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Time+Tide
Join us for an evening of lively discussion and watches as Phil Toledano and Alfred Chan host their first ever event.The post Toledano & Chan host one night in our London Discovery Studio appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Worn & Wound
Vacheron Constantin is the world’s oldest watch brand in continuous operation, and they celebrate a big anniversary this year: 270 years. That’s an incredibly long time for a company to exist, and simply by virtue of its age, Vacheron has survived virtually every kind of calamity that can befall the human beings who, at the end of the day, are responsible for keeping the thing going. Wars, disease, more wars, Instagram hype – Vacheron has seen it all. It’s certainly a milestone worth celebrating, and as brands tend to do when these big numbers crop up, they’re doing it with a watch (probably a bunch of watches, to be fair – it’s only January). In any case, to begin their big anniversary year, Vacheron Constantin has introduced a new version of their 222 in steel, a watch that has been anticipated and speculated about since its most immediate predecessor was introduced just shy of three years ago. Just in case anyone needs a refresher, the 222 was Vacheron Constantin’s original entry in the integrated bracelet sports watch sweepstakes in 1977, the brand’s 222nd anniversary year (this is an anniversary watch to its core). It came after their counterparts in the so-called Holy Trilogy of Swiss watch brands released their own takes on this style (the Audermars Piguet Royal Oak and the Patek Philippe Nautilus, both designed by Gerald Genta) and was not continuously produced, so it didn’t attain the household name status of those watches. The 222 was always...
Worn & Wound
Last year, when Ressence announced the Type 8, it was met with great excitement and surprise by their fans, including yours truly. A simpler and less expensive Ressence wasn’t something that seemed on the horizon. The watch was a stripped-down take on the seemingly magical Ressence display, reduced to hours and minutes. A lack of numerals, matched with an expansive, heavily domed dial, gave the Type 8 a different mood from Ressence’s other watches. Rather than leaning toward the technical, they felt meditative, which is perhaps to say, they felt less about the engineering and more about the resulting experience. I shared my thoughts in a review you can read here. A year and a half or so later, Ressence has dropped one of the biggest surprises of 2024: a follow-up to the Type 8, which is logically called the Type 9. This wasn’t at a big event like Geneva Watch Days or Watches and Wonders but rather a random week in December, making it even more unexpected. Adding to the shock, it’s another departure from the Ressence norm, featuring their most compact case, and yet continuing the simpler hours and minutes only dial. However, where the Type 8 felt like a radical change, the Type 9 feels more like a spin-off. It’s not a new story but a subplot or side quest. Perhaps, even an alternate take on the Type 8. Case Typically, with Ressence, the dial is the star of the show, but for the Type 9, it’s the case. The dial is special, too, but it feels like a variation on the...
Monochrome
First presented for the 222nd anniversary of the venerable watchmaker Vacheron Constantin, the 222 was the brand’s answer to the then-growing demand for luxury sports watches with integrated bracelets. The third member of the iconic Holy Trinity of luxury sports watches, next to the Royal Oak and the Nautilus, all three sharing the same base […]
SJX Watches
First launched in 18k yellow gold a little over two years ago, the Vacheron Constantin Historiques 222 finally debuts in stainless steel. Sticking to the familiar vintage-remake template established by the gold model, the 222 retains the familiar “bottle cap” bezel and applied Maltese cross emblem, but in brushed steel. Like the gold model, the 222 “Jumbo” in steel is executed to a high level of fit and finish – certainly superior to that of the vintage original – and it’s presented in the classic livery of a matte blue dial (great) and faux-vintage lume (not so much). More importantly, the steel 222 substantially more affordable than the gold version, about half as expensive in fact. Initial thoughts The 222 in gold was well received at launch in 2022; it helped that the roll-out took place when integrated bracelet sports watches were all the rage. That success made the steel version a certainty. Vacheron Constantin (VC) took a little longer than I expected to unveil the steel 222, but now it’s finally here. The watch is, admittedly, predictable. It has all of the familiar elements found in the vintage originals and then the gold reissue. But it is still appealing, because the quality of execution is high and the proportions of the watch are good. Compare this to a vintage 222 and the improvement in build quality, particularly of the bracelet, is immediately obvious. Although the steel 222 is compact by modern standards, it has the refined quality of a con...
