Fratello On Air: Imagining Current Brands As Independent Watchmakers

Welcome to the latest episode of Fratello On Air! This week, we imagine certain current brands as independent watchmakers. The topic was a lot of fun to discuss and came as a suggestion from two of our listeners. Enjoy the show!

Most of today’s watch brands belong to large groups. Undoubtedly, this helped many survive the Quartz Crisis during the ’70s. However, what if some brands went independent? In today’s episode, we envision several companies on their own and what it would look like.

Handgelenkskontrolle

We start our show with a bit of DIY talk. Then, Balazs mentions a recent auction of Kobe Bryant’s debut jersey. It sold for US$7 million! For the Handgelenkskontrolle, Mike is wearing a watch that can survive all the yardwork. It’s the Citizen Promaster Tough “Ray Mears.” Balazs met with a mutual friend from Swatch Group Germany and is sporting his Omega Speedmaster Professional Speedy Tuesday “Ultraman.”

Current brands going independent

For our main topic, we respond to the request from two of our listeners who asked if some brands could benefit by going independent. We do our best to tackle the subject and mention five marques. Cartier is a huge brand and could likely survive on its own, but we’re not sure if there’s a benefit to being alone. Longines is a brand that made world-class movements long ago, and we’d love to see some of the classic chronograph movements again. Omega, like Cartier, could likely survive as an independent, and we play out the possible scenarios. Finally, Vacheron Constantin and Panerai make the list as possible spin-offs.

We hope you enjoy the show, and thanks to our listeners for the suggestion! If you have ideas for future episodes, please let us know!