Watches Blog Wrist Watch Reviews

Recently, I went along to the London stop of the IWC roadshow in Covent Garden. It was an excellent opportunity to view watches that seldom see time in a boutique. Take, for instance, the Big Pilot Top Gun Mojave that is garnering a growing waitlist. IWC also demonstrated the relative mass of a selection of its materials. A block of Ceratanium is far lighter than an equal size block of steel, yet still solid and scratch-resistant. The mass delta may not surprise anyone, but experiencing Ceratanium with a 1:1 comparison gave me a newfound respect for material science advances. IWC makes a further advancement today with its first-ever Big Pilots Watch with a chronograph.Not only is the new Big [...]

Recently, at Fratello HQ, we re-lit the flame of an age-old question: should/could you aspire to be a one-watch guy/gal? Well, some of us agreed, and some disagreed that it is even possible. When entertaining the notion of scrapping the collection, pawning everything off, and choosing the one, we suggested possible candidates. Somehow unavoidably, a number of Rolex watches popped up in our discussion. And it's not hard to imagine why. The brand has built an impressive reputation. Its high-quality luxury timepieces are not only versatile but also reasonably sized for both men and women. But this left me wondering: is Rolex the only way to go? Or is it the easiest?You could look at a Rolex Sub [...]

We have decided to make the Ads From The Past a recurring series of articles where we find the best in watch advertising. In the second article of the series, its now time to look at some Omega ads and see what remarkable things we can find. We have selected eleven ads from the past to find out what makes them iconic, funny, or strange.Omega has a rich tradition in advertising that goes back to the beginning of the 20th century, so there was a lot to chose from when we selected just eleven ads for this article. Some of the advertisements are real works of art, and others are very technical and factual to emphasise the features of the watch.11 Omega ads from the pastIt is fun to see where the [...]

Gatsbys style sign from Rolex. Original Seiko Date Tee and last, but not least, an Omega Speedmaster poster.A few weeks ago, we shortlisted our first three gift ideas. We created this series to show you whats out there for watch nerds like ourselves, besides watches cool things to have.Creative lightingI once bought an all original 1975 Ford Coke bottle Cortina from an old fellow from the Czech Republic. I also noticed a big Ford sign hanging down from his ceiling. I thought to myself, If you don't ask, you don't get it. So I asked, but I didn't get it. But three weeks after I bought the car, I got a call from him. I was not asking this time, but I got it. I restored it and proceeded to hang [...]

It is not every day you get to meet a world-record making explorer. Victor Vescovo is the first human who has climbed the highest mountains, skied to both the North and South poles, and now?reached the deepest depths of the planet.Vescovo has just returned from the Five Deeps Expedition, the unprecedented endeavour to reach the bottom of all five oceans in a manned submersible. His ship is passing through our straits and docking in London for two days.On board is the man himself, his expedition team, and the submersible that made the historic dives. On its external robotic arm, strapped the Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean Ultra Deep Professional timepiece that descended together.Ultra DeepOmega [...]

When Omega introduced their Speedmaster Automatic 376.0822 in 1987, they never guessed it would be nicknamed The Holy Grail by Speedmaster collectors and fetch prices between 20.000 and 30.000 Euro.We wrote an article on the Speedmaster Holy Grail last year, with an explanation of mainly the technicalities of this watch. The production number (believed to be 2000 pieces), production years (1987 and 1988), and how it was initially being delivered (which bezel, dial, hands, bracelet, etc.). If you are looking for that, please read this article, as it covers the extensive research done by the authors of Moonwatch Only as well as the author of OmegaHolyGrail.com.But what makes the Speedmaster Ho [...]

Looking back to 1949 for inspiration, and embracing more contemporary design of their watches, in 2018, Omega introduced Tr sor a new line for women. Two models from De Ville sub-collection are the latest Omega release to have fallen for the romance of diamonds and ultra-slim cases.Historically speaking, while men still preferred to rock traditional pocket watches, two women? Queen Elizabeth I, and Queen Marie Antoinette revolutionized the way of wearing timepieces. At that time, both ladies ordered discreet and chic repeaters on a diamond bracelet called wristlets. With the release of the first wristwatch in 1810, bejeweled cocktail timepieces become extremely popular among women, resulti [...]

Welcome back to Wrist Game or Crying Shame where we bring power to the people by letting you vote on whether a watch is worth your time or not.? This week, we take a look at the one and only Omega Aqua Terra Railmaster.Last week, on WG or CS, we took a look at a Cartier Santos in 18K gold and I went full on with Elton John references.? It certainly wasnt my fact finding that brought this bright piece to a 55% Wrist Game win (thanks to George Cramer for informing us about some of the issues with this watch), but perhaps it was all of my witty quotes from Captain Fantastics back catalog.? Either way, you readers are becoming a lot more like us in your love of gold and we like that a lot.? Lets [...]

Exactly this month, it is 20 years ago that I bought my first Speedmaster. The perfect moment to share a story on my own Speedmaster and about collecting them.I've told the story about when, where, and why I bought my first Speedmaster many times during our Speedy Tuesday events, but I don't think I wrote it in an article. Twenty years ago, on October 1st, 1999, I purchased my first Speedmaster. It wasn't long after I learned that this watch actually the watch worn on the Moon. My father told me about Omega being the brand on the Moon when I was a young kid (11 years old or so), but he never told me it was the Speedmaster.Speedmaster 145.012-67A Speedmaster Professional with reference 145.01 [...]

Welcome, friends, to Wrist Game or Crying Shame, where we ask you to vote on whether a watch is worth its salt or simply worth what salt is worth.? This week, well go (O)mega with the Omega Ploprof, but firstSomewhere over the Rainbow, way up high? Well, you folks were clearly high on a little Zenith Rainbow because this child of the 90s soared to a colorful 61% Wrist Game win at time of publishing.? We received a lot of colorful responses from folks who lamented the 60s British/French/Italian car reliability of these watches, but a majority of you felt strongly enough about this colorful character to give it?la victoire.? Ah, and we received some cranky responses about my deriding of the ba [...]

