Watches, Stories, & Gear: A Taylor Stitch Raffle, Carbon Tech Prizes, & 5711 Farewells

“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.

Elon Musk Offers $100M Prize for Carbon Capture Tech

Elon Musk announced this week (via Twitter, of course) that he’ll be offering a 100 million dollar prize for the best carbon capture technology. Musk is worth a reported 185 billion dollars, so one might wonder if he’s actually being a bit stingy here, but for now we’ll wait until next week when he says details of his offer will be more fully unveiled. Carbon capture technology refers to tech that snares carbon dioxide from its source before it can contribute to ongoing global warming effects. Developing this technology is part of the ongoing fight against climate change, and is believed to represent an opportunity for good engineering and science to overcome much of the damage we continue to do to the planet. A moonshot-like initiative sponsored by the world’s richest man to save the planet feels like the premise of a science fiction novel, but it’s very much where we’re at, and it will be interesting to say the least what comes of Musk’s latest endeavor. Read more about it right here.

Joe Biden Spotted With Rolex Datejust At Inauguration

Joe Biden was sworn in as the nation’s 46th President this week, and as Hodinkee reported on Wednesday, he chose a special watch for the big day. Biden wore a modern Rolex Datejust with a blue dial and Jubilee bracelet on inauguration day, becoming one of many past presidents known to sport a Rolex in public. Biden has long held the eye of watch spotters, and has been seen wearing everything from an Omega Speedmaster