Sunday Morning Showdown: A Look Back At Our Favorite Battles Of 2024

Sunday Morning Showdown has become a Fratello tradition. Every Sunday morning, two Fratello writers go head to head, fiercely defending the timepieces of their choice. In 2024, we have seen lots of heated battles and even more heated debates in the comments section. The series seems to be a trigger for some strong opinions fueled by the writers’ picks and the arguments that accompany them. That’s why it’s great fun for us to write and read the articles and comments. In this overview, we’ll look back at a small selection of the most remarkable battles of 2024.

While most Fratello writers are taking a much-deserved holiday break, it’s nice to look back at where we’ve been. In this article, I will focus on the most memorable battles of the past 12 months. Some details that stand out are that Daan lost quite a lot to Thomas in the second half of the year, whereas Mike and I shared an almost equal number of victories. If you want to see all the articles in one place, you can find them here. As always, some matchups were per your request, while others resulted from discussions in our weekly editorial meetings. This year, we greatly enjoyed the series that showed that the Rolex Submariner is our King of Showdowns. Let’s take a look at some of this year’s best battles!

January 7th: Rolex Perpetual 1908 vs. Breguet Classique 5157

Rolex, Omega, and Tudor take the most wins in our Sunday Morning Showdown series. Rolex, in particular, seems unbeatable. A rare exception came in the first showdown of this year, which was all about gold dress watches. In that battle, the Rolex 1908 took on the Breguet Classique 5157, and the latter won with an overwhelming 71% of the votes. When it comes to tool watches, Rolex is indomitable. But when it’s about the brand’s dress watches, it is often a more difficult story. As most of you will know, the Rolex 1908 was met with much praise during Watches and Wonders 2023. Unfortunately, though, when up against true horological royalty, the watch didn’t stand a chance. It’s been one of the very few losses for The Crown this year. While perhaps not surprising, that is very rare.

January 21st: Formex Reef 39.5mm vs. Seiko Prospex Marinemaster

Another surprising outcome came only two weeks later when the Formex Reef 39.5mm, also known to fans as the Baby Reef, beat what we at the time thought would be the only new Marinemaster. The popular Marinemaster SBDX001 won Fratello’s Seiko World Cup just a few weeks earlier, but the new Marinemaster wasn’t able to beat Formex’s popular dive watch. The comments showed that a lot of people preferred the Seiko’s looks, but the price was an issue. On top of that, the Reef 39.5mm is hard to beat in terms of specs, and it even houses a COSC-certified movement. The Formex Baby Reef is the full package, and I was happy to see it win this standout battle with 55% of the votes.

February 11th: Piaget Polo 79 vs. Vacheron Constantin Historiques 222

The Piaget Polo 79 was one of this year’s most remarkable comebacks. The iconic Polo was revived in style but with a mechanical micro-rotor caliber rather than a historically accurate but not-as-romantic quartz movement. But the new Polo didn’t stand a chance in a battle against the Vacheron Constantin Historiques 222. The Vacheron took the win with a clear 74% of the votes, leaving one of this year’s most remarkable releases out in the cold with just 26% of the votes. While we love the Polo 79 a lot and what it represents, the Historiques 222 is something truly special, and the results showed that perfectly.

March 10th: Omega Seamaster Diver 300M vs. Rolex Submariner Date ref. 126610LN

In the first half of March, we finally settled the battle between the Submariner and the Seamaster once and for all… Well, at least that is what we thought, but only a few weeks ago, we had to have that showdown all over again with the new Seamasters. In this first of two Seamaster vs. Submariner battles, the 126610LN took the win with the smallest margin. Robert-Jan’s arguments earned the watch 51% of the votes, leaving the Seamaster and me with 49%. This was also one of the few times that we saw Robert-Jan defend a Rolex over an Omega in this series, making it even more memorable than the two watches already did.