This year, we visited 7 different locations to host a Speedy Tuesday Event. The kick-off took place in Biel, at the headquarters of Omega to introduce the new caliber 321 to the Speedy Tuesday community.What followed were events in Milan, Frankfurt, Singapore, Hong Kong, New York, and last but certainly not least, Tokyo. We spent countless hours in preparing these events, but the results have been amazing. Hundreds of Speedmaster fans signed up for these events, even though we had limited capacity, and we received (and still do) many requests for other locations to host these events.Last week, we did the last Speedy Tuesday event of this year in Tokyo.Speedy Tuesday Tokyo EventJapan is an im [...]

During our stay in New York for the Speedy Tuesday Event there, we interviewed Terry Virts.Terry W. Virts Jr. (1967) is a former NASA astronaut, and Colonel in the United States Air Force and was the special guest of our Speedy Tuesday Event in New York a few weeks ago. A full report on that event can be found here. Before the event took place, we had a brief moment with this former Space Shuttle astronaut and resident of the Internation Space Station. We sat in the bar of The Beekman Hotel in New York City and talked about how one becomes an astronaut, the difference between the Shuttle and Soyuz space crafts (he flow on both), the Speedmaster X-33 he used onboard, his watch collection and [...]

When On Her Majestys Secret Service was first released in 1969, people were not sure whether this was a step in the right direction for the Bond franchise. Fifty years later, the film is still good for a heated discussion, but the film has cemented its place in the history of the Bond saga. So it seems only right that Omega celebrates the 50th anniversary of the movie with the release of the Omega Seamaster Diver 300M 50th Anniversary Of On Her Majestys Secret Service.When discussing the classic James Bond film, to me, its all about the movie that features Sean Connery, Roger Moore, and George Lazenby. Although many people have their doubts about Lazenbys portrayal of Bond, his one-time perf [...]

On July 21st, exactly 50 years after Armstrong and Aldrin set foot on the Moon, Omega re-introduced their Speedmaster Professional Moonwatch caliber 321. In platinum. Meet the Omega Speedmaster reference 311.93.42.30.99.001.My first Speedmaster was a reference 145.012-67, produced in February 1968 according to the Omega archives and with caliber 321. At the time, in 1999, the watch was even cheaper than a caliber 861 with less mileage, but those days are long gone. In hindsight, I am happy that I chose the caliber 321 Speedmaster as a first watch (although I was actually after a more modern one, for daily wear) and I still have it today. Never sell your first Speedmaster, as they say!Over th [...]

On Her Majestys Secret Service is the 10th novel in the James Bond series and the 6th movie about the British spy. For this 1969 movie, George Lazenby played 007 and faced Blofeld (again).To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the On Her Majestys Secret Service film, Omega introduces a special version of the Seamaster 300M Diver. This limited edition is based on last years introduced Seamaster 300M model that has a long history with Bond. Since 1995, Omega has its relationship with James Bond, with the Seamaster 300M 2541.80 (quartz) and 2531.80 (automatic) references on the wrist of Pierce Brosnan as Bond. Even though in recent movies Bond was wearing a Seamaster Aqua Terra and Planet Ocean [...]

Last week we held our 6th Speedy Tuesday Event this year, this time in the city that never sleeps: New York.Different from the previous editions were the topics we had for the guests of the New York City Speedy Tuesday event. We added the platinum Speedmaster with caliber 321 to the presentation given by Omegas VP Head of Product Management Gregory Kissling, but we also talked about a watch we havent touched before during the events: the Speedmaster X-33.We thought it would be an interesting topic, as the special guest of the New York City Speedmaster Tuesday Event happened to be astronaut Terry Virts. He is a former Space Shuttle astronaut and International Space Station commander, who spic [...]

Even up till today, theres a Speedmaster with an LCD screen in the collection, the X-33 (since 1998). But even before that, there were several LCD Speedmaster references in production.Today, I will focus on just one of these models, the reference 186.0005. These were produced from the mid to end of the 1970s. The LCD Speedmaster always intrigued me, even during my first days of watch collecting. Whether it has to do with my year of birth (1977) and growing up with digital watches, or the fact that it reminds me of my friendship with the legendary Chuck Maddox (I once bought one for him here locally for 200 Dutch guilders and shipped it to him), the LCD has a special place in my Speedmaster h [...]

When the Omega Globemaster was introduced in 2015, I was super excited. Not only because it was a great new addition for the Constellation collection, but also because it was the first Omega watch with the Master Chronometer certification. That year was Silver Snoopy and James Bond, which made the Globemaster disappear to the background a bit.Not only that, the delivery of the Omega Globemaster watches to the boutiques and authorised dealers took a very long time. I would say that the momentum was gone at some point. In the last months, or perhaps last year even, I would say that I see that the Omega Globemaster is finally receiving some credits from collectors and enthusiasts. On Instagram [...]

For todays Speedy Tuesday article, we have a contribution from Nick Gould. Nick is a watch spotter and contributes to several watch magazines and blogs regularly.We love spotting watches on people, including those who are famous, as long as its genuine. In this case, Nick spotted a watch on the wrist of an actor that has discussed his share of watches on Mr Porters online journal. His most precious watch is a Seiko he received from his father. One he bought in Saigon in 1968, on his first of two tours in Vietnam. Thats a story (and watch) difficult to beat, by any brand ambassador, you could say. Milo Ventimiglia isnt an official watch brand ambassador, and he seems to be enjoying different [...]

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 [...]