Watches, Stories, and Gear: Watch Meetups on Zoom, a Guide to Cartier Clocks, and the Debut of the Playstation 5

“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
Time off the Wrist: Stonehenge

It’s hard to believe, but we’re rapidly approaching the summer solstice, and the days will soon begin getting shorter. It’s easy enough for us to track the time, phases of the moon, changing of the seasons, and many other things with not just our watches, but the power of the internet constantly at our fingertips. But human beings have actually done a pretty good job of measuring these cyclical events for hundreds of years, long, long before anyone could even conceive of a time telling device on the wrist. This article by Sean Lorentzen takes a look at Stonehenge, one of the most puzzling and amazing time telling systems ever devised. 

Read it here

New York Times
First American Woman to Walk in Space Reaches Deepest Spot in the Ocean 

Being an astronaut is undeniably cool. Walking in space – also undeniably cool. Reaching the deepest point in the ocean is similarly cool and amazing for a whole host of reasons. Being able to check all three of these things off of your bucket list is something that only a handful of humans can ever aspire to, and Kathy Sullivan became one of them recently. Check out this story in the New York Times, which gives you all the details on how Sullivan became not just the first woman to walk in space, but the first to reach the Challenger Deep, at a depth of nearly 36,000 feet.

Read it here

The Atlantic
Rats Have Not Changed. We Have. 

If you’re interested in science, there’s something strangely comforting about knowing that right now, even in the midst of a worldwide pandemic, there are men and women studying things like rat populations in large American cities. As Americans have sheltered in place for months, research opportunities abound, and the curious are taking advantage. This Atlantic article looks at how closed restaurants, less automobile traffic, and other factors impact rats. Spoiler warning: they can get along just fine without us, and are here to stay. 

Read it here

New York Times
Just Hold Your Watch Next to the Screen 

If you’re a watch fan who has a regular meetup group with fellow enthusiasts to discuss and share watches in person, you’ve likely been missing out on this key social interaction during the course of the Covid-19 lockdown. In this recent New York Times article, we get a look at the world of virtual watch meetups, and the difficulties of enjoying a hobby with others that’s so inherently physical.

Read it here

The Verge
This is the Playstation 5

The long awaited Playstation 5 was unveiled this week by Sony, and let’s just say the internet had a reaction. The next gen gaming system is expected to arrive in time for the 2020 holiday shopping season, and while Sony has been teasing certain specs and features for months, this is the first time we’ve gotten a look at the physical console. It’s designed to work standing upright or turned on its side, and it has plenty of soft lines that appear almost organic, and frankly don’t look too far removed from some of the watches we discuss here everyday. Naturally, because it’s new, or maybe even because it’s disappointing to some, the design was almost immediately mocked, which in the time of Twitter should be anything but surprising.

Read it here

Vice
Scientists Have Discovered Vast Unidentified Structures Deep Inside the Earth

This story in Vice is a lot less sinister than the headline would lead you to believe. No, there’s no evidence that something otherworldly or alien is planning our demise from the Earth’s core, although, to be honest, it might feel like that sometimes in recent months. Rather, this is a pretty fascinating read for anyone who’s ever wondered about what kinds of natural materials make up the center of the earth, and how the science of we might find out. 

Read it here 

Christie’s 
Collecting Guide: Cartier Clocks

Cartier has been making clocks for more than a century, and Christie’s has a fantastic guide to the many different periods of Cartier clockmaking. The variety here is truly astounding, as is the complexity of many of the designs featured. While many of the most valuable Cartier clocks are out of the reach of all but the extremely wealthy, this is the type of object that, once you start learning about them, becomes easy to appreciate from afar just for their sheer beauty.

Read it here