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Fratello’s Top 5 Rolex Explorer II Alternatives In 2026 Fratello
Rolex Explorer II Alternatives Feb 27, 2026

Fratello’s Top 5 Rolex Explorer II Alternatives In 2026

Another Friday, another list. This week, we follow up on last week’s list of the top five Rolex GMT-Master II alternatives with the best alternatives to the Rolex Explorer II. It’s a logical step since the two models offer much of the same functionality. But they are inherently different watches in terms of presence and […] Visit Fratello’s Top 5 Rolex Explorer II Alternatives In 2026 to read the full article.

Fratello’s Top 5 Rolex GMT-Master II Alternatives In 2026 Fratello
Rolex GMT-Master II Alternatives Feb 20, 2026

Fratello’s Top 5 Rolex GMT-Master II Alternatives In 2026

Another Friday, another list! This week, we continue our series looking for alternatives to some of the world’s most popular watches with five alternatives to the iconic Rolex GMT-Master II. The Crown’s iconic GMT watch set the standard for travel watches. While its legacy is undeniably grand, the modern GMT-Master II is not always the […] Visit Fratello’s Top 5 Rolex GMT-Master II Alternatives In 2026 to read the full article.

Fratello’s Top 5 Rolex Datejust Alternatives In 2026 Fratello
Rolex Datejust Alternatives Feb 13, 2026

Fratello’s Top 5 Rolex Datejust Alternatives In 2026

Another Friday, another list! This week, we’re starting a new series looking for alternatives to some of the world’s most popular watches. We’ll kick the series off with five alternatives to the iconic Rolex Datejust. The Crown’s classic, with roots going back to 1945, is one of the most popular daily wearers. While its legacy […] Visit Fratello’s Top 5 Rolex Datejust Alternatives In 2026 to read the full article.

Rolex Reveals Daytona for Winner of 24 Hours of Daytona SJX Watches
Rolex Reveals Daytona Jan 23, 2026

Rolex Reveals Daytona for Winner of 24 Hours of Daytona

Many collectors wait months, or even years, to get ‘the call’ to come pick up their Rolex Daytona. But in Daytona Beach, Florida on Sunday, one lucky individual will take delivery after waiting just 24 hours. Of course, there’s a catch: they must win one of the most grueling endurance races in all of motor sport: The Rolex 24 at Daytona. In other words, it’s not exactly a day at the beach. A day before the green flag is set to fly, Rolex has taken the wraps off this year’s trophy. Curiously, it’s not a ‘Le Mans’ edition, which features a cleverly constructed 24-hour elapsed time sub-dial, but rather a standard two-tone Cosmograph Daytona ref. 126503 with a one-of-a-kind engraving on the case back - a configuration that’s been awarded to the race champion going back to at least 2017. The ‘Daytona’ Daytona Rolex has been associated with a 4.2-mile stretch of hard-packed sand on the Atlantic ocean for nearly a century. The unique conditions of Daytona Beach made it the home of speed in the early 20th century, where several land speed records were broken. The brand’s first testimonee from the world of motor sport, Sir Malcom Campbell, was arguably the king of Daytona Beach, setting a record of 438 kmh in 1933 while wearing a Rolex Oyster. Rolex’s first motor sport testimonee Sir Malcolm Campbell on Daytona Beach in 1935. Image © Bettmann/CORBIS Rolex deepened its association with Daytona in 1963 by naming its chronograph collection after the famous...

New Year, Higher Prices: Rolex Hikes Watch Prices By Nearly 6% Fratello
Rolex Hikes Watch Prices Jan 7, 2026

New Year, Higher Prices: Rolex Hikes Watch Prices By Nearly 6%

Ski jumping in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the Vienna Philharmonic playing Strauss waltzes at the Musikverein, a hangover… This is a random selection of traditional events happening on January 1st. In the world of watches, there’s another unescapable tradition - Rolex price increases. As of January 2026, Rolex raised its prices by almost 6% on some watches. Since […] Visit New Year, Higher Prices: Rolex Hikes Watch Prices By Nearly 6% to read the full article.

