Watches, Stories, & Gear: Unexpected Planets, Collaborations, & Vision Gran Turismo

“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 our Managing Editor at [email protected]

This installment of “Watches, Stories, and Gear” is brought to you by the Windup Watch Shop, which now features an EDC section.

The James Brands Collaborates with Aaron James Draplin

Our friends at the James Brand have collaborated with graphic designer and artist Aaron James Draplin for their latest project, the James x DDC collection. A variety of James Brand favorites have been unveiled (some have quickly sold out) as well as some items that seem to be pure Draplin Design Company creations with a James Brand spin (pins, patches, posters, etc). You get the sense looking through these new products that the James x DDC pair is a natural one, so we look forward to seeing if these two continue to collaborate, and what they might come up with next. Check out the collection here.

Discovering How To With Josh Wilson

How To With John Wilson has a simple concept: John Wilson, a New York City based filmmaker, provides advice for topics both general and weirdly specific (one episode of the HBO program is titled “How to Put Up Scaffolding,” for example). In doing so, he takes viewers through a tour of his life, and provides a portrait of a rarely seen version of New York filtered through Wilson’s unique sensibility. Through clever editing and Wilson’s dry but earnest narration, the show breathes new life into stuff we take for granted everyday, introduces us to genuinely interesting people, and consistently makes us laugh (this is a comedy series at its core). It’s strangely addictive viewing and easy to binge watch (episodes are only about half an hour) and as the second season unfurls, the New York Times has profiled Wilson, calling his show the weirdest on TV. It’s a must read for Wilson fans, and a great primer for the uninitiated.

New Podcast ft. Eric Wind: Significant Lots

One of our favorite vintage watch experts has finally done what many have hoped he’d do for years. Folks, Eric Wind has a podcast. The show, titled “Significant Lots,” focuses on the world of vintage watches via roundtable discussions with Wind and other vintage watch experts. Three episodes have been released so far, covering the recent auctions in Geneva (before and after they took place) as well as a discussion of the many anti-flipping policies that have recently become a hot topic in the watch world. Check out the podcast right here, and subscribe on your platform of choice.

Scientists Stumble Upon A Planet That Shouldn’t Exist

Astonomer’s using the SPHERE exoplanet imager on the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Paranal, Chile, have directly imaged a rather unexpected planet orbiting a binary star system b Centauri. Their findings, recently published in the journal Nature, reveal a planet with a similar planet-to-star mass ratio as Jupiter has to our sun (0.10–0.17%), with an orbit around 100 times larger (~560AU). The star system is not conducive to such planets forming based on current knowledge, and offers new insights to study and help flesh out our understanding of planet formation. Exactly the type of thing scientists love to find. Read more about the discovery over at Inverse right here.

Porsche Reveals New Vision Gran Turismo

The wait for Gran Turismo 7 just got a little bit harder with the reveal of a new Vision Gran Turismo courtesy Porsche. The new (virtual) car is an expression of the brand’s vision for the sports car of the future. It’s small, lightweight, and battery powered. It’s also very fast, virtually, of course. What’s most exciting here is seeing a new iteration of the Porsche design language and thinking about how it might manifest in future literal products from the brand. See more of the car, including videos with the designers, head over to Porsche’s news room right here. Now, if only Polyphony digital would bring the GT7 to PC…

eBay Finds: Seiko 6139

This week we have a real classic, a vintage 1976 Seiko 6105-6005 chronograph. Commonly referred to as a “Pogue” after the yellow dialed version of this watch that Col Pogue wore on his mission to the Skylab 4. This is the more commonly found blue dialed version, but just as nice. These are often found chock full of aftermarket parts, but this watch looks original to me. The bracelet is not original though. However, repro bracelets of the correct style ‘h-link’ bracelet can be readily had. The deep blue dial looks super clean, and the hands have nice crisp lume with no ‘black funk. Bezel and crystal look good too. Seller states the watch works and the movement looks nice and clean. These are quite desirable by Seiko collectors, and are increasingly hard to find.

View auction here.