Fratello’s Christmas Gift Guide

We love the holiday season! It is time to wind down (but I’m hardly succeeding in doing so, to be honest), to enjoy some quality time with family and friends, and hopefully be able to hand out some gifts. This is RJ’s Christmas gift guide for 2020.

I don’t want to sound spoiled — and I do like unwrapping gifts — but in the end, I have much more fun handing out gifts to those who I love. In this overview, I will not restrict myself to watches and accessories for this gift guide, there will be some other stuff too. I picked some of my very favorite items for this list. Some of these things, you might even find on my own wishlist. Everything I selected for this gift guide is available online.

Christmas Gift Guide

I have put some ideas in the mix for every type of budget. From a few Euros to a pretty large budget, because you never know. Let me start with a gift idea that I recently ordered myself. It came to my attention thanks to one of our readers.

NASA: Past and Present Dreams of the Future

A book with a weight of 5KG, consisting of over 300 pages with 280 images. According to the creators, it took them 9 years to make this book. And it shows! A beautiful book from photographer Benedict Redgrove (wearing a Flightmaster), capturing beautiful images from space crafts, suits, NASA’s facilities, etc. It took him five years to negotiate with NASA and earn their trust, and four years to work on the contents of the book.

This book was funded by a Kickstarter project in 2019, which I completely missed, and the book came to life in November 2019 already. Which I also completely missed. But, I made up for that now. I ordered a few copies to keep and give away. What a stunning book this is, it will deserve a prominent place in the Broer residence.

The price is £150 and then you’ll have to add some shipping costs to that (£25 when shipped outside the UK). That’s a lot of money for a book, but believe me, it is worth it and therefore deserves a spot in this gift guide. Click here to order a copy.

Swatch Sistem51 Bioreloaded

Nothing beats a good old Swatch. But instead of wearing those old 1980s plastic 34mm models with a battery-powered movement, what about something you can actually wear today? This Sistem51 Bioreloaded model AM51 is a 42mm watch with an automatic movement. And, on top, it is made of materials sourced from nature (extracted from the seeds of the castor plant).

As always, Swatch watches are available in a variety of colors and designs, so you can basically select something for anyone out there. Do you need to come up with a gift for the little ones? Make sure to take a look at the Flikflak collection as well. Anyway, a Swatch Sistem51 is always a good idea. Our friends from Hodinkee also put their name on one — make sure to check that out as well. The price of the aforementioned AM51 model is €145.

Kyosho Tomahawk

In 2020, I unleashed the 12-year-old in me again. Being in lockdown, not able to travel, my fellow Fratelli and I picked up RC cars again. A bit of a nerdy hobby, perhaps, but also know that all these RC shops probably had their best year ever. More than once, stuff was sold out immediately. Instead of wasting my evenings in front of Netflix, Amazon Prime, or whatnot, I had a lot of fun modeling these RC cars.

I had a Tamiya 1:10 RC car as a kid and bought a number of those, but the most fun I had was with this Kyosho Tomahawk. I had never heard of Kyosho before, but it was one of those big names in the 1980s (like Tamiya) and they are still around today. Just as with watches, they have their own “heritage” collection of cars from the 1980s and this Tomahawk is one of them.

These are a lot of fun to build, and once you find a nice quiet spot at an abandoned parking lot, fun to drive! A shout-out to the RC Kicks video channel who made Covid-19 a bit more bearable.  Besides the car, if you want to drive it that is, you will need a controller, a receiver, servo, motor, and battery pack (and charger). This hobby doesn’t come cheap! Complete kits might be worth investigating as well. The price of the Kyosho Tomahawk is about €280. You can order it (or another RC car) here.

BC02 Braun Classic Travel Analogue Alarm Clock – Red

I know there was a collab between Braun and Paul Smith, which looks very nice, but it is long sold out. However, nothing beats a nice Braun travel clock and it will definitely not break the bank. I picked this red one, not only because we have little this thing going on for red here at Fratello, but also because it looks good on my nightstand which is blue/grey-ish.

There are no other red things in there, so it will really stand out. When I am — hopefully — traveling again, it is an easy little device that fits in my cabin luggage just perfectly. The dimensions are 57mm × 57mm × 27mm and it uses an AA battery. If you don’t like red, there are other colors to choose from. If you have a Braun dealer near you or a Paul Smith boutique, you can always check to see if they have the special version in stock (€35). The BC02 Braun Travel Analogue Alarm clock retails for €25. You can see and order them here.

Fratello × ORIS Big Crown Bronze Pointer Date

Together with Oris, we designed a very nice version of the Big Crown Pointer Date. We wanted to have a burgundy (or oxblood) red dial combined with a bronze case. We’ve put a lot of effort into getting the details right on the dial, beautiful gilt printing, and also made sure to have a matching pair of straps to go with the watch. In the (oxblood red) box, you will find an additional pair of spring bars and a little tool to change the straps yourself.

I am super happy with the result and find myself wearing the watch a lot. To such an extent, in fact, that my Speedmasters are feeling lonely. There are only 300 of these watches, we had 250 in our shop and Oris sells (or had) 50 of them in 15 boutiques worldwide. There are still a few left in our shop at the time of this writing. When you live outside the EU, the non-VAT price of €1,681 applies, which I think is a wonderful deal for a watch like this. Click here to order yours now (we offer worldwide shipping for free).

Acqua di Parma Gift Sets

I am very loyal to brands when it comes to clothing and scents. I discovered Acqua di Parma relatively late in life, but I’ve been buying their stuff for quite some years now. You can get it in specialized shops or department stores, but you can also order it directly online. My experience is that Acqua di Parma always throws in a couple of nice things when you order from them directly. You can also have the box personalized, which makes it an awesome gift. A wonderful online buying experience guaranteed with Acqua di Parma. Click here to have a look at their selections.

Lucrin Watch Roll

Lucrin offers a very nice travel roll for watch enthusiasts and collectors. To be honest, I couldn’t live without one. Even now that I don’t travel, it is nice to keep your watches safe and in one place. This Lucrin travel roll helps with that. It also protects from those little children’s hands that reach out to those shiny watches. I have the Lucrin watch roll with two slots, gifted to me by one of our readers, which I use basically all the time.

I don’t need to travel with more than two extra watches, and I don’t want to keep too much stuff at home either. But, they also offer rolls for more than two watches, of course. You can choose colors, leather type, customization (monograms), etc. A beautiful high-quality product from Geneva. Click here for some ideas.

Hamilton Khaki Field Murph

A nice watch doesn’t need to be expensive. You can pick some amazing nice mechanical watches under €1,000. This Hamilton Murph is one of these watches. If you’re into movies, you might recognize the watch from Interstellar. It had a significant role in this movie from a few years ago. If you’re not so much into movies, like me, it still has a lot to offer. A ∅42mm case houses the caliber H-10 movement, offering 80 hours of power reserve.

This movement can be observed through the sapphire case back, of course. A beautiful watch to gift to someone who appreciates watches as you do, or to gift it to yourself, of course. Order it via our webshop, we’re an authorized reseller of this Hamilton watch. Price is €895 including VAT (€ 771,55 excl. VAT for non-EU countries).