Fratello’s Top 5 GMT Watches Of 2025 - Featuring Nomos, Tudor, Rolex, And More Fratello
Tudor Rolex Dec 5, 2025

Fratello’s Top 5 GMT Watches Of 2025 - Featuring Nomos, Tudor, Rolex, And More

Another Friday, another list! This week, we continue the series of our favorite watches of 2025. This week, we’re focusing on our favorite GMT watches released in the past 12 months. After last week’s list of dive watches, GMT watches are an easy second category. Just like last week, we picked our five favorites from […] Visit Fratello’s Top 5 GMT Watches Of 2025 - Featuring Nomos, Tudor, Rolex, And More to read the full article.

Book Review: The Inconvenient Truth About the World’s First Waterproof Watch by Stan Czubernat Two Broke Watch Snobs
Rolex s claim still Nov 26, 2025

Book Review: The Inconvenient Truth About the World’s First Waterproof Watch by Stan Czubernat

Watchmaking is full of gratuitous claims and overinflated marketing. One of the oldest is Rolex’s claim, still on their website today, that the Oyster Perpetual was the world’s first waterproof watch in 1926. These claims were the basis for Rolex’s reputation for reliability and ruggedness. While Rolex’s Oyster Perpetual was highly water resistant, it was not the first company to create a successful water-resistant design. That title belongs to Charles Depollier, who was fulfilling orders for the U.S. Army as early as 1919.

Rolex Submariner Desk Clock: The Real Desk Diver Teddy Baldassarre
Rolex Nov 18, 2025

Rolex Submariner Desk Clock: The Real Desk Diver

Do you love the Rolex Submariner, but just found its classic 41mm diameter way, way too small? Like, about 39mm too small?  Have you looked at a barren corner of your desk and thought, Jeez, I wish my desktop had a jumbo-sized Submariner of its own, so people really know I’m about that Rolex Sub life? Well, if these questions have been keeping you up at night, I am here to deliver news of a possible solution to your problems. Though it didn’t get a ton of publicity (I think the Crown is saving its marketing campaigns for its wristwatches), Rolex quietly released its very first desk clock that is available for the general public. That’s right, you can now get your very own Submariner Date desk clock, given that a Rolex boutique near you has them in stock.  Oddly enough, the Submariner Date desk clock marks the very first time Rolex has ever released a clock to the general public. You would have thought by now, the Crown would have a vintage archive of desk, wall, and other large-sized clocks somewhere in the heritage vault. I mean, just about every other major watchmaker with as much history as Rolex offered them throughout the 20th century, from Patek Philippe to Jaeger-LeCoultre and Omega to Longines and beyond. Even Bulova has an extensive repertoire of mid-century clocks, most significantly being its extensive array of mid-century clock radios (which you can find plenty of second-hand). But that isn’t to say that Rolex never explored making clocks – the Crow...

Fratello’s Top 5 Recently Released Two-Tone Watches - Featuring Girard-Perregaux, Rolex, Sinn, And More… Fratello
Girard-Perregaux Rolex Sinn Nov 7, 2025

Fratello’s Top 5 Recently Released Two-Tone Watches - Featuring Girard-Perregaux, Rolex, Sinn, And More…

Another Friday, another list! For this week, we prolong our series of lists focused on materials used for watch cases and bracelets. Whereas we covered modern ones over the past three weeks, today’s list focuses on a classic combination of materials. However, we deliberately chose to create a list of two-tone watches rather than just […] Visit Fratello’s Top 5 Recently Released Two-Tone Watches - Featuring Girard-Perregaux, Rolex, Sinn, And More… to read the full article.

