When you're a watch collector, there's always a wish list. At Fratello, we are collectors in the first place, the writing part came (much) later. In this episode of Fratello on Air, Mike and RJ talk about the next 3 pieces on their radar. There's no overlap in watches this time, just one brand that is mentioned twice. For RJ, the lists consists of a Zenith El Primero Rainbow (Flyback), a Rolex Day-Date 118238 and last not but least, something modern, a Bvlgari Octo Finissimo. Mike...
Jul 01, 2020•51 min•Season 1Ep. 16
Mike and RJ discuss their top picks (they selected two watches each) from Watches & Wonders and the new Breitling releases: Chronomat and the SuperOcean'57. One of the Fratello members already has received his new Breitling from this new collection: the Chronomat Tricolore.
May 15, 2020•1 hr 4 min•Season 1Ep. 15
Recently, Tim Stracke gave an interview on WatchPro, discussing the impact of Corona on the (online) watch sales. Sitting on a big pile of data, generated by the millions of users of the world's largest watch market platform, Tim Stracke is the go-to place for the watch industry when it comes to numbers. In this 14th episode of Fratello on Air, I speak with Tim about Chrono24, why he purchased the platform back in 2010 and, of course, what he sees happening right now due to the corona crisi...
Apr 10, 2020•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 14
In this 13th episode of Fratello on Air, Mike and RJ talk about the new watches that have been introduced last month by Grand Seiko. As there was no Grand Seiko Summit this year, the introductions have been done mainly digitally so far. Mike and RJ comment on their favourites so far: the GS Diver 60th anniversary, the 1960's re-creation in gold, the green dial dress watch in rose gold.
Apr 08, 2020•41 min•Season 1Ep. 13
In Episode 12 of our Fratello on Air podcast we try to take our minds of the Coronavirus a bit and focus on some watches and other forms of distraction. However, we do share some words on it of course, but mainly how it affects our private lives basically. The main topic of this podcast though are the watches we kind of rediscovered recently. Home Office and not traveling, or the combination of these two, give us the opportunity to reflect a bit on our own watch collection a bit, and both Mike a...
Mar 25, 2020•55 min•Season 1Ep. 12
Episode 11 is about the effect of the Coronavirus on the watch shows and the watch industry in general, where we service our watches and an open discussion on the Seiko and Grand Seiko limited editions. As we reported here and here, the Coronavirus COVID-19 killed the Time to Move , Watches & Wonders and Baselworld shows, as well as the Breitling and Grand Seiko summits . Michael and RJ talk about the impact of this virus on these shows and how brands deal with it. When we recorded the news ...
Mar 05, 2020•56 min•Season 1Ep. 11
In this 10th episode, Michael Stockton and Robert-Jan Broer talk about the recent LvmH Watch Week that took place in Dubai and that we visited. News from Bvlgari, Zenith and Hublot in early January, when normally we'd be visiting the SIHH (Watches & Wonders). We dive into the highlights of the LvmH Watch Week, especially the Bvlgari Octo Finissimo seems to receive a lot of love. But, we kick off with a wrist check, of course. Mike is wearing a Seiko 6159-7000 from 1968 (the predecessor ...
Jan 21, 2020•52 min•Season 1Ep. 10
RJ and Mike discuss their 5 most favorite watches that were introduced in 2019. It was quite difficult to choose from all the releases, but they picked 5 that they liked best, for various reasons. Listen to our 9th episode of Fratello on Air.
Dec 21, 2019•1 hr 23 min•Season 1Ep. 9
In this 8th episode of Fratello on Air, Balazs and RJ report from the Dubai Watch Week. It's a relatively short episode without any listener's questions but instead, focus on the initiative from the Seddiqi family in Dubai. This family, a large and important retailer for the middle east region, organized its 4th Dubai Watch Week event, the third in Dubai. In 2018, Dubai Watch Week had a smaller event in London, in close cooperation with Christie's. During the Dubai Watch Week, it ...
Dec 03, 2019•38 min•Season 1Ep. 8
In this 7th episode of Fratello on Air, Michael Stockton and Robert-Jan Broer try to answer two questions from our listeners. One is about watches from microbrands (and independent watchmakers) and the other is about getting a discount on watches. The first question is asked because it seems like we are mainly interested in watches from the big brands, and perhaps it gives the impression that we also own only watches from these brands. But Mike and RJ explain what they love (and dislike) about m...
Nov 11, 2019•57 min•Season 1Ep. 7
Michael Stockton and Robert-Jan Broer talk about the new Breitling Avenger, SuperOcean and Aviator 8 Mosquito watches that were introduced last week in Zurich, Switzerland. But first, the wrist check (as always). RJ is wearing a Grand Seiko Mt Iwate (SBGJ201) and Michael is boosting his brand new Omega Speedmaster Professional Apollo XI in Moonshine gold. And talking about that, Mike and RJ are discussing whether it would make sense if Omega would re-introduce a Speedmaster Professional in 18-ct...
Oct 05, 2019•59 min•Season 1Ep. 6
Michael and RJ talk about Longines and our partnership with them on finding the oldest Longines watch in The Netherlands. This contest came to an end a few weeks ago and the winners (and us) travelled to the Longines headquarters in St-Imier, Switzerland, to have a look at their production facility and their impressive museum. RJ shares some of the highlights of this contest and the trip to St-Imier. Another topic in episode 5 is an anonymous reader's question, concerning keeping your watch...
Sep 10, 2019•1 hr 7 min
In this episode 4, Michael talks with Daniel (as RJ was on holiday during the recording) about the Top 3 watches in their collections that get most wrist time, about Daniel joining Fratello and about his role (Head of Operations) and answering a listener's question about their favourite sub-40mm sports watch. Below, an overview of some of the mentioned watches, and all the links to articles/websites and people mentioned in this episode. Enjoy and thanks for listening! Links for show notes: ...
Aug 19, 2019•1 hr 5 min
This third episode has been recorded in the week that the Rolex GMT-Master 1675 from Marlon Brando was in the news via the New York Times. This watch will be auctioned for the good cause, and we share a few thoughts and emotions about it. Also, we do our usual wrist check (see below) and elaborate a bit on these watches. For Mike, it's a vintage Omega De Ville chronograph and RJ went with a digital Seiko from 1982. We also answer one of your questions. After RJ called his modern Submariner ...
Jul 15, 2019•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 3
Robert-Jan just got back from the Speedy Tuesday events in Singapore and Hong Kong and gives a little feedback on those, as well as the final dates for the upcoming events in New York and Tokyo. Michael talks about the recent trips he did with Breitling and Omega. Of course, we start with a quick wrist check, on what’s on the wrists of Mike and RJ during the podcast. Michael is wearing a Rolex Submariner 5512 and RJ sports a modern Submariner ref. 114060. The main topic of this episode though is...
Jul 01, 2019•52 min•Season 1Ep. 2
Welcome to our first episode of Fratello on Air. A bi-weekly podcast on watches, the watch industry, collecting watches and random watch talk by the editors of Fratello Watches (online watch magazine since 2004). In this episode, we cover the new Omega Speedmaster Apollo XI 50th anniversary watches, the watches on our wrists during the podcast recording and which watches we'd buy when there would be no financial limit. We refer to a number of watches and articles: - Speedmaster Apollo XI in...
Jun 17, 2019•42 min•Season 1Ep. 1
