Blancpain, founded in the Swiss village of Villeret in 1735, has been making timepieces for almost 300 years, but perhaps its most impactful contribution to wristwatch history was relatively recent — and began its heralded life as a military tool rather than a luxury item. In 1953, Blancpain was...
More than just a game, Mahjong is a cultural bridge connecting global Chinese communities and the East and West, historically serving as a crucial medium for social bonding. And today, it serves as a source of inspiration for the creation of a new watch, or to be precise, the hand-carved Mahjong...
Christopher Ward’s releases basically fall into two categories for me. There are the watches that the brand clearly intends to have broad appeal across a wide segment of the watch market. This is really most of their watches. Think of the Sealander and Trident collections, and indeed most of the...
Since its revival in 2022, Seiko’s King Seiko sub-brand has had a bit of an identity struggle. Wedged between the affordable accessibility of mainline Seiko and the truly upscale refinement of its Grand Seiko sister brand, King Seiko faces the challenge of finding its own voice without...
Awake, the young Parisian-based indie brand founded by Lilian Thibault in 2019, is a keen advocate of sustainability and fosters an eco-friendly approach to watchmaking. Introduced in 2024, Awake’s Son Mai collection is a fitting spokesperson for the brand’s philosophy and features handcrafted...
Inspired by the “purposeful clutter” of 1970s skin diving chronographs, the Dryden Chrono Diver Gen 2 offers the promise of vintage dive chronographs without the traditional hassle. Dryden is part of the recent resurgence of American watchmaking, assembling each watch in Kansas City. The...
One of the most active brands on British soil, Christopher Ward has recently demonstrated its capacity to create intricate mechanisms and movements, such as the Bel Canto and its chiming mechanism, or the C12 Loco with its exposed mechanics. Today, the brand has decided to get serious about one...
Christopher Ward is, without a doubt, one of the most active watch brands around today. It has consistently shown us how to push the envelope of what is possible in the realm of affordable watches. This has led to an extensive collection of watches that show great diversity. Simply compare the...
It’s a question that comes up from time to time in today’s watch world: Does resale value affect how much you enjoy a watch? With secondary market prices discussed almost as frequently as specifications, it’s hard to ignore the financial side of collecting. In this episode of Fratello Talks, RJ,...
While it was Seiko that first commercialised the quartz watch in 1969 with the legendary Astron, one could argue it was Citizen that took the ball and ran with it. While never abandoning mechanical watches, Citizen invested much of its research and development in quartz and light-powered...
