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Of Course We Need a Vantablack® Car
German automaker BMW painted one of their new X6s in Vantablack®. You know… that paint artist Anish Kapoor controls the usage of. BOO. To be more clear, he had to give his blessing of the project. Wrap your head around that, someone controls the usage of a color. Anyhow, this paint absorbs 99.965 per cent of light hitting it. Composed of nanotubes that just suck up light, this paint is much cooler than a matte black wrap. It also probably makes the car undefinable on the road and therefore confusing and dangerous. I’m sure it’ll never be part of a wide-spread release strategy, but it’s a very cool project nonetheless.…
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The Silver Lining of Code 11:59
SIHH 2019. Code 11:59.Yawn. C’mon!I can crap all over this new collection for Audemars Piquet, just like everyone else. This post isn’t really about that. I just want to make two points: 1 The Perpetual Calendar is A-OK. WATCH TECHNICAL DATA Functions Perpetual calendar with week indication Day Date Astronomical moon Month Leap year Hours Minutes Case 41 mm diameter 18-carat pink gold case Glareproofed sapphire crystal and caseback Water-resistant to 20 m Dial Blue aventurine dial and subdials 18-carat pink gold applied hour-markers and hands Lacquered blue inner bezel Strap Hand-stitched “large square scale” blue alligator strap with 18-carat pink gold folding clasp MOVEMENT TECHNICAL DATA Selfwinding Manufacture calibre…
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Swiss Alp Watch Concept Black
The Swiss Alp Watch Concept Black 5901-0301 won SIHH 2019. It’s no secret I have a special place in my heart for H. Moser & Cie., so I have no trouble declaring it the most exciting piece of the show. I’m sure this minimalist phantasm will be keeping some in the Swiss watch industry up at night thinking how they can one-up themselves for next year. Let’s look deeper: No hands Platinum Swiss Alp case Glossy Black dial Tourbillon Minute repeater Sapphire case back How the hell do you set it? View this post on Instagram A post shared by H. Moser & Cie. (@moserwatches) on Jan 14, 2019 at…
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2019 SIHH Review: Hits and Misses
Another SIHH has come and gone. I think 2019 will be remembered as the year Richard Mille brought a candy shop to Geneva. Until next year when they open a Home Depot/DIY like store for their booth and all their watches feature 100%authentic wood nails and hammer-drills and sawzalls™.(Milwaukee Electric Tool Company) I’ve only presented a handful of the best here. There’s tons of coverage elseware so I really wanted to distill it down to my absolute favorites. JLC’s Enamel tourbillion repeater ? Jaeger LeCoultre had a hit last year at SIHH with three similar lower end models in the Master Control Collection. This year they brought the most heat…
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Fake Alligator’s Top 10 of 2018
As 2018 comes to a close it’s time to look back at the Top 10 of the year. Top 10 what? Watches? Movies? Books? Limited edition Vacheron Constantin Chronographs? Whatever. Anything and everything.So without further ado…. #10 Elon Musk Elon Musk saying there’s a 70% chance he’ll move to Mars.Am I happy about Man’s ability to live on another planet? Am I happy Space Travel is still a thing? Am I happy that Elon Musk will be leaving this planet? I don’t know the answers here, but him saying that in an interview in late November has my interest piqued. I’ll start saving for a simple trip to space. #9…
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Fake Alligator’s 2018 Shopping Guide
The holiday season is upon us. Time to buy a whole bunch of stuff for your friends and family without any clue if they’ll like it or not. If thay already have it or not. Or buy stuff for people you, frankly, don’t really like. (Anything made by David Wellington, Tiffany, or Hermes (ties excluded).) I know what you’re thinking… Who the hell are you to write a guide on what to buy people, you’re such a curmudgeon, you only like 3 watch brands, 2 car manufacturers and 2 clothing brands. I say you’re right so let’s just say I’m doing this out of social obligation for those who really…
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Zinger Audemars Piguet Minute Repeater on a Hodinkee Video
I sat down earlier today to check out the Audemars Piguet sponsored branded content produced by Hodinkee. Each of the three installments start with a beautiful drone shot of Vallée de Joux in Switzerland. Nice enough to make me want to google Vallée de Joux home prices… The AP staffer talking breaks out this watch around 2:05. There it is. I’ve never see thing reference before. I either spit out my cornflakes, coughed coffee out of my nose or both. Something happened! Minimal googling revealed it’s a 1945 Platinum Minute Repeater. It’s probably 1 of 15. You’ll probably never see one, but there it is. It’s AP meets Nomos meets crazy numerals. I…
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Paul Newman Daytona Auction- One Year Later.
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Moser x Vantablack
H. Moser & Cie have announced a watch with the darkest dial humanly possible. It’s coated with this “paint” called Vantablack. Manufactured here. It’s chemical substance made of vertically aligned carbon nanotube arrays and is the darkest artificial substance known, absorbing up to 99.965% of radiation in the visible spectrum. (Wiki entry) It’s accurate to 1000 years. And costs $35,000. You can find myriad pictures and some video reviews on Instagram. It’s a pretty cool piece that I’d personally love to wear. Some Details: Reference 1801-1200, steel model, Vantablack® dial, black leather strap, limited edition of 50 pieces Reference 1801-0400, 5N red gold model, midnight-blue fumé dial, brown alligator leather strap,…
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Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz wears a Paul Newman Daytona on CBS This Morning.
Not much to see here other than espresso and style-icon Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz is wearing his Rolex Paul Newman Daytona 6239 (?- Comment if you know.) on CBS This Morning. Also, he said he was stepping down and acted like he wasn’t going to run for President. His watch game is much stronger than the current President’s. No one can argue with that point. Full Interview here.
