Watches, Stories, & Gear: Virtual Furniture, Exploring Lunar Caves, and Snake (The Game)

“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.

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This installment of “Watches, Stories, and Gear” is brought to you by the Windup Watch Shop.

Expand Your (Virtual) Furniture Collection

How much would you pay for a piece of furniture that didn’t exist in the real world? A strange question, perhaps, but Argentinian designer Andrés Reisinger has just sold ten pieces of “virtual furniture” in an online auction for eye watering five figure sums. The “impossible objects” are one of a kind creations (thanks to NFT technology that keeps the digital items tied to a single owner) that are meant to be placed in shared, virtual 3D spaces (think Minecraft). Trading digital goods for real money is nothing new, but we’re rapidly approaching an age of highly collectible and extremely expensive digital art that represents some genuinely new ground. Read all about it right here.

ESA Set To Explore Lunar Caves

If you’re a space exploration nerd, much of your focus over the last few weeks has probably been on the Perseverance, which just landed successfully on Mars and is ready to start sampling soil to determine if life ever existed on the Red Planet. But let’s not forget about the moon – it’s still up there, and still worth exploring. The European Space Agency certainly hasn’t forgotten about the moon, and has recently unveiled a series of concepts that would explore the moon’s network of caves. Three mission scenarios were developed: scouting the entry pits from the moon’s surface, lowering a probe into a pit to access a cave, and exploring underground lava tubes with autonomous rovers. Head over to the European Space Agency’s page to get a detailed look at the plans.

Giving the Game of Snake Its Due Credit

Today’s mobile phone gamers are a little spoiled. A modern smartphone is essentially a handheld video game system unto itself with graphics and gameplay that come shockingly close to a console. But if you’re a child of the 90s, your earliest phone gaming experiences were likely much more modest, and if you had a Nokia phone (and it seemed like everyone had a Nokia phone) you probably played a lot of Snake. The simple game was ever present, and it’s finally getting its due with a full history right here. This one is guaranteed to make you feel nostalgic for a simpler cell phone age.

Recommended Reading: A Guide To Early Daniel Roth

Daniel Roth is an independent watchmaker that rose to prominence in the late 20th century alongside the likes of Roger Dubuis and Vianney Halter. His unique case and dial work set him apart from contemporaries and the folks at A Collected Man have put together a guide exploring his early work. It’s well worth a read, even if you aren’t in the market for one of his watches, as seeing his style and craft take shape, from Breguet to independence. Read the excellent guide in full right here.

Ferrari Set To Return To WEC Racing

This week, Ferrari confirmed that they would be returning to World Endurance Championship racing in the LMDh class. This will be the brand’s first appearance since 1971. They are committing to the return for the 2023 season, and will compete against the likes of Acura, Toyota, Peugeot, Audi, and yes, Porsche. The LMDh platform was introduced last year at the 24 hour race at Daytona, representing a new ‘Hypercar’ class racing alongside what we now call LMP1 cars. With the confirmed heavyweights appearing in LMDh all eyes will be on what is sure to be the most competitive class of racers we’ve seen in years, including newcomers like Glickenhouse that could easily play spoiler. Until then, keep an eye out for some crazy designs out of Maranello.

eBay Finds: Vintage Electric Omega

Today we have something a little different, a vintage Omega F300Hz Chronometer. I’m not one to normally recommend any watch that is battery powered, but I can make an exception for a Chronometer rated tuning fork movement! The F300Hz Omegas are a somewhat under-the-radar watch for most, but die-hard Omega fans have long sought these. This one has a large 40mm steel tonneau shaped case that still shows the original brushed finish. The silver dial is beautiful and you have to love the “F300Hz” script. A signed crown and original bracelet seal the deal. Seller even states the movement works properly and was serviced recently, although one always has to take a “serviced” statement with a grain of salt.

View auction here.