly biased opinion, the most starkly beautiful Rolex sports watch ever created, make it a highly covetable timepiece indeed. In this week's edition of TBT, we take a closer look at the end of the line for one of Rolex's greatest creations.The Rolex Explorer 1016The Rolex Explorer 1016, of [...]
Popular WatchesOne of the things that fascinates me about the watch industry is that there are so many watch brands out there, with so many watch models to choose from. Yet, most people (including myself) find them selves keep getting back to some of the obvious choices. At least the watches that I think that are very obvious. Our colleagues from the German WatchTime website did some research together with watch market platform Chrono24, to identify the top 10 most popular watches.These watches are?the most sought-after models?on Chrono24, a website that has over 80 million pageviews a month. We?show you the top 10 most popular watches on Chrono24, searched-for between January 2016 and June [...]
King Seiko versus Grand SeikoYou cant imagine this today, but back in the 1960s, Seiko made two of its manufactories?compete with?each other. These two plants were?Suwa Seikosha and?Daini Seikosha. The objective was simple, to design beautiful watches and create the most accurate movements. Suwa Seikosha introduced the very first Grand Seiko in 1960. Not much later, in 1961, Daini Seikosha came with the first King Seiko. The rivalry went on until the 1970s. This history is documented everywhere on the internet, yet official documentation is not really available on the subject (or only in Japanese language).Grand Seiko is pretty well known. After an absence of 24 years, not counting the quart [...]
Readers SpeedmastersThere is nothing that beats a real readers story or experience in my opinion. At least, those are the stories I like to read myself. Today and in the coming period, we will have a couple of these stories for you. I also like to ask you that whenever you think you have a great Speedmaster story to share, please send us a note.Speedmaster CK2998-6 FAPJohn contacted me a few weeks ago that he owns this beautiful Speedmaster CK2998-6 FAP watch. FAP stands for?Fuerza Aerea del Pera (Peruvian Airforces) and they ordered watches from different brands (e.g. Rolex). Besides the Speedmaster, Omega also shipped Seamaster 300 models to the FAP.From PeruJohn was contacted by someone?w [...]