Monochrome
A week ago, we covered some of the best watches coming from the Netherlands for the simple reason that both our founder Frank and myself are Dutch. However, part of the team comes from France, and as such, I thought it would be fun to have a look at French watches this time around! And when […]
Fratello
Beware, this is a low-brow edition of Sunday Morning Showdown! We usually stick to watches, but this week, the emotions may run a lot higher. This is, after all, a battle between former lovers. It is a showdown between former spouses, even. Daan and Thomas will perform some post-marriage counseling for a certain Miss Piggy […] Visit Sunday Morning Showdown: Oris ProPilot X Kermit Edition Vs. Miss Piggy Edition to read the full article.
Quill & Pad
The De Bethune DB17 Piece Unique is a technical tour-de-force by two of the greatest minds in modern watchmaking, and it embodies a thrilling combination of beauty and ambition.
Monochrome
If like me, you’re a child of the eighties, I am pretty sure you will have seen a Lancia Delta on the road at some point in your life. The boxy hatchback was a fairly common sight, at least in Europe, and someone in my neighbourhood had a dark blue one with a tan interior. […]
Monochrome
Longines is known to tread carefully in developing new watches, often delving into its hugely impressive archives to find inspiration for tons of fine heritage-related watches. It’s also a brand that doesn’t jump in unexpected directions, resulting in strange and inexplicable choices and subsequent releases. So it’s fair to say this Ultra-Chron Carbon took us by surprise, […]
Monochrome
Fears is a British watch brand founded in Bristol in 1846. Although the company went bust in 1976, the brand was resuscitated by a sixth-generation Fear in 2016, making it one of the oldest family-run companies in Britain. Proud of its heritage and incorporating design cues from the past, Fears introduces a limited edition of […]
Fratello
Tissot is expanding its PR516 collection with new chronograph models. Two quartz versions in PVD rose gold and bicolor and one stainless steel model with an automatic chronograph movement will join the lineup. The latter is based on a Valjoux A05 movement, an update of the famous Valjoux 7753. It’s this full-steel model with automatic […] Visit Hot Take: The “Winter Cool” Tissot PR516 Automatic (Valjoux) Chronograph to read the full article.
Fratello
Branding is everywhere. Branding is how companies show the outside world what they stand for and who they want to attract as customers, partners, or other stakeholders. Most of us even engage in personal branding to some degree, whether consciously or not. The profile picture and title you choose for your LinkedIn profile could be […] Visit Branding 101 - How Luxury Watch Brands Position Themselves To Win Your Favor to read the full article.
Fratello
It’s The Muppet Show with our special guest star, the Oris ProPilot X Miss Piggy Edition! So please welcome to the stage the very first 34mm version of the ProPilot X, a fabulous collaboration with Miss Piggy. The striking pink dial befits the most fabulous pig in the universe, and so does the glimmering baguette-cut […] Visit It’s Time To Play The Music, It’s Time To Light The Lights, It’s Time To Meet The Oris ProPilot X Miss Piggy Edition Tonight to read the full article.