Rolex Hulk Review: The All-Green Submariner Teddy Baldassarre
Rolex Nov 6, 2025

Rolex Hulk Review: The All-Green Submariner

The Rolex “Hulk” Submariner is today one of the most collectible luxury sport watches on the secondary market, despite the fact that its green-on-green colorway was quite polarizing when it first hit retailers' shelves in 2010. The watch’s rise to legendary status, interestingly enough, followed a similar path to that of the Marvel character from which it derives its nickname. Here we explore the story of the Rolex “Hulk” and why it occupies a special chapter in the lore of iconic Rolex watches. Rolex Submariner Origins The Rolex Submariner famously arrived on the scene in 1953 but its roots reach much farther - to the historical, waterproof Oyster case that Rolex founder Hans Wilsdorf introduced way back in 1926. Named for its pioneering structure -  which combined two threaded, hermetically sealed “shells” that clamped tight to keep water from penetrating, along with a crown that screwed securely into the side of the case - the case achieved a water resistance never before achieved in watches. The Rolex Oyster case made its debut on a watch of the same name (below), and its waterproof design was improved over subsequent decades. Rolex supplied a version of its Oyster case to the Florence-based firm Panerai in the 1930s and ‘40s for use on the Radiomir, one of the very first wristwatches purpose-built for underwater use, worn by Italian military divers.  Fast forward to the early 1950s, and the growing popularity of scuba diving as a recreational p...

Hands-On: Rolex Perpetual 1908 Settimo SJX Watches
Rolex Perpetual 1908 Settimo Rolex Nov 3, 2025

Hands-On: Rolex Perpetual 1908 Settimo

Rolex has expanded the 1908 collection with the Perpetual 1908 Settimo, a yellow-gold dress watch with an all-new seven-link bracelet. Settimo, Italian for ‘seven’, refers to the number of links across the bracelet; five slender links in the centre framed by two broader links on each side. The result is a supple, tightly constructed bracelet that complements the refined proportions of the 1908. Powered by the advanced cal. 7140, the watch remains impressively slim at just 9.5 mm, combining Rolex’s famous industrial precision with genuine elegance, filling a long-standing gap in the brand’s line-up. Initial thoughts When I think of Rolex, the image in my mind is one of long-term thinking, industrial expertise, over-built movements, and iconic (but fairly chunky) designs. The 1908, especially the Settimo version, shows the brand also understands elegance. The Settimo bracelet recalls vintage ‘beads-of-rice’ bracelets and works well with the vintage-feeling aesthetic of the 1908. The slightly glistening lacquered dial and crisply faceted hour markers provide a bright, vivid appearance; perhaps its the sub-seconds at six and the lack of a date window, but it feels more refined than the dial of a typical Datejust or Day-Date. The case is very sleek on the wrist thanks to the cal. 7140, which, at just 4.05 mm in height, is 34% thinner than the brand’s own cal. 3235. No watch is perfect, and there are a few details that I find mildly annoying, like the plug atop the...

A History and Guide to GMT Watches Worn & Wound
Rolex GMT Master Oct 22, 2025

A History and Guide to GMT Watches

The GMT watch is a bonafide product of the jet age. Though examples of dual-time watches go back to the 19th century, it was the advent of jet-powered commercial aircraft in the 1950s that drove the introduction of this icon of modern watchmaking. Perhaps the best-known example is the Rolex GMT Master, the watch that gave the genre its name. Introduced in 1955 in collaboration with the “World’s Most Experienced Airline,” Rolex designed the watch for Pan-American World Airways pilots that would allow them to have a reference for Greenwich Mean Time (also referred to as UTC or Zulu Time) while maintaining the ability to track local time. This collaboration also resulted in the most recognizable colorway for dual-time watches, Pan-Am’s blue and red colorway.   The GMT watch is a bonafide product of the jet age. Though examples of dual-time watches go back to the 19th century, it was the advent of jet-powered commercial aircraft in the 1950s that drove the introduction of this icon of modern watchmaking. Perhaps the best-known example is the Rolex GMT Master, the watch that gave the genre its name. Introduced in 1955 in collaboration with the “World’s Most Experienced Airline,” Rolex designed the watch for Pan-American World Airways pilots that would allow them to have a reference for Greenwich Mean Time (also referred to as UTC or Zulu Time) while maintaining the ability to track local time. This collaboration also resulted in the most recognizable colorway f...

