Watches, Stories, & Gear: A New Book on the Rolex Submariner, the Salem’s Lot Trailer, and Detecting Alien Space Ships

“Watches, Stories, and Gear” is a roundup of our favorite content, watch or otherwise, from around the internet. Here, we support other creators, explore interesting content that inspires us, and put a spotlight on causes we believe in. Oh, and any gear we happen to be digging on this week. We love gear.

Share your story ideas or interesting finds with us by emailing [email protected].

The Rolex Submariner Book

As reported by GQ and many others, Rolex is about to release what would appear to be the definitive book on the Submariner, a watch that most would agree is one of the most consequential of all time. As a dive watch, a luxury item, and a design object, the Submariner, in many ways, stands alone, and the coffee table book written by industry veteran Nicholas Foulkes promises to delve into the history of the watch in an authoritative way. There have, of course, been many books on Rolex and the brand’s most important watches, but Oyster Perpetual Submariner – The Watch That Unlocked the Deep is the first to be authorized by the brand. It stands to reason that Foulkes was given access to historical materials not available to others who have attempted to chronicle the Submariner’s history. 

Salem’s Lot Comes to Max

The full trailer for the highly anticipated Salem’s Lot adaptation hit the internet this week, and it has Stephen King fans buzzing. Based on King’s acclaimed second novel, Salem’s Lot is a vampire story about a writer returning to his quaint hometown to write a novel, where he slowly realizes that, well, something terrible is happening. Salem’s Lot is notable because it’s one of the few early King novels that has never, until now, been adapted into a feature film, and King has said on multiple occasions that the novel is his personal favorite of those he has written. The film comes to the Max streaming service in October (no theatrical release, unfortunately) and is directed by Gary Dauberman, who is best known as the writer behind the Conjuring franchise, and as the co writer of the recent two part It adaptation, a pair of films that is somewhat divisive in King-land. 

How to Detect an Alien Spaceship

From Wired this week comes a story about how the stuff of science fiction is, somehow, becoming more real everyday. If you’ve ever seen an episode of Star Trek (or any number of other sci-fi shows or films) you’re likely familiar with the concept of “warp drive,” a theoretical bending of spacetime to enable faster than light travel. It’s one of those science fiction concepts that has a basis in actual science, even if humans are a very long way from putting it into practice. But what if we could see if it was being done elsewhere in the universe? That’s the gist of this piece by writers Katy Clough, Sebastian Khan, and Tim Dietrich, who discuss how advanced telescopes could detect changes in gravitational waves that could, in theory, point to a real life warp drive situation somewhere in the universe. 

The Criterion Closet Hits the Road 

If you’re a serious movie fan, you’re likely familiar with the Criterion Closet, a video series from the folks at boutique video producers the Criterion Collection in which performers, filmmakers, and others involved in the movie industry get a few minutes to raid the countless Blu-Ray editions Criterion has put out over the years in a notably confined space. It’s a lot of fun seeing and hearing someone like Bill Hader, for example, talking us through his favorite movies and recent discoveries in real time. Well, Criterion turns 40 this year, and to celebrate they’re taking a mobile version of the closet on the road to film festivals and other cinema destinations to give fans a version of the Criterion Closet experience. I mean, who wouldn’t want to be surrounded by over 1,500 of the greatest movies ever made in an eighteen-foot delivery van?

Is The Wizard of Oz Coming to the Sphere?

Here at Watches, Stories, & Gear, we endeavor to bring you all of the most important regular updates on the Sphere, the Las Vegas concert venue that has captured the world’s attention with it’s dramatic, ultra high resolution curved screen capable of simulating almost any environment imaginable. Dead & Co. just wrapped a residency at the Sphere, and U2 performed there prior, and each, according to attendees, pushed the envelope of what’s possible in a live music experience. But the Sphere isn’t just for live music. If you think about it, what you’ve really got in the Sphere is a giant movie theater with a screen unlike any other on the planet, and it does in fact play a film made specifically for exhibition at the Sphere by Darren Aronofsky multiple times per day when there isn’t live music scheduled. 

It makes sense, then, that Sphere management would look to supplement the live music schedule with movie presentations, and according to this story in IndieWire, they’ve targeted The Wizard of Oz as a possibility. The Sphere is reportedly prepared to spend upwards of $80 million to restore the film such that it can screen on the 18k resolution wraparound screen, creating what they call a “digitally-enhanced, sensory spectacle.” Oz, with all its color and fantastical elements (and the fact that it’s one of the most popular movies ever made) seems like a perfect candidate to adapt for the Sphere screen.