Worn & Wound
This summer, a new American watch company quietly launched in Denver, Colorado. Fittingly named 5280 after the Mile High City where the brand calls home, this watchmaker is tackling an artistic craft that’s particularly near and dear to my heart: vitreous enamel. 5280 is the brainchild of founder Rich Keel, a longtime watch collector. For him, timepieces have always been less about functionality and more about wearable art. In addition to being a lover of watches, Keel is a lover of art of all kinds. “I’ve always been a big fan of Impressionism and its vibrant colors, beauty, depth, and richness-really art from the late 19th and early 20th centuries is what I gravitate toward,” he shares. “Faberge eggs are another artform that’s always fascinated me. So, when I decided I wanted to bring my passion for watches and art together and create my own company, the goal was to put a Faberge egg on a watch face.” Despite his knowledge and appreciation for art, Keel admits he’s “utterly inept when it comes to being artistic,” so he knew he’d have to tap the right craftsman to execute his vision. Enter Bill Brinker, an expert in guilloche and enamel work and a true artist through and through. I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing and training with a number of masters in the arts of guilloche and enamel work throughout my career and in my personal pursuit of the crafts, but none have quite as unique and fascinating a story as Brinker. He hails from a tow...
Monochrome
I’m very fortunate (and spoilt, in a way) to handle hundreds of watches every year working for MONOCHROME Watches. To the point that I almost have to admit it’s not that easy to be impressed anymore, but it does happen from time to time. Of course, it’s not that difficult to be amazed by very […]
Monochrome
In 2023, the Tissot Le Locle collection marked its 20th anniversary, and with the addition of the two new models, it now comprises 30 references. Renowned for its classic yet engaging design, the collection offers elegant, timeless elements and practical features, appealing to those seeking a refined, understated timepiece with an exceptional price-quality ratio. Let’s […]
![[Video] Going Inside A Speedmaster Movement With The Slow Mo Guys](https://www.fratellowatches.com/cdn-cgi/image/anim=false/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SloMoGuys.jpg)
Fratello
An incredibly cool video went online the other day on The Slow Mo Guys’ YouTube channel. The guys (Gav and Dan) used insane equipment to get the frame rate to 10,000 per second and the magnification to 10× for some seriously close and slow footage inside the miniature marvel of Omega’s caliber 1869. That’s right […] Visit [Video] Going Inside A Speedmaster Movement With The Slow Mo Guys to read the full article.
Fratello
If you follow my writing, you may have noticed I have a complicated relationship with Panerai. On one hand, I adore the brand and its design language. On the other hand, I often fail to see the logic in modern Panerai releases, including the brand’s design choices. I have often lamented the odd designs of […] Visit Hot Take: Panerai Goes Back To Its Roots With The New Luminor Tre Giorni PAM01628 to read the full article.
Two Broke Watch Snobs
Let’s face it: when you think of Formula One, your first thought probably isn’t, “Gee, I hope IWC drops a new Mark XX today.” But here we are, and IWC is back in the F1 game for 2025 with yet another AMG Petronas tie-in. This time, we’re looking at a no-nonsense titanium Mark XX, a clean time-and-date piece decked out in enough Petronas green to make your Speedmaster a little jealous.
Fratello
Hello, and happy New Year! What better way to venture into another trip around the Sun than by setting yourself up with a solid set of New Year’s watch resolutions? In today’s episode, Nacho, Daan, and Lex discuss theirs for 2025. They include everything from pondering potential future purchases to considering consolidating comprehensive collections. The […] Visit Fratello Talks: Our New Year’s Watch Resolutions 2025 to read the full article.
Worn & Wound
IWC holds a special place in my heart. One of my first “ultra-performance” sports watches was an IWC Aquatimer GST on a matching titanium bracelet. This was a 2000-meter water-resistant dive watch that featured a push-down locking unidirectional bezel and a mix of Luminova and tritium luminescence. This was in the late 1990s, and shortly after, I was tasked with reviewing their new IWC TZC UTC Pilot Watch, reference 3251. This model featured a sublime 5-piece bracelet with a push-button easy link removal system still in use today. It also had a display opening on the dial indicating a second time zone. Over the past twenty years, I have had the opportunity to get to know many IWC watches. Last year, one of their releases particularly caught my attention. While their pilot series has generally been quite conservative, they have recently experimented with different dial colors, but nothing like this release. As a Mercedes F1 team sponsor, IWC released a Petronas-AMG-themed Pilot Chronograph featuring bright Petronas green dial accents. This was a 41mm version of their standard day-date chronograph featuring their in-house caliber 69385 automatic movement in a grade 5 titanium case. For 2025, IWC has released the Mark XX Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS, essentially a time-and-date version of their previously issued chronograph. This one also features a grade 5 titanium case, but this time with a solid case back. Dimensions are 40mm across the case, with a slender height of only 10....
