Well, so far I haven’t been the biggest poster on Fratello. Being busy with a lot of other stuff I found it hard to come up with a nice subject for a new post..

But now I found a interesting watch.. The Ingenieur Climate Action. Let’s start with a pic (posted on ThePurists):

Mm.. I actually kinda like the looks. It reminds me a bit of the white Millgauss-funk.

But something isn’t quite right here. Climate Action? Ok, a valid reason for a nice limited edition. With proceeds partially going to the Climate Action Fund, this is a really nice idea I guess. But it is somewhat weird when you’ve got a model in the same range in cooperation with Mercedes AMG in my opinion. Keep in mind AMG is famous for their nice roaring 5.5’s, 6.3’s, 7.3’s etc (that is considered a BIG engine over here, LOL)…

What are your thoughts? I think I could get over it.. the watch looks good .

I just finalized a write-up for Watch Freaks, a blog hosted by Alon Ben-Joseph. It is about web 2.0 and horology and how this combines. Or should combine in my opinion

Click here to read the article ‘what did web 2.0 did for horology?’

An example of what it didn’t do for Ebel.

Hi, my name is Evert, I’m a WIS friend of mr. Fratello aka Robert-Jan. He kindly lends me his blog space to share my thoughts when and if worthwhile. Thanks to him and I hope you enjoy.

Since the beginning of my watch passion, I’m interested in Rolex. The internet turned out to be the place to be to fuel my passion, and it was through the internet, that I bought my first serious watch. It was an Omega Seamaster coming from a guy who was saving for a Rolex Sea-Dweller. Back then the prices of Rolex watches seemed to come from another planet in my view. Although I could already see the magic of the “SD”, I thought this guy was nuts to spent thousands of dollars on it. Later I did - of course - take the plunge myself and acquired a Submariner No Date, but still the idea of the price tag horrified me.

Years later, me and many WIS with me, have gotten used to ever increasing Rolex prices. The transparency in de the market is bigger than ever with sites like chrono24.com, and the sales corner of the German forum even showing charts with sales prices under the button “investor”. But all this information has done nothing in terms of creating heavy price competition. The public is simply too hungry for Sports Rolex.

Even more than the modern models, the prices of vintage Rolex are hitting the roof. They are praised for their uniqueness, character and their hour markers that turn from white to yellowish brown over time. No sapphire crystals that are so common nowadays on this pieces, but the characteristic plexi glass. A highly scratchable material, but still loved by many with the slogan “Plexi is Sexy”. The posts on the watch forums, countless watch-auctions and many unofficial Rolex information sites seem to put more oil to the fire every day. It supports the upward spiral of the Rolex Sports price tags.

In this madness, some opt out and don’t buy any vintage. I decided to participate just a little in the craze by buying a Submariner Date reference 1680 from the late ’70’s. Having done that, it is time for me to take a break from studying the hectic and complicated vintage market and take all the time necessary to contemplate the purchase of a modern Sports model again. Well, not really too much time: With the price increase adopted by Rolex just this March 2008 on almost all current models, also these are bound to go up again. If you love the Rolex brand, the spiral of price and praise is hard to escape!

What can we expect? Will Rolex introduce a new Sea-Dweller or Submariner with ceramic bezel? Will Zenith produce more dreadful watches? Will more brands introduce their inhouse movements? What are the new brands? Is horology dead as Velociohile says or did the watch industry suddenly gained enough insight to make watch collecting fun & cool again?

Who knows..

Jorge Merino over at TimeZone keeps us posted with novelties and sneak previews of new watches and watch brands.

Bvlgari Assioma Limited Edition

Giuliano Mazzuoli Manometro S

Xemex Picadilly Chronograph

Aquanautic Super King Chronograph

Click here to be up-to-date till Basel starts!

The Dive (into) Watches blog did a nice write-up for a number of brands with novelties to present at Basel 2008. Click here.

To set the time correctly on your mechanical wrist watch, you definately need at least one quartz controlled wrist watch. Even better, you need a watch that keeps perfect track of time. You need a radio controlled wrist watch! In 1990, Junghans introduced the first radio controlled wrist watch, the Mega 1. An integrated antenna in the strap receives a long-wave radio signal every morning broadcasted on 77.5 KHz from Frankfurt. This broadcast carries time information from Germany’s national atomic clocks at Braunschweig. These radio transmissions automatically set the watch correctly.

Currently, Junghans still carries one radio controlled watch in their ‘Avantgarde’ collection. The Mega 1000 watch! Successor of the Mega 1 wrist watch. These watches are widely available for approximately 300 euros.

However, the original Mega 1 watch, as pictured above, is for sale on the German eBay for prices between 100 and 150 euro.

