Watches, Stories, and Gear: The Original Apple Watch Designs, Cannonballing on Empty American Roads, and Records Made the Old Fashioned Way

“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
Quest for a Coke at the Miami Beach Antique Show

Watch meetups and the purely social side of watch collecting are one of the things that makes this hobby so special. Commiserating with friends and acquaintances about grails won and lost, posing for group wrist shots, and learning new things about a topic that we all come to realize has an almost endless depth are all things that to varying degrees are essential to enjoying our hobby and, unfortunately, difficult to replicate with much of the planet locked down to prevent the spread of Covid-19. So, reading this story from contributor Ed Estl0w about his experience at the Miami Beach Antique Show has a newfound poignance today. Sure, it’s a fun record of Ed’s experience at a gathering that is pure heaven for many watch lovers, but it’s also a gentle reminder of what we’re currently working to restore, once life can return to some semblance of normal.

Read it here

The Verge
One of the Apple Watch’s Original Designers Tweeted a Behind the Scenes Look at its Development

We recently passed the fifth anniversary of the release of the Apple Watch, and whatever you think of the now ubiquitous smart-watch from the perspective of a watch enthusiast, there’s no denying that the device’s popularity has had a major impact on how many people not only view watches, but live their lives. The Apple Watch is also fascinating as a design object, taking cues from both classic horology and a long lineage of Apple products, while breaking genuinely new ground along the way. This Verge article collects a series of recent tweets by Imran Chaudhri, one of the original designers of the first Apple Watch, that go surprisingly deep into how the watch was developed. It’s come a long way from a prototype built on an iPod nano.

Read it here

The New York Times
The Vinyl? It’s Pricey. The Sound? Otherworldly.

In this story from the New York Times, we learn about The Electric Recording Co., a London based boutique record label that has built a niche for itself through the release of jazz and classical recordings that have been meticulously restored from original master tapes. What makes Electric’s releases special is their methods, relying on vintage equipment to obtain a sound as close as possible to what would have been laid down in a studio years ago. At a time when vinyl records have seen a resurgence in popularity, and digital shortcuts are often used to mass produce new pressings, Electric does everything by hand, with an intense focus on the details (a great deal of thought, for example, goes into the material used in the wiring at Electric’s facilities).

Read it here

Antiques Roadshow
1963 Rolex GMT Master

We love a good Antiques Roadshow clip here at Worn & Wound, and this one from a recent episode featuring an early Rolex GMT Master is one of our favorites. The watch has a great story, and has been with the same family for its entire existence, and its final estimate is nothing to sneeze at – it’s a very valuable watch, indeed. But as the appraiser points out, there’s a valuable lesson here: originality matters in vintage watches. This watch, had the dial, hands, and bezel insert not been replaced during the normal course of servicing, could sell for twice what it would go for at auction today.

Casio G-Shock
DW5600 NASA Limited Edition

This week, Casio debuted (and quickly sold out) a very cool limited edition G-Shock. Now, cool limited edition G-Shocks are nothing new. It seems like every noteworthy brand has collaborated with G-Shock at some point, and the G-Shock collecting community is one of the strongest not just in watches, but in, well, anything that people actively collect. But this watch is special even by the highest LE standard, and it’s because of those four letters on the dial, in that classic typeface: NASA. The all white watch makes great use of the iconic NASA “worm” logo, and there’s a bonus in the form of an illuminated moon when you hit that “light” button. You’ll have to keep an eye on the forums if you hope to score one of these DW5600s after the fact, but for the NASA buffs among us, this watch might be worth the hunt.

VINwiki
There is a new Cannonball record*

Cannonballing, or driving from side of the United States to the other as fast as you can without being arrested, has become part of American car culture. Every year, teams of car enthusiast attempt to break and set records in the most. clandestine ways possible, making use of a dizzying array of modern technology designed to avoid the long arm of the law on a high speed journey from New York to California. The current Covid-19 lockdown has kept traffic off the streets across large swaths of the country, so it’s no surprise that some Cannonballers have tried to set new records. In this video, one time Cannonball record holder Ed Bolian talks through the implications of these new record attempts, offering a fascinating window into the ethics of underground car culture.

Gear Patrol
Our Staff’s Favorite Socks to Wear at Home

They say it’s a mark of maturity when you can learn to appreciate that ultimate disappointing childhood gift, socks, as the luxury they are actually are. At a time when we’re all home way more than we might want to be, the pleasures of a good sock are amplified. Not convinced? Take a read through this guide from Gear Patrol that highlights some of the most comfortable socks you can buy right now, and go ahead and splurge on a few pairs. Your homebound feet will thank you.

Read it here