Monochrome
It’s only January, and yet the upcoming 2025 Formula One season is already in the starting blocks. We had the recent announcement of a new official timekeeper, and there are watch-related things to be expected on this side soon. But the first to kick off the F1 watch game this year is IWC, which presents […]
Teddy Baldassarre
Panerai might be the most in-your-face example of the quintessential Tool Watch That Made Good as a Luxury Item. Unlike many other contenders for that title, a Panerai watch today looks essentially the same as it did back in the 1940s, when Italian navy frogmen wore them into underwater combat. Few concessions have been made to modern tastes and trends: the luminous material on the dials is no longer radioactive (inarguably a positive change), Rolex no longer makes the cases, and you no longer have to be a naval commando to own one, but otherwise the relatively few models that make up the Panerai family have stubbornly adhered to their military-issue origins. It is this adherence that makes Panerai, for many, an all-or-nothing proposition — either you’re in the brand’s worldwide, rabid coterie of fans and collectors, proudly self-dubbed the Paneristi, or you roll your eyes at the notion of ever owning one: they’re too big, too flashy, too clunky, too Stallone. This article, the latest in our series of Price of Admission guides, is aimed at those aspiring to join the former group — in other words, those wishing to pull the trigger on their first Panerai but possibly intimidated by the breadth of choices — and, of course, by the ticket price for entry to that first tier of Paneristi-land. Without further ado, let’s find the most affordable Panerai watches in each of the current product families. RADIOMIR The Radiomir, first conceived in 1935 but tracing its m...
Fratello
In the year that Formula 1 celebrates its 75th anniversary, TAG Heuer will return to the sport as its Official Timekeeper. It’s a combination that’s as natural as peanut butter and jelly. With the watch brand’s rich history in racing and its sponsorship of the leading F1 team, this new partnership feels like coming home. […] Visit TAG Heuer Returns As The Official Timekeeper For Formula 1 In 2025 to read the full article.
Worn & Wound
It is not common practice for us to spend time crafting a hands-on review for watches that sit outside of our personal periphery. There needs to be a thread to pull, some emotion to lean on, and an opinion worth sharing. So, in full disclosure, when arranging a loan for the Gerard-Perregeaux Leureato Chronograph 42mm I did so based on the fact that it had been a while since I had spent any considerable time with a GP and didn’t have any solid thoughts on writing about it. The model is a bit overlooked in the market, has a higher and extremely competitive price point, and has been overshadowed a bit by the titanium version released earlier in 2024. But sitting there with the Laureato Chronograph dial dancing in the light shooting bursts of blue at me, I really began studying the piece. To understand the Laureato though, you must understand the history and a bit of the controversy surrounding it. An oft-forgotten integrated bracelet watch originating from the “golden” Genta age of design, the Girard-Perregaux Laureato can trace its roots back to 1975. While not a Genta design, some believe the Laureato bears a striking resemblance or is a love child of the iconic AP references that gained him eventual fame. For full context, we had the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak in 1972, the Baume et Mercier Riviera in 1973, the original Laureato in 1975, the IWC Ingenieur and Patek Philippe Nautilus in 1976, and then the Vacheron Constantin 222 following in 1977. Of course, there are...
