Watches Blog Wrist Watch Reviews

Its a never-ending question, which Speedmaster Professional should I buy? The one with sapphire or a model with Hesalite crystal? And then theres not just a single right answer. Both have their own advantages. But heres why every Speedmaster fan should at least have one model in their collection with a Hesalite crystal.Technology advances. Man developed new solutions for watchmaking constructions. Thats quite understandable. New lubricants brought a better lubrification lifespan. New materials ensured better anti-magnetic properties. Different constructions made longer power reserves possible. And thats not the end of the list.A Speedmaster Professional with sapphire crystalWhy choose an Ome [...]

Its been a good year for Bobsled Bobbys Box of delights. Not only has it got its own nickname now, but its also welcomed several new additions from all over the more affordable end of the luxury watch spectrum. Nothing on this list of my Top 5 watches exceeds 3,000. Some of them come in at ridiculously affordable prices. And when I say affordable, I mean affordable. Im not the kind of guy to assume that everyone can easily lay their hands on 1,500 to buy a new watch at the drop of a hat. But 28? I reckon thats something we can all at least aspire toI know these lists arent often ranked, because, as all parents find, its tough to choose between your kids, but here Ive taken the practical appr [...]

The Group Stage is in the books. Its time for the head-to-head contests to begin. Over the next two weeks, we will run two quarter-final match-ups each weekend. One on Saturday; one on Sunday. Our intrepid warriors made it through blood baths of their own making, but now they need your help to fight another day. Only one man can progress from each quarter-final to the next stage. The choice of who receives that honor rests with you. Will it be the Snoopy III or the ST1? You decideWith three Quarter-Finals in play, the sharp end of the competition is, well, sharpening.?It looks likely that the Final Four will comprise the Omega Speedmaster Silver Snoopy Award 2015, the Tintin (having taken a [...]

The Group Stage is in the books. Its time for the head-to-head contests to begin. Over the next two weeks, we will run two quarter-final match-ups each weekendaone on Saturday; one on Sunday. Our intrepid warriors made it through blood baths of their own making, but now they need your help to fight another day. Only one man can progress from each quarter-final to the next stage. The choice of who receives that honor rests with you. Let battle commenceNow its serious. The men have now been sorted from the boys. For this third quarter-final, the champion of Group E takes on the winner of Group F. But first, lets have a look at statistics. Almost 2,400 votes were cast in Group E. 45% of those w [...]

This week in Pre-Owned Picks, I am selecting five watches in five categories under the sum of 3,000. My selecting process was straightforward. I filtered on the price from 0 to 3k, then chose the watch type, whether that be the complication or the purpose. Drilling down the selecting process, I based my choices purely on what caught my eye.And a lot was vying for my attention. 3k is a great budget to have to spend on a cracking timepiece. Enough to cover a luxury purchase but not so much that the bank deduction is a colossal gut-punch. The categories were harder to choose, however. I did my best steer clear of the typical sports and dress watch types, and find watches with a bit of mechanica [...]

I?am a?self-diagnosed vintage watch nerd. You can only imagine how many parcels, packages, and boxes I?have received over the years. What you cannot imagine is the creativity of some of the packaging that comes through. Watch collecting is supposed to be fun, right? Well, some of the featured wrapping techniques definitely prove it.If you have ever spent more than 3k or 5k on a watch, you can remember exactly how long you spent fawning over your new watch. I am pretty sure you spent the same amount of time studying each square centimeter of the packaging. Packaging comes in endless shapes, materials, and sizes. The packaging becomes a part of the story. It sets the scene, builds the narrativ [...]

Welcome back to another round of Wrist Game or Crying Shame and this week we take a look at a gold Omega Seamaster 120M. But firstLast week, I discussed what I found to be a lovely Patek Philippe Gondolo 5014G. Despite some cranky comments, 73% of our respondents like putting the art in deco. Today, we stay with the metal of kings with an Omega Seamaster 120M in 18K.Its amazing to think that companies once gave their longtime employees gold watches upon retirement. These days, a lot of companies look to rid themselves of their most dedicated translation: costly staffers before theyre really ready to retire. In lieu of a gold watch, these folks often hear a chorus of, dont let it hit ya whe [...]

We love those Speedmaster stories appearing in our mailboxes. This week on Speedy Tuesday, we have two more for you. One about a Speedmaster that helped someone with a problem with his hearing, the other one about getting that perfect daily wearer (a Speedmaster 3250.50 Mk40).The first story is submitted to us by Marcus from Switzerland. The land of watches and chocolate, but apparently only the latter applied to Marcus for a long time. Lets find out why.Speedmaster Professional Pre-Moon from 1969Marcus: I am Swiss. So it is very difficult to avoid watches. But I did so successfully for the first forty years of my life. However, that was suddenly changed. An accident flipped the script: in a [...]

Hi and hello, sports fans Welcome to the Omega Speedmaster World Cup With all eight groups published and the voting in full swing, it's time for a quick round-up of how your favorite Speedies are progressing (or not) so far Over the past four weeks, we've launched two four-watch groups every weekend. Our selected limited edition Omega Speedmasters have been duking it out, tooth and nail. With the next pair of quarter-finals due to come this weekend, I thought I'd give you a quick round-up of what's been happening (check out QF1 and QF2 here). If you don't like the way the vote is going, you still have time to change it Vote yourself Share these posts with your friends and family Wave your Sp [...]

