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Well, well, well. After a hiatus of almost exactly four months, WASP returns for the (very) long-awaited LIVE Episode 10, which was so important to Balazs and me that we even went down the route of decimal show numbers to ensure we kept our promise. And keep it we did (eventually)! Now, for the first time in ages, the Fridge & Freezer presenting duo have the chance to chat in person. The show...

Fratello On Air is here with another vintage-focused episode. This time, we talk about our favorite models from Certina. If you enjoyed our previous episode on Tissot , this will be right up your alley. Balazs and Mike return with an episode focused on Certina. Before getting to the heart of the matter, there is some news related to current events. Then, it's time to move on to what has becom...

Fratello On Air returns and this week, Mike talks to Martin Klocke from Sherpa Watches. If you're a watch lover and want to hear a tale about an incredible passion project, this episode is definitely for you! Martin Klocke is someone I "met" well over a year ago via Instagram. He had aired his intentions to bring back highly faithful, yet modern, renditions of vintage Enicar models....

Fratello On Air kicks off a new series where Balazs and Mike discuss their six favorite watches of all time from a given brand. First up on the docket is Tissot , a historic Swiss brand with loads of options. Settle in and hear about some watches that you know and some that just might surprise. Before getting to Tissot, Balazs and Mike talk a bit about cycling, lead-lined film bags as a radium shi...

Fratello On Air is here with your weekly installment. This time, Balazs and Mike handle a reader question about a few rather different chronographs. We love a good reader question and this week, our faithful listener John sent us a great one! Firstly, thanks, John! John works at a hospital and we're thankful for the efforts he's putting in during these trying times. We're glad that...

Shortly after the turn of the New Year, I invited our resident Formula One fantastic, Ben Hodges, into the smooth booth to record a TAG Heuer special, focusing on the brand's most visible ambassador on Planet Earth right now: the flying Dutchman, Max Verstappen. We discuss the controversial conclusion to the 2021 Formula One season that saw Sir Lewis Hamilton denied a record eighth driver&apo...

Fratello On Air is back! This time, Balazs and Mike come back to case materials and focus on precious metals. Specifically, we discuss gold and platinum along with some of our favorite examples. Before we get to the main topic... Precious metals are in play this week, but Balazs and Mike pick up on the latest news. It's watch-release season with LVMH week in full swing! First, though, it&apos...

Today, I sit down with Pim Koeslag, the CEO of Ateliers de Monaco, and technical director of both Frederique Constant and Alpina. Perhaps the highlight of the exchange is the conversation surrounding Frederique Constant's innovative high-frequency oscillator, the "monolithic" oscillator, created from a single piece of silicon. With an operating frequency of 40Hz, this affordable reg...

Exotic materials — titanium, ceramic, and carbon. What do we think of them for our watches? Tune in to the latest episode of Fratello On Air to find out what Balazs and Mike have to say. What happens when two vintage watch lovers come together to discuss exotic materials? Well, we had to open our minds and consider alternatives to our beloved stainless steel. In the first of a two-part series, we...

Fratello On Air returns with what we think is a fun episode. We talk about large watches that work for smaller wrists and small watches for larger wrists. Balazs and Mike exist on both sides of the wrist border, so there's plenty of personal experience on this subject. Balazs and Mike are here to talk about large watches for those with small wrists and vice versa. It's a show chock full...

That's right, we're trying to do keep our podcast on a tight weekly schedule! Fratello On Air returns and this week, Balazs and Mike talk about some wishes for 2022. This isn't a pure recap of a recent 2022 Watch Wishes article, so tune in for new content! Balazs and Mike are keeping the microphone hot! Both return and while Balazs is not feeling his best, they're here to talk...

We're back with more block rockin' beats — errrr, talk! Balazs and Mike return (quickly) to talk about vintage watch opportunities in 2022. If you love the old stuff and are looking for value, tune in and relax! That's right, the dastardly duo of Balazs and Mike are back and we return to one of our favorite subjects: the vintage watch market and where to find opportunities. As we kn...

Fratello On Air returns with a seriously focused episode as our resident Seiko nut, Mike, speaks with Nick Ferrell, the owner of DC Vintage Watches. If you're a Seiko fan, you won't want to miss this! Nick Ferrell is the owner and founder of DC Vintage Watches , a site that not only sells vintage Seiko, but will help clients find the watch of their dreams. Nick is a seriously nice person...

Welcome to another episode of Fratello On Air! Finally, Balazs and Mike got their collective acts together and are back with a return engagement! Settle in and enjoy the banter about our favorite watches from 2021 along with a healthy rant for good measure! Folks, we're back and better or worse than ever! Balazs and Mike come together at the end of 2021 to talk about some of their favorite wa...

Today, I am is joined in the studio by Monica Porracin, the founder and director of The Blue Company, based in London. The Blue Company manages the interests of seven popular brands in the UK, working as a distributor for some and an agent for others. Monica  represents Doxa, Junghans, Meistersinger, Maurice Lacroix, Mühle Glashütte, Scatola del Tempo, and SwissKubik in the UK and at events all ar...

This week, Balazs takes the reigns and welcomes the fastest Canadian swimmer of all time, Olympic medalist Brent Hayden to the smooth booth. In a wide-ranging chat, Brent and Balazs explore the mental pressures endured by professional athletes, track the human side of the sport, and delve deeply into a couple of unexpectedly personal issues that place our hobby of watch collecting in sharper conte...

Rob talks to Guido Terreni of Parmigiani Fleurier. With over twenty years of experience in the industry, a decade of which was spent with Bvlgari, Terreni brought with him a definite vision to a brand that still benefits from having its iconic founder a living, breathing part of the company. In this podcast, Terreni explains how it is important to honor your existing customer by keeping the produc...

The ever-charming Antoine Pin of Bvlgari fame sits down with Rob to chat about his life in the industry, how his experience has shaped his approach to watch design and story-telling, and what possibilities might lie in store for Bvlgari in the future. In an energetic chat, Pin explains how he became bewitched by the industry and never managed to stay away from it for long. The fusion of passion, t...

Here at Fratello, we love Casio. Some would say we love the brand too much. Those people would be wrong. Very wrong indeed... Today, Rob is talking to three of his teammates to the smooth booth to discuss their shared love and long-held obsessions with the Japanese Juggernaut that blessed the world with the G-Shock watch family. First up is G2. As the elder statesman of the team, "the G-Fathe...

Today on the Fratello on Air, Rob is joined by the boys from Straum watch company, way up in Norway. This emerging brand is the result of five years' hard work, a huge personal investment of time and money, and the inspiration offered by Norway's myths, legends, and landscape. The brand's Opphav model ranks near the top of several Fratello team members' wish lists so we thought...

WASP 9.91 sees the guys go to two decimal places for the first time, much to the confusion of everyone else. Less confusing, however, is the duo's shared love of a very special Omega Speedmaster created for the Olympics, but that's not the only Olympic watch to feature... Far from it... For the first time ever, an on-air purchase occurs as Rob stumbles across his all-time favorite Swatch...

myhe boys are back in town after a desperately long hiatus. We've plugged in the fridge and switched on the freezer — Balazs and I are back and this week we have our top Olympic moments and some awesome vintage Omega purchases to share with you. We decided to choose our bronze, silver, and gold performers/moments from the Olympics this year, to round off what turned out to be a pretty darn ex...

Over in article land, my good friend Dave Sergeant has written up the new release from URWERK and Collective today, so please feel free to check that out at your leisure for a detailed look at the watch itself and Dave's hot takes, and what is his favorite base model in the URWERK catalog. On the Podcast today, however, we're diving into the background of this project with Martin Frei of...