Watches Blog Wrist Watch Reviews

It's This Week in Watches for August 31, 2019 and we have loads of news today!Well, if last week's This Week in Watches got you down due to the dearth of news, then this week just might overload your senses.? It seems summer is truly over and the watch companies have responded by opening the flood dams.? Or, more likely, it's been six months since Basel. ??Ok, let's step into some new watch news!Timex Navi XLFirst up on This Week in Watches is a new one from Timex, the Navi XL.? Inspired by the brand's first diver-style watch, the Navi XL is a 41mm quartz-powered watch with a rotating bezel.? It's water-resistant to 100 meters, but has a snap case back, so this really is more of a sports wat [...]

I can cut a long story short by giving you the quick answer to why I don't consider myself a watch collector. First and foremost, Im a watch journalist. A bit of distance between subject and journalist is preferable, in my opinion. But when I went through my little troupe I don't dare call it a collection of watches, I did find something like a common denominator. It also made me reminisce about the collection that could have been.Before I started writing about watches, I looked at them, talked about them, saved money for them, and rationed myself for them. When I was a poor student but had already caught the watch bug, I bought them, sold them, and went through that process all over aga [...]

One of my favorite aspects of being a part of the Fratello team is getting to grips with watches that I may not otherwise get the chance to see up close. As we all know, the best way to get to know a watch is to see it and feel it in hand, tracing the cases curves and seeing how it interacts with the light. Theres just no substitute, in my opinion. Photographs can only show so much of a watchs character. Take the Chronoswiss Open Gear ReSec Jungle, for example-Having seen photographs of the watch, I had long adored the wonderfully mesmerizing and flowing colors of the dial as the light caught the intricate grooves of the guilloch pattern. I had this niggling feeling that despite how good th [...]

Another day, another term that we see and hear, but maybe don't know what it means. Today, it's CVD. Well, what is CVD? As you probably guessed, CVD is an abbreviation. It stands for Chemical Vapor Deposition, a type of coating process that is not to be confused with PVD (Physical Vapor Deposition). Please note that this is a coating process rather than a coating itself.CVD-applied coatings are commonly found throughout the industry in many different consumer products. CVD-applied coatings are found in a range of applications that require a high-performance thin-film coating. But, what is it about the chemical deposition process that makes a superior coating for high-performance precision ap [...]

Seasons greetings, our dearest Fratelli As the year comes to an end, and the holiday season is well underway, we wanted to take this opportunity to share with you the watches that we will be wearing during the holidays. Whether its for Christmas Eve tonight, Christmas Day tomorrow, or any other festive year-end celebration, its a perfect time to strap on your most meaningful watch. The Fratello team comes together to share the stories of their picks for the holidays and share with you the reasons why these are the watches that made the list.This time of the year is very special. Some will spend time with family and loved ones and come together to celebrate and share some quality time, delici [...]

I can't deny it Chronoswiss is a very polarizing brand and I haven't been a big fan. Do you think I am being unfair by putting them in the folder marked Retro Overkill? Like Graham, Speake-Marin, and those clunky ZRC crown-at-6 divers, large-cased retro maximalism is not my game.?I know Chronoswiss has a penchant for large case sizes. So I'll do myself and the slim-wristed readers a favor by not checking the diameter until later. The Open Gear ReSec series is a baffling collection. There is everything from blacked-out stealth to eyewatering, PVD blue overload, so if you enjoy colors like me, you'll like the rainbow of choices. Seeing the traditional R gulateur design being remixed is refresh [...]

Chronoswiss kicks off its Watches and Wonders showing with the new Open Gear ReSec Paraiba, a limited edition model with a dramatic handmade guilloch dial.Whenever I see a new Chronoswiss, I must admit that two distinct memories come to mind. Firstly, I think about seeing Chronoswiss watches from the 90s with their massive crowns and how my Dad almost bought one. My next and final recollection is far more recent. I return to recent Baselworld events, seeing the watches, and recall the evening Chronoswiss cocktail event. While those things are in the past, one thing continues on and thats Chronoswiss and some mighty fine looking watches. Today, that continues with the new Open Gear ReSec Par [...]