However, you can find radio controlled wall clocks and radio controlled Casio watches starting at 20 euro as well on the bay. I even found a cool looking Braun wall clock for 20 euro. Who is going to wear this Mega 1(000) anyways? To keep your watch collection ‘complete’, you might want to do an investment for an original Mega 1 though!

“To Manufacture or Not To Manufacture, That Is The Question!”, writes Alon Ben-Joseph on the WatchFreaksBlog today.

Read this interesting blog posting over at WatchFreaks, click:
Should watchmakers become a true Manufacture?

The Montblanc Collection Villeret 1858 is made by what was once the Minerva company.
Photographs by watchinghorology.com.

I promised to get back on my new watch At first, I was looking at Rolex watches again, but couldn’t make up my mind. Although I like the new GMT-Master IIc and the Milgauss, it wouldn’t add much variation to my current collection. Then I was looking at the Royal Oak Jumbo, but I am not ready yet to spend over 8K Euro on one wrist watch.

However, as I have written before, I am a huge fan of the 1970s design of Gerald Genta. He designed the Nautilus, Overseas, Royak Oak and… the Ingenieur. The original ref.1832 Ingenieur SL is highly sought-after I believe, and the prices paid for those are unbelievable. So I decided to settle for a brand new one! To be honest, IWC isn’t my brand. Omega and Rolex are my brand, I like what they are doing and like most of their watches. However, there are some other brands that make one or two types of watches that I really like, and that’s it. I don’t care much for IWC in general. Not my cup of tea. I do like the Ingenieur and the Portugieser line of watches though.

Anyway, I’ve read some articles on the new ref.3227-01 Ingenieur, tried one on for a day (thanks G) and decided to order one. Last saturday, I bought my IWC Ingenieur at Ace & Dik in Amsterdam, official IWC dealer. It was a pleasure to meet Alon Ben-Joseph, owner of the store, in person and we had a nice chat about watches, watch blogging etc. He ordered a fresh model, so I could remove the plastic stickers myself What a treat!

Here are the first pictures of the Ingenieur:

The watch is quite heavy (heavier than my Yacht-Master or Panerai), 216 grams to be exact. The diameter of the case is 42.5mm and 14.5mm in height. The bracelet is wonderfully crafted and it is child’s play to add or remove links. The watch/movement is protected by a soft iron inner case up to 80,000 A/m (magnetic fields), so now I can cook in our induction kitchen again :). The movement itself is a self-winding IWC inhouse caliber 80110.

@Justin, your guess was spot-on!

Yesterday, I received the book ‘Vintage Panerai’, written by Ralf Ehlers and Volker Wiegmann. Vintage Panerai describes the history of some historic Panerais, including information on their original German and Italian owners. The book contains a lot of detailed information on the swimmers equipment, assignments and background of the owners. Including lots of pictures. Ralf Ehlers and Volger Wiegmann did a pretty good job on this original concept! If you are into Panerai watches and interested in more than ‘just’ the watches… you probably are going to like this!

You can order your copy via http://www.vintage-panerai.de/.

It is a small sized book (21×21cm), written in three languages and over 220 pages with over 200 photographs and illustrations.

As RJ wrote earlier we had quite a nice meeting a few weeks ago. Finally the pictures made by professional photographer Igor made it to the ‘net ! Please click the link below to see all the nices people and watches that were present.

DRSD2

Here’s yours truly trying to capture the beauty of the new GMT-master, one of which is two-tone and DLC’d… Can you spot Fratello?

Enjoy!

In a nice castle in The Netherlands, where currently the famous art forger Geert Jan Jansen resides, the second Dutch Rolex Sun Day took place on the 3rd of February 2008.

I think we were there with around 25 persons, and tons of watches. Rolex, Panerai, Omega, Patek Philippe, IWC and numereous other brands. This DRSD was again organized by Rob, Stanley, Misha and Isabel and they did a superb job. The food, the Bollinger champagne and guest (host) speaker Geert Jan Jansen were fabulous. There was also a representative of one of the Rolex dealers in The Netherlands, who gave us all the latest Rolex catalogue. Geert Jan Jansen handed out his book with his story of being an art forger. Manbodh Watches (Jerrel and Bas) were also present and had great stories about (their) vintage watches and nice anecdotes with respect to their experiences of collecting watches.

Below you’ll find some pictures to get an impression of this DRSD Winter Passion afternoon and evening.

When the official photos are available (a professional photographer was also present), I will give notice.

Thanks to Dale Vito for some of the pictures.

Regrets, I have a few, but then again, too few to mention.. One of them is selling my PAM00113, the Panerai Luminor Marina with a white dial. Not a regret because of the white dial, but because the fun I had with the watch. The large size makes it a fun watch to look at and the number of straps you can buy and change should be considered as a separate hobby! Just when I thought I was going to add another Rolex to the collection, I noticed this PAM00000 (Panerai Luminor Base with OP logo printed on the dial) on a Dutch watch portal. I emailed and phoned with the seller, and the deal was done. Last satuday, I picked it up and I can tick off one regret from the (short) list.