March 17th: Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch — White Dial vs. Black Dial

Omega had quite a few wonderful releases this year. Moonwatch fans were treated to two of them, and the first came pretty early. Once again, Daniel Craig teased us with a new model, and this had fans going crazy before it came out. But once it did, many Moonwatch lovers were super excited to see one with a white dial. It isn’t the first Speedmaster with a white dial, but a white-dial Moonwatch as a regular-production model was a first. We put it up against its black-dial counterpart to see which of the two would triumph. The black-dial Moonwatch won in the end, but the margin was slim. The regular Moonwatch took 53% of the votes versus 47% for the new white-dial Speedy. It shows that Omega did a great job introducing this new variant of its most iconic watch.

April 7th: Rolex Yacht-Master 42 Titanium vs. Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Automatique

The Blancpain Fifty Fathoms is legendary in the world of watches. Its name is one of the first that comes up in discussions about iconic dive watches that defined how we look at the genre today. And this year, fans finally got what they had wanted to see for so long — a smaller 42mm Fifty Fathoms. But when we put the titanium version of the Fifty Fathoms up against the titanium Rolex Yacht-Master 42, it lost, taking 43% of the votes against 57% for the Yacht-Master. In the comments, many of you followed up your vote by stating that the Fifty Fathoms has the name and great potential, but that wasn’t good enough against the brilliant Yacht-Master in titanium.

April 14th: Tudor Black Bay Master Chronometer vs. Rolex Submariner 124060

Another great battle came a week later when we put up the new Tudor Black Bay Master Chronometer “Monochrome” against the current Rolex Submariner ref. 124060. After the Tudor Pelagos 39 took a surprising win against the Rolex Submariner, the Black Bay wasn’t able to earn a repeat win for Tudor. The big brother won with 58% of the votes against 42% of the votes for the Black Bay. In the comments, some heated battles took place, and even some of the Fratello writers were involved. Robert-Jan voted for the Black Bay based on looks, while Gerard voted for the no-date Submariner because the other watch was a Tudor. Ouch, that still hurts, Gerard, as I was the one who lost that battle against Mike.

May 5th: TAG Heuer Formula 1 × Kith vs. Omega × Swatch Speedmaster MoonSwatch

Another comeback kid this year was the TAG Heuer Formula 1. The brand brought back the popular watch from the 1980s in collaboration with Kith founder Ronne Fieg, an avid TAG Heuer Formula 1 collector. We put the modern Formula 1 up against the Omega × Swatch Speedmaster MoonSwatch to see which of the two affordable watches was more popular with you, the Fratelli. The results were loud and clear. In the biggest win of the year, the MoonSwatch kicked the Formula 1’s butt. It earned a whopping 81% of the votes, leaving the TAG Heuer Formula 1 with a measly 19%. That’s a landslide victory for the MoonSwatch, no doubt about it!

June 9th: Rolex Cosmograph Daytona vs. Omega Speedmaster Professional in steel and gold

Putting the Speedy up against the Daytona is always a recipe for great entertainment. And as we are in the land of the Speedmaster, it didn’t come as a surprise that the new steel and gold Speedmaster Moonwatches took the win against the steel and gold Daytona. For some, the sight of a two-tone Moonwatch is still odd, but most of you quickly warmed up to it. The two bicolor Speedies ended up winning with 62% of the votes, leaving the Rolex Daytona with only 38%. It was as clear a win as you could have wished for as a Moonwatch fan. It turned out to be the second-biggest loss for any Rolex this year behind the 1908. Who could have guessed that would be the outcome? We certainly did not expect that huge margin.

August 4th: Cartier Tortue Monopoussoir vs. Parmigiani Fleurier Toric Chronograph Rattrapante

In a battle of high-end chronographs from 2024, we saw two much-loved brands go up against each other. But as one of our readers stated, “One does not win against Cartier.” That turned out to be very true. The Tortue Monopoussoir took a very clean victory with 69% of the votes against just 31% for the Toric Chronograph Rattrapante. While a win for the Cartier was nothing strange as it is a brilliant timepiece, we were surprised to see the margin because Parmigiani Fleurier has received a lot of praise for its releases in the past few years. It shows how much you guys loved that Cartier brought back the legendary Tortue Monopoussoir.