Its This Week in Watches for September 19, 2020 and Ive dubbed this one the Enjoyable Edition. Why is that? Well, I think we have some nice news indeed.Mido Belluna RoyalSometimes, theres something extremely enjoyable about a basic, nice looking watch. In fact, Id say thats what we have here with the new Mido Belluna Royal series. These watches feature a cushion case and guilloch style sunray dial. Interestingly, the shape is meant to evoke Royal Albert Hall in London. Putting the story aside, the gents watches come in at 41mm x 10.14mm thick and use the Powermatic 80. The ladies version uses the same movement, but measures 33mm. All have water resistance of 50 meters. Honestly, I really li [...]

Welcome back to This Week in Watches for July 18, 2020 the Colors Edition. Weve got some nice shades for you today, so lets take a look at the palette.Panerai Luminor Blu Mare 44mmNow, blue has been one of the hottest colors for the last five years or so and theres no stopping it. Proof positive is the new Panerai Luminor Blu Mare in 44mm. This stainless piece reminds us of the Luminor models from the late 1990s and damn is it hot. Check out that angled case, applied numerals, and OP symbol and youre transported back to a great era for Panerai. The blue dial looks perfect and it matches the blue leather and additional rubber strap. The caliber 6000 works away inside and, yes, you have to win [...]

Welcome to This Week in Watches for May 2, 2020. Today, were all about fun and I think weve got the right watches to turn that frown upside down.Nivada Grenchen Returns Thats Fun!Speaking of fun, Nivada Grenchen is back due to the work of a couple French entrepreneurs. Theyll be kicking things off with modern reissues of the Antarctica and the Chronomaster. The Chronomaster is one of the most popular semi-affordable vintage chronographs under the sun and it came in loads of variants. In fact, it came in so many variants that it inspired its own reference book called?Chronomaster Only. Orders will begin in June and deliveries are expected for December. Figure on 1,600 on a Tropic and 1,800 on [...]

Welcome to Wrist Game or Crying Shame, the weekly online reality show that lets you decide whether a watch stays on the island or takes the slow boat home. We even allow keimschleuder to vote This week, we focus on a beacon of glowing light during these dark times with the Chronoswiss Timemaster. But firstLast week, I showed you a two tone Rolex Daytona 116523 with a slate grey dial. And while its not my jelly, it seems to be your jam. The salt and pepper Daytona just barely pulled itself over the chin up bar. As a result, it mustered a 53% Wrist Game victory. What the Chronoswiss Timemaster eschews on gold, it makes up with a glow of another kind. Lets take a look.The Chronoswiss Timemaster [...]

Welcome to This Week in Watches for February 8, 2020.? Lets get into some news!Chronoswiss Regulator Blue SteelFirst up on This Week in Watches is the Chronoswiss Regulator Blue Steel. Here, we have a blue PVD-treated steel watch in 41mm thats meant to evoke the dashboard of a car. After all, the brands C295 automatic does things in regulator style with separate hands for the hours, minutes and seconds. A hand dyed Louisiana alligator strap keeps this wild watch strapped to your wrist. Surprisingly, I like this funky colored case, but realize its not for everyone. The new Chronoswiss retails for CHF 4,950/4,850/$4,400 and can be found on the companys official site.Longines HydroConquest in G [...]

A significant part of the Fratelli enjoys blue-water-view holidays at this moment, and even your trusted supplier of This Week in Watches, Michael Stockton, was out of office. So for this week, Ill try to be a good stand-in as?I had part of my summer wind-down already. [...]