As I wrote above, it is a PAM00000 or PAM Luminor Base Logo and it has been produced in 2007. The J-serial number is engraved on the back and properly filled in on the warranty card (stamped by a Dutch official dealer). There are 900 made of this type of watch for 2007. The movement is called the OP I which is actually a modified Eta/Unitas 6497 movement. The movement is therefore about the least interesting feature of this watch Panerai is about history, large watches and changing straps!

I changed the original OEM calf strap to this OEM Croco strap I bought over a year ago for my PAM00113, which I didn’t include when sellin it. Probably knowing I would get myself a Panerai again in the future!

All-in-all, 2007 is a nice horological year for me! Getting myself a Rolex Yacht-Master in stainless steel/platinum and this Panerai Luminor Base Logo, I do not complain at all!! I guess I will be saving up for that Nautilus or Royal Oak Jumbo a bit longer now..

Yesterday, I visited the Düsseldorf watch fair in the Radison-SAS hotel. It is a 2 hour drive from The Hague and (much) more interesting than the Dutch watch fairs. The (quality) level of offered watches is higher and it is watch-only, where the Dutch watch fair also has a lot of wooden clocks etc. Unbelievable, they should separate these things..

Anyway, I shook hands with Ruud Kuiper of Clockwise with whom I dealt with before and he showed me this gold Omega DeVille Hour Vision watch. It is the first watch which features the caliber 8500/8501 (red gold) inhouse movement by Omega. It has been a long time for Omega (early 1970s) to get into manufacturing movements again. This caliber has a power reserve of 60 hours, the co-axial escapement, a date feature and is nicely decorated.

I am really impressed by this watch. The watch case has a diameter of 41mm and features a saphire see-through on the sides make it possible to have a 360 degrees view on the movement. This particular watch was in rosé gold, leather croc strap and gold folding clasp. List price is over 10.000 Euro, but Clockwise has it for sale for 7950 Euro.

A very interesting watch in my humble opinion. I am not into gold (and it is out of my budget anywa), but there is also a stainless steel version of this watch.

Pictures taken by Ruud Kuiper:

Here is the direct link to the watch over at Clockwise!

Not too long ago, I noticed ‘Cult Watches, the world’s enduring classics’ in a window of a book store in The Hague. It is a book by Michael Balfour, whom I think is also responsible for more horological titles.

I flipped through the pages and looking at the pictures and stories of all-time classics (Speedmaster, Submariner, Navitimer, Nautilus, Royal Oak, Tank and so on..) I was immediately interested. However, asking 50 euros (almost 75 USD at this moment) was a turn-off. It is no reference like the Pattrizi books or Mondani books on Rolex, or the Saga book on Omega by Marco Richon. This ‘Cult Watches’ book is a nice-to-read book and I am not paying 50 euros for those

Anyway, when I got home, I checked Amazon for this book and immediately clicked ‘Buy’ when I saw the price. 33 USD, which is quite interesting for us Europeans with the current currency rate. Including shipping costs, it cost me only half the price they asked for the book in the book store. And that was no mistake either, because later on I noticed the book for the same price (50 euro) in another store.

Amazon delivered quickly, which they always do when something is in stock, and after I quickly unwrapped the book and made myself a nice cappuccino. The book covers all the famous brands which have watches that could be categorized as ‘classic’ or ‘cult’ watch.

Brands like Audemars Piguet (Royal Oak), Breguet (Type XX), Cartier (Tank), Hamilton (Electric), Jaeger-LeCoultre (Reverso), Omega (Speedmaster), Patek Philippe (Calatrava & Nautilus), Rolex (Submariner & Daytona), Tag Heuer (Monaco) and Universal Genève (Tri-Compax) are included, amongst other brands and watch models of course. The superb photographs give much detail on the watches. All texts are well written and cover a bit of the brand history as well as detailed information on the models itself.

For this price of 32,97 USD or about 27 Euro (including shipping) this book is a must-have with respect to the bookshelf of every watch enthusiast! It can also be used as a coffeetable book of course, if our S.O. allows you to that is..

Uhren Magazine is one of the three leading German watch magazines. Very informative, and, although with a more than healthy interest in German watches, very independent in their articles (I mean not directed or affected by their advertisers). Mostly they are very good informed and are very professional in giving their opinions and (technical) information about the watches they review or test. 

In the current issue (Juni, edition 6) there’s a quite terrible error in the review of the new Patek Philippe Nautillus. Have a look at the following picture:

The undelined text says (translated from German). ‘Above the minute indexes there exists additional little light emitting dots.’