September 8th: Seiko Prospex Marinemaster SLA079 vs. Oris Aquis Date Calibre 400

As I mentioned earlier, we thought we’d only see the 62MAS-inspired Marinemaster in 2024. Later in the year, though, Seiko introduced another model that was more in line with the Marinemaster as we came to know it since the SBDX001’s debut in 2000. We put the new watch up against the renewed Oris Aquis Date Calibre 400 to see which of these two serious divers would come out on top. As it turned out, the Seiko SLA079 easily won this battle of the updated dive watches, taking 65% of the votes against 35% for the Oris. It shows that love for the Marinemaster runs deep, and on top of that, the watch saves you a significant chunk of money.

October 13th: Omega Speedmaster FOiS Gen. 1 vs. FOiS Gen. 2

Did I mention it was a great year for Speedmaster fans? Another big release was the reintroduction of the Speedmaster First Omega In Space. The new Speedmaster FOiS was another smash hit with fans. Compared to the previous FOiS, the new addition to the lineup proved very popular. In a direct battle, the new Speedy took a clear 66% of the votes versus only 34% for the previous generation of the FOiS. Considering how popular the previous-generation FOiS used to be, the margin did come as a bit of a surprise. Then again, the updated Speedmaster First Omega in Space is a new go-to for many fans, including yours truly. It’s simply an awesome watch!

November 3rd: Breguet Classique 5177 vs. A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1

In early November, we decided to put together a Sunday Morning Showdown with traditional-watch royalty. It was the Breguet Classique 5177 against the flagship Lange 1 from what many consider the current-best brand in high-end watchmaking. It was no surprise that A. Lange & Söhne won the battle, but the result of 75% to 25% was striking. With a new CEO at the helm of Breguet, we might see some much-awaited changes that will lead to different results in the future. If one thing is clear, it’s that everyone wants Breguet to do well despite the clear victory for the Lange 1.

November 24th: Omega Seamaster Diver 300M vs. Rolex Submariner ref. 124060

Remember when we settled the Submariner vs. Seamaster battle “once and for all” earlier this year? Well, it had to happen all over again because Omega introduced a new black-dial Seamaster Professional Diver 300M toward the end of the year. The updated Seamaster brings back the small-wave dial with no date window at 6 o’clock. It combines it with a black aluminum bezel insert and a mesh bracelet for retro style and elegance. Because the Seamaster has no date, we had to put it up against the Submariner ref. 124060. In the end, the Rolex took a comfortable win against the Seamaster, making it 2–0 and settling the score for good…or until there is a new Seamaster that we can put it up against.

December 22nd: Omega Speedmaster Pilot Flight Qualified vs. Zenith Pilot Big Date Flyback

With our last Sunday Morning Showdown of this year, we also come to the end of this overview of some of 2024’s best battles. Last weekend, the Speedmaster Pilot Flight Qualified took a glorious win against the Zenith Pilot Big Date Flyback. It was certainly not a surprise because I already mentioned we are in Speedmaster country here at Fratello. And with 70% of the votes, the latest addition to the Speedmaster lineup showed that the Zenith Pilot, with 30%, was no match for it. It is more proof that Omega had a great Speedmaster year in our Sunday Morning Showdown series.

Sunday Morning Showdown in 2025…

There you have it — an overview of the most popular, most commented-on, and most heated Sunday Morning Showdowns of 2024. We always greatly enjoy writing this series, and on behalf of the entire Fratello editorial team, I want to thank you for participating every weekend in the voting and the discussions in the comments section. We will continue the series with more new battles every single Sunday. While we still have plenty of suggestions from you and some new models that we want to cover, feel free to suggest more matchups in the comments section below. For now, we wish you all a happy new year and hope to see you in 2025 for more Sunday Morning Showdown fun!