Welcome to a late publishing of This Week in Watches for February 10, 2019.? Apologies, but this is what happens when yours truly tries to upgrade his Mac's OS after 4 years.? I mean, why fix something when it isn't broken well, it finally broke and the fix didn't exactly work.? Anyhow, I'm back and ready to bring all the news that's fit to print.? This week wasn't heavy on the releases, but let's get into it nonetheless Union Glashutte Belisar Pilot Big Date?First up, we have a new release from Union Glashutte in the form of a 45mm pilot's watch.? We don't cover this brand from within the Swatch Group stable very often, but I figured it was worth a mention due to its modern spin on a typi [...]

Chronoswiss R gulateurBefore I start with the review of the Chronoswiss Flying Regulator, let me give you a brief history on my own experience as a Chronoswiss R gulateur owner. It must have been around Christmas 2000, when I got my own Chronoswiss R gulateur. R gulateur, not Regulator. At some point, Chronoswiss changed the wording.1987The Chronoswiss R gulateur model that I have for over 15 years, is reference CH1223. There was only one different reference before this one, which was a hand-wound watch (reference CH6322). The first Chronoswiss R gulateur was created by Gerd R. Lang (founder of Chronoswiss) in 1987, and had this Unitas based movement, turned into a regulator watch. Hour, min [...]

I already shared my thoughts on this years BaselWorld show a few weeks ago (in this article) where I briefly mentioned Chronoswiss. Like many other brands, Chronoswiss grabbed back to one of their original models: the R gulateur. However, Chronoswiss restructured their collection of watches and uses two pillars: Sirius and Timemaster. These names were used for specific watches in the past, but the collection became so big that they used these names as families. You could say that the sporty Chronoswiss watches belong to the Timemaster collection and the classic watches to the Sirius collection.Ive never been a big fan of the Timemaster and that didnt change with the addition of some newer / [...]

Chronoswiss Sirius ArtistWe covered Chronoswiss last year and mentioned that we sort of lost a bit of track' with the brand. They happily surprised us with their collection of watches and we've been watching them ever since (again). With a brief explanation of the Chronoswiss history in our previous article let's have a look at their new watch collection. Chronoswiss basically has two collections. The Chronoswiss Timemaster being the sporty collection and Sirius the classic collection. Both collections consist of various models and the classic, with 20 variations up to this date, is most extensive one.The Artist watches are part of their classic Sirius collection. Introduced in 2013, this ex [...]

Chronoswiss although its name suggests otherwise was founded in Germany by Gerd R. Lang in 1983. In 2012, Gerd R. Lang sold his shares to the Ebstein family in Switzerland. Although I own a Chronoswiss myself (click here for the review on the Chronoswiss Regulateur I did in 2002), I lost a bit track of the brand over the last few years. During our meeting with Chronoswiss in BaselWorld 2013 I was happily surprised to see that they still produce the wonderful tuna-can shaped cases with ribbed details and large onion shaped crown. In fact, in 2013 Chronoswiss introduced their 30th anniversary edition of their R gulateur watch in both gold and stainless steel. Coincidentally, it is the 25th a [...]

Ten large, one stack of high society, or whatever you call it this, 10,000, is what I've been given to start a watch collection. Some would call it an insane amount of money to spend on an archaic wrist device. Others, perhaps, would say that it barely covers the price of admission. So, what will I do with this chunk of change? Let's see In reality, 10,000 is a lot of money to set aside for the sole purpose of starting a watch collection. It's the kind of money that pays for a seriously nice vacation or two. It helps pay off a car or some sort of desperately needed home renovation project. In the watch world, though, it all depends on your aims. Be reasonable, and you can expect some great o [...]

This idea started at the coffee corner in our (former) office in The Hague with some of the other editors. You'll get 1,500 from your boss to go out and buy a watch, what would you pick?And it doesn't need to be a brand-new watch, it is also allowed to buy something pre-owned or even vintage. But I added a rule to this little game, inspired by a recent podcast by Mike and Balazs. You can't sell it and you need to wear it at least two days per week for the rest of your life. It doesn't need to be the only watch to have, but one that will last basically.What is out there for 1,500?This is not an article showing you what's out there for 1,500, because there's a lot on the market that ticks this [...]