Welcome to another episode of Fratello On Air! This week we discuss the rise in movement manufacturing complaints and whether they really matter. “In-house,” “in-house designed,” and “third-party” are just some of the explanations we often hear about the movement and its origins. It’s getting a little weird! Listeners will initially find a sprinkling of watch content, but fast forward to minute 23 and you’ll enjoy uninterrupted watch talk.
Remember when life was simple and watch movements were made in-house or commercially available? That was never the case, but we didn’t really care, or were told to care. It didn’t happen. These days, there are a lot of different explanations for how the caliber ended up in the watch case. After all, will someone give a rip because it’s too much? I’m not sure.
hand gear control
This week, we start the episode with a joke about explaining “in-house” and other moves. Balazs describes the time he spent at the Turkish airport. Mike tells the story of a friend who bought a gray market Rolex Submariner Date in London, and how demand remains strong. Both hosts then failed in their quest to buy recent Travis Scott Nike shoes (Mike was trying to buy Balazs). Finally, Mike confronted some sarcastic know-it-all commenters aiming for Venus. For hand gear control, Mike wears a Rolex Datejust Oysterquartz Ref. 17000. Balazs is wearing the cool new Nivada Grenchen Chronoking Mecaquartz Interchangeable Bezel. Stay tuned for future reviews on Fratello.
In-house, designer, manufacturer…anything!
Recently, Mike reviewed the new Norqain Independent Skeleton Chrono model. There was nothing wrong with the watch, but the movement was unique due to AMT’s in-house design and manufacture. This got us thinking. Do people really care about in-house, in-house designed or off-the-shelf movements? We’re here to discuss the topic. You’ll hear about the mighty Rolex and its acquisition of Aegler, which has been exclusively producing movements for years. We mention Oris and question whether the brand’s internal strategy is helping sales.
We hope you enjoyed today’s episode, and thank you for listening! If you have any ideas for future shows, please let us know!