Don’t think so These are the reflections of the illuminating minute indexes in the edges (facets) of the sapphire crystal…

Prince Bernhard (1911-2004), member of the Dutch Royal Family, was an avid Rolex wearer. Dutch magazine Quote published an article in their March edition about the auction of this particular Rolex Date. Christie�s in Amsterdam will auction this Rolex Date on the 3rd of April 2007. Maarten van Gijn, Public Relations & Marketing of Christie�s, mailed me the picture below and stated that I could use it for this blog. I am curious why the Royal Family is auctioning this watch, in my opinion it should be on one of the wrists of his grand childeren. Anyway, according to Quote Magazine, it will fetch around 3000 Euro.

Just recently, an interesting thread at one of the Dutch watch forums regarding IWC was started. In short, the topic starter of the thread wrote that IWC was the new watch for the rich. Perhaps a bit exaggerated, but I drew that same conclusion a while ago as well. I define it as follows: IWC is the new Rolex. Rolex used to be, and perhaps still is, a watch that stood for a successful career, life and wealth. At least, that is the image that it is stuck with. For collectors and watch aficionados, this brand has another meaning, but you probably already knew that. Otherwise you wouldn�t be visiting this web site. Anyway, IWC Schaffhausen seems to be on a mission. With their new range of advertisements, published in a broad scope of light reading material, they seem to target at successful young businessman. At least people that are not per definition watch enthusiasts. There is nothing wrong with that, especially not from a seller�s perspective. However, I see this trend going on which has ruined, and still does, the image of Rolex for many watch enthusiasts. I fear that the same thing will happen to IWC. Rolex was never a brand that started out to be for the watch enthusiast, so that might prohibit this trend from progressing to a worse level for IWC. This trend is that people who are the former Rolex buyers for all the, in the eyes of collectors, wrong reasons, now start buying IWC watches. An IWC watch has a more sophisticated image and seems to be a more justified time piece to be seen with at work and social events. Personally, I am more impressed by the finish of a Rolex watch and the finish of its mechanical movement than I am with IWC watches in the same price range (<5K Euro).

Today, I received some more examples of Rolex (Submariner) watches that have gone brown.

Ref.1680 Red Submariner

Ref. 5508 Submariner

And the 1680’s and 5508’s together:

Source: Steiner Maastricht, www.steinermaastricht.nl

Yesterday, a watch friend mailed me some pictures of Rolex watches with brown dials. Appearantly, these dials faded from black to brown during the years. He will provide me some photos that I can use for this blog later this week.

Rolex Forum owner Kamal over at BJSOnline wrote:

“It seems that all Rolex black dials have a percentage of brown pigment in the black varnish. The gloss dials would have a thin film of transparent varnish applied to give it that shiny look. Certain dials apparently had (maybe by error) had a higher prcentage of brown pigment in the black varnish and when exposed to natural Ultra Violet light like sunlight, the dial turns brown. This process can take between 35 to 50 years.

Lets take the DRSD as an example. How many people have noticed that the browning effect only seems to take place on the MK11 dial and not on the others. Same with the Red Subs, only take place with one type of dial.”

Personally, I really like this aging effect on vintage watches. I hope to get back on the subject with more pictures. Ofcourse, any other input (in text or pictures) on the subject is welcome.

Because I couldn’t find the Watchlounge magazine in Germany last weekend (tried 3 news stands), I bought the Chronos Magazine (German). To my surprise, they have added a Patek Philippe magazine. This magazine is normally only available to subscribers and you can only subscribe if you actually -own- a Patek Philippe. Once in a while, I flip through the pages of this magazine at Gerard’s watch store, but this time I can read it at home and dream about having a Patek Philippe Worldtimer or Nautilus

Anyway, the Patek Philippe magazine has this small booklet inside. “1976-2006: Nautilus, The Legend Lives On” it says. A great small booklet about the 1970s, about the Nautilus (featuring lots of pictures) and a small interview with Thierry Stern (future PP CEO).

Now, go on to the news stand and get one yourself. People across the ocean probably have to wait another month when all text is being translated for WatchTime magazine. Can’t have all the luck with your low tax rates and low gas prices

Browsing the forums at WatchUseek, I decided to click the Seiko/Citizen/Orient forum for a change. I noticed all these posts with subjects which look like total jibberish to me. Weird feeling, because I was under the impression that after almost 10 years of this watch crazyness, I could identify most watch descriptions. Anyway, a good way to start was to click a thread called ‘Pics of your current Seiko collection’ where WuS�visitors are being asked to participate by showing their Japanese watch collection. Pictured below is the Seiko Gyro Marvel watch with automatic movement cal.290 dated ca 1959. Owner Robert has a bunch of Seikos in his collection and shows them with pride!

By the way, I don’t have an opinion on Japanese watches I just prefer Swiss or German watches. Having said, I really do like my Casio G-Shock limited edition (20th anniversary on the original G-Shock DW 5000 dating 1983) I bought in 2003.