Watches, Stories, and Gear: The NYE Ball Drop, the Cats Debacle, Ikea 2.0, and More

“Watches, Stories, and Gear” is a roundup of some of our favorite watch content on Worn & Wound, great stories from around the web, and cool gear that we’ve got our eye on.

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

Worn & Wound
The Horological Origins of the New Year’s Ball Drop

New Year’s Eve is right around the corner, and millions of Americans will tune in to coverage of the annual New Year’s ball drop in Times Square. The telecast is full of glitz, pop music, and scenes of people reveling till the wee hours in the freezing cold, but there’s real history behind the event as well. Check out this article from the archives to learn all about timing balls, which were once fairly ubiquitous public timekeepers.

Read the full story here.

Gizmodo
In an Unprecedented Move, Universal is Sending Theaters a Patched Version of Cats

The film version of Cats has officially reached debacle status. Not only was it a massive box office failure upon release, but it’s among the most negatively reviewed movies we can recall, giving critics everywhere a chance to flex writing muscles they didn’t know they had. Some of those reviews are hysterical, and worth seeking out for their pure entertainment value, but we also wanted to point you toward this story in Gizmodo, which details how some of the special effects weren’t completed in time for release, and are getting a rare update from the studio after the film’s premiere. So, if you saw Cats on opening weekend, you likely saw something only a small handful of movie patrons will ever see. Lucky you.

Read the full story here.

The Verge
Ikea 2.0

It might be weird to think of Ikea, purveyors of flat packed furniture, Swedish meatballs, and countless little household odds and ends, as a tech company. This story in Verge does a great job of detailing how Ikea is shifting toward a furniture and home goods landscape where everything is connected, and how that’s changing the culture of the brand, and (potentially) improving the lives of millions of customers.

Read the full story here.

Vox
In Memoriam: The Brands We Lost in the 2010s

The last ten years saw enormous changes in the way consumers consume things. From movies and books to shoes and apparel, brands that were once ubiquitous and defined their segment in one way or another vanished over the course of the last decade. This story from Vox is a remembrance of sorts, and if you’re of a certain age will almost certainly make you nostalgic for hanging out the Borders cafe, or scoring a great buy-one-get-one deal at Payless.

Read the full story here.

Flint and Tinder
Quilted Waxed Shirt Jacket 

Huckberry is in the midst of their big end of year clearance sale, and there are plenty of great deals to be had. For example, this shirt jacket from Flint and Tinder is a versatile must-have for the cold weather months, and a great layering piece. The shell is made from a highly water resistant and durable waxed canvas, and it’s lined with Primaloft for warmth and comfort in any condition.

Shop Flint and Tinder here.