Worn & Wound
From the moment Oris announced their ProPilot X “Kermit” watch fans have been speculating about which muppet would be next to get the Oris treatment. Not that we didn’t love seeing Kermit on the dial (once a month, on the first of the month) but for many elder-millennials and Gen-X watch collectors, the thought of having an entire collection of Muppet watches was, and remains, pretty tantalizing. Now, just about two years after Kermit made his Oris debut, we get the follow up: the ProPilot X Miss Piggy Edition. If you were hoping for Beaker or Animal or another more niche Muppet to appear on an Oris dial, you’ll have to keep waiting. Of course Miss Piggy would have to be the next character – she’s the natural counterpart to Kermit, after all. Has there ever been a more obvious “his and hers” collection than these two ProPilots together? I can’t think of one. The ProPilot X Miss Piggy Edition takes the familiar ProPilot X format and shrinks it (and pinks it, sorry) to 34mm. The case is stainless steel and the watch is powered by a rebadged Sellita automatic caliber. It’s notable that unlike the Kermit watch, we don’t see Miss Piggy on the dial of her ProPilot, not even for a day (there’s no date window for her to make an appearance). Instead, there’s a small window on the caseback through which you can see her periodically on the winding rotor. For a watch devoted to such an iconic character, this is a pretty retrained approach. Instead of Miss P...
SJX Watches
Ordinarily a faithful vintage remake with an old-school aesthetic, the Conquest Heritage gets a makeover for the Chinese Lunar New Year. The Conquest Heritage Year of the Snake stands out with a striking red gradient dial featuring gold-plated hands and indices. And for the occasion, the back bears an engraved snake motif penned by Chinese contemporary artist Wu Jian’an, who drew inspiration from the ancient Chinese fable, “Legend of the White Snake”. Initial thoughts The Conquest Heritage Year of the Snake offers something more modern and striking, instead of the conservative look of the standard model that has a silver or black dial. I particularly like the fact that the snake motif is limited to an engraving on the case back, as having it on the dial would have been overly ornate. It’s priced at US$3,150, almost exactly the same as the regular production model, which makes it a decent value proposition. It has a workmanlike quality appropriate for the price, while the high-spec ETA movement inside is one of its strengths. And like other zodiac-theme watches, this would have resonance for those born in the Year of the Snake a meaningful way to commemorate the occasion, not unlike wearing a birthstone. Vintage inspired The snake edition is identical to the standard model save for the dial and case back engraving. Water resistant to 50 m, the stainless steel case is 40 mm in diameter, 10.7 mm in thickness, and entirely polished. It’s slightly larger than the ori...
Fratello
We’re finally back with another episode of Fratello On Air after a lengthy break from the holidays, illness, and travel! This week, we’re reflecting on 2024 and some key events that shaped the year. Enjoy the episode, and we look forward to 2025! For our listeners, the watch content begins after 27 minutes. This podcast […] Visit Fratello On Air: Reflecting On 2024 to read the full article.
Worn & Wound
Since I picked up the Zeitwinkel 273° Saphir Fumé in the fall of last year, I’ve been meaning to write something about it. It’s an incredible watch, probably the best I’ve owned, and I feel lucky to have it. That’s a strange thing to say, I know. I’m sure Zeitwinkel would happily sell this watch to anyone who was willing to provide the agreed upon amount of money – luck doesn’t really have that much to do with it. But there are things about this watch that are special and set it apart from other watchers I’ve owned that make having it in my watch box and on my wrist a unique pleasure. This isn’t an owner’s review, because what I really want to talk about with respect to the 273° aren’t the specs, or the finishing, or even the experience of wearing it (all are great, by the way). What I want to talk about is the strange route I took to focusing on Zeitwinkel and picking the 273°. It echoes, I think, the piece I wrote at the end of last year for our “My Year in Watches” series, where I talked about a renewed focus on independent brands. Zeitwinkel is about as independent as it gets, and that’s a big reason why this watch resonates with me – it reflects the very specific interests of the brand founders, and represents a certain no-compromises approach to watchmaking that can’t easily be found with brands owned by big luxury groups, and certainly not at the price point of the 273°. I’ll be honest here and admit that I was largely unfa...
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