Friends, watch lovers, Fratelli, lend me your ears: you have spoken and we have listened. After the roaring success of the March Mania tournament, we put our heads together to conceive our next vote-based extravaganza, and we are pleased to announce that from tomorrow and for the next month, the Summer Splash tournament will take place on the pages of Fratello. Our goal? To find the best summer watch. But we need your help. Sign-up for a Fratello account and play along. You never know, you might even win a prize…

The rules are simple: watches must be water-resistant to 100 meters at least, they must cost less than €5,000, and they must be available. That means sold-out limited models, vintage pieces, and much-loved but discontinued classics are off the table. This is a vote designed to function as a group-led buying guide. We want to know what you think the best watch for summer is and this is how you get to tell us.

Tudor Black Bay Fifty-Eight Silver 19

Tell us what you think

As usual, we ask that you dive into the comments section and get talking. What do you like about the picks? What do you loathe about them? Which watches should have been in the running? Which watches have no business being there? Be funny. Be creative. Above all be respectful to others as we once more embark on a community endeavor we hope will strengthen Fratello further. And if your contribution is deemed to be one of the very best, we will reward you with a very appropriate prize. We’re going to keep you guessing on that front, but make sure to keep an eye on our Instagram channel to find out. It isn’t a watch this time so feel free to speculate in the comments below.

How will this contest work?

This time out, the format is a little cleaner. Eight writers will compete. Each writer takes their top three sub-5K summer watches into battle. A three-way poll will decide each writer’s champion. Then the head-to-head competition will begin, with each writer beginning their road to the Grand Final in the quarters, before moving onto the semis, and then to the decider. There will be no third-place playoff this time, just one final clash to round off what we hope will be a feisty and fun experiment.

So dust off your voting caps. Get your clicking finger ready. This is the most important competition of late summer. And we need your help to make it work.

Let the speculation and banter begin…