In-Depth: Rolex Daytona “Le Mans” Movement Cal. 4132 SJX Watches
Rolex Daytona “Le Mans” Movement Oct 20, 2025

In-Depth: Rolex Daytona “Le Mans” Movement Cal. 4132

The cal. 4132 inside the Rolex Daytona “Le Mans” is a rare evolution of one of the most revered chronograph movements in modern watchmaking. Based on the long-running cal. 4130 platform, the new movement was developed specifically for the Daytona “Le Mans” unveiled in 2023 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the famed endurance race. While visually similar to the cal. 4131 found in current-production Daytonas, the cal. 4132 incorporates a clever mechanical upgrade that allows it to record up to 24 hours of elapsed time. Given the relatively simple upgrade from a 12-hour to 24-hour counter, the cal. 4132 might seem like a weekend project for a brand with the engineering might of Rolex, but the reality is more nuanced. To achieve this, Rolex engineered a compact differential gear set that doubles the timing capacity without altering the core movement architecture, leaving the movement dimensions unchanged. As with many Rolex innovations, the cal. 4132 reflects the brand’s quiet obsession with functional longevity and serviceability. The latest Daytona movements reveal a degree of decorative finishing unseen in past generations of Rolex movements An already quirky base For over two decades, the Rolex cal. 4130 stood as the benchmark for industrial chronograph movements. Launched in 2000, the cal. 4130 was the first in-house chronograph movement developed by Rolex. The movement was lauded for its compact architecture, low component count, and ease of service – a...

Previewing The Lots Of The November Watch Auctions In Geneva Fratello
Rolex Oyster watch Oct 17, 2025

Previewing The Lots Of The November Watch Auctions In Geneva

The days are getting shorter, and November is approaching. That means the year-end Geneva watch auctions will happen again soon. Not all the houses are showing all their cards yet, but there are previews containing some interesting lots. Sotheby’s will auction the Rolex Oyster watch that accompanied long-distance swimmer Mercedes Gleitze during her attempt to […] Visit Previewing The Lots Of The November Watch Auctions In Geneva to read the full article.

Rolex 5513 Submariner Review: The Timeless Vintage Rolex? Teddy Baldassarre
Rolex Oct 11, 2025

Rolex 5513 Submariner Review: The Timeless Vintage Rolex?

In the world of Rolex, most people’s minds go straight to rarity, unattainability, and exclusivity. And in so many cases that rings true – except (and you may find this hard to believe) for the Submariner. That’s right, Rolex’s stalwart and most ubiquitous watch is also, kind of, its most accessible on the secondary market… and I am talking vintage and neovintage here. Sure, there are rare examples like Explorer dials (we will get to that in a bit), and early ref. 1680 Red Submariners that fetch a pretty penny at auction or from a vintage dealer. But there’s a very real reason for that. Those watches in particular fall into a bucket shared by many collectible rarities: They were only produced for a very short period of time. But there were many variations of vintage Subs, some rarer than others. And some still that weren’t rare at all. And the best example of that is the Rolex 5513, a Submariner model so common that it was one of Rolex’s most popular and best selling over the course of its – wait for it – 17-year run. Rolex 5513 History The Rolex Submariner ref. 5513 was in production from 1962 until 1989, and while there are some pockets of special ref. 5513 models within that run, it is for the most part of one the brand’s longest-selling and most-produced Submariners, or even sports watches full stop (the Explorer ref. 1016 has entered the chat). In 1962, Rolex had been producing its Submariner reference 5512 for about three years. The 5512 was a n...

Fratello’s Top 5 Rolex Land-Dweller Alternatives Fratello
Rolex Land-Dweller Alternatives Another Friday Oct 10, 2025

Fratello’s Top 5 Rolex Land-Dweller Alternatives

Another Friday, another list! After three weeks of affordable watches, it’s time for a change. Today, we want to focus on the newest Rolex collection. To be more precise, we want to look at alternatives to the Rolex Land-Dweller. Six months ago, The Crown unveiled the new Land-Dweller collection during Watches and Wonders. Since then, […] Visit Fratello’s Top 5 Rolex Land-Dweller Alternatives to read the full article.

Introducing – Vacheron Constantin Unveils “The Quest of Time” Astronomical Clock and Watch for 270th Anniversary Monochrome
Vacheron Constantin Unveils “The Quest Sep 16, 2025

Introducing – Vacheron Constantin Unveils “The Quest of Time” Astronomical Clock and Watch for 270th Anniversary

Few watchmaking houses can look back on a history spanning 270 years. Marking such an extraordinary milestone requires more than a timepiece; it calls for a creation that embodies heritage, creativity, and mastery. In the frame of its 270th anniversary celebrations, Vacheron Constantin presents an exceptional object – not a watch per se, but a […]