The Speedmaster World Cup Group Stage is in the books. Its time for the head-to-head contests to begin. Over the next two weeks, we will run two quarter-final match-ups each weekend. One on Saturday; one on Sunday. Our intrepid warriors made it through blood baths of their own making, but now they need your help to fight another day. Only one man can progress from each quarter-final to the next stage. The choice of who receives that honor rests with you. Let battle commenceThis quarter-final is defined by adding a bit of color to the trusted Moonwatch. Red and white to be more precise. From reading the comments and looking at the number of votes, you guys like a Speedmaster with a colorful t [...]

The Group Stage is in the books. Its time for the head-to-head contests to begin. Over the next two weeks, we will run two quarter-final match-ups each weekend. One on Saturday; one on Sunday. Our intrepid warriors made it through blood baths of their own making, but now they need your help to fight another day. Only one man can progress from each quarter-final to the next stage. The choice of who receives that honor rests with you. Let battle commenceNo manual recounts needed here as the victorious Speedys for Group A and B have an unassailable lead. In the right-hand corner, representing Group A is the 45th anniversary of the Silver Snoopy Award. The original Silver Snoopy lapel pin was aw [...]

Aint it funny when things coalesce? Take for instance, Armageddon coming out in the same year as Deep Impact in 1998. Two big-budget asteroid disaster movies from separate studios releasing within months of each other. While Im bringing it down to a much smaller scale, 2020 also saw another conceptual overlap. The vintage flat-link bracelet design for the Omega Speedmaster. The conceptors? Forstner and Uncle Seiko.Before I go into more detail on both these bracelets, let me explain a bit of backstory on the flat-link. The three-link construction with flat surface on the outer side of each link is a design both brands pay heavy homage to from the past. None more so overtly than the reference [...]

The Omega Museum Collection is an interesting assembly of timepieces. The idea is simple and something other brands also implement; let's take some of the most iconic designs of the company's past and rerelease them, updated to modern standards. You can look at these watches as simple reeditions. But theyre more than that, I think. This watch, the Omega Museum Collection Milestone 1941 Officer's Chronograph, is a perfect example of thatFor instance, its design, rooted in the 1930s, is not as popular as the first Speedmasters or Seamaster 300s from 1957. The Milestone 1941 has a distinct look. It is something you dont see anymore. However, a lot of modern watches take inspiration from pieces [...]

Welcome back to our Watch On Your Wrist? Instagram extravaganza Tag your watch snaps with fratellowatches to be in with a chance to win!Every week, we select four images. You can vote in the article for your favorite image. The winner moves on to the semi-final round (held every fifth week between the previous four weekly winners). Win that and youre into the final, which will be held at the end of the year. There will be five finalists in 2020 and ten from next year on.Basically, if you like winning things and there will be a prize for the champion of 2020 this year represents your best shot. So get snapping, get tagging, and get sharing. And dont forget to vote (once) for yourself Obvious [...]

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 [...]

Welcome to Group H of the Speedmaster World Cup. In the absence of Euro 2020, we thought our beloved readers might enjoy a tournament of a different kind. We've assembled eight groups (A CH), each governed by a different Fratello team member. Each writer has been assigned four watches, which they will pitch to you during the group stages.All we need you to do is vote for your favorite to move on in the competition. The next round will be the quarter-finals, which will see the eight group winners go head-to-head for your votes. The four winners progress to the semis. Following that, a third-place play-off will precede the final round, due to be held on Sunday, December 13th (get the whiskey i [...]

Welcome to the Speedmaster World Cup. In the absence of Euro 2020, we thought our beloved readers might enjoy a tournament of a different kind. We've assembled eight groups (A CH), each governed by a different Fratello team member. Each writer has been assigned four watches, which they will pitch to you during the group stages.All we need you to do is vote for your favorite to move on in the competition. The next round will be the quarter-finals, which will see the eight group winners go head-to-head for your votes. The four winners progress to the semis. Following that, a third-place play-off will precede the final round, due to be held on Sunday, December 13th (get the beers in-). If you h [...]

The year 2020 has been tough on James Bond fans. It was a tough pill to swallow when No Time To Die was postponed for a second time. Like so many, I was more than ready to see Daniel Craig in action one last time as 007. And just when you thought things could not get any worse, the news came in on the 1st of November that Sean Connery passed away at age 90. The Scottish actor was the first and, to many, the best James Bond. In the light of Connerys passing, we decided to create a list of our 7 favorite Bond watches.Discussing a list of Bond watches is as much fun as it is incomplete. Sure, you could cough up all the watches we have seen in 25 official Bond films, but that would not start a d [...]

Wrist Game or Crying Shame returns with a look at the Omega Seamaster Bullhead, a kooky chronograph from one of our favorite brands. But firstLast week, we went double pusher with the Oris Chronoris 2005 Replica Edition. This rather lovely symmetrical chrono walked away with a startling 80% Wrist Game win. This week, we keep things extremely uniform with the Omega Seamaster Bullhead. Now, it was apparently one Winston Churchill who stated that, if you cant dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bull. On that note, lets see just see how brilliant this Bullhead is!Omega Seamaster Bullhead Chronograph from 1969 from the Omega Museums collectionThe Omega Seamaster BullheadIt was way back [...]

In this 12-minute video, I discuss the new Omega Speedmaster? Silver Snoopy Award, but also show the previous Snoopy Award watches from 2003 and 2015. Also, the Apollo 13 25th anniversary edition gets a mention, as that one was really the first to commemorate this special Apollo mission in 1970.The comments and feedback on the new Omega Speedmaster Silver Snoopy Award have been pretty amazing (see our initial review here). As such, its time for us to talk you through all Speedmaster Snoopy watches that have been out there since 2003.Omega Speedmaster Snoopy EditionsAfter seeing the new Speedmaster Snoopy in the flesh, it immediately became my favorite of the three. Based on the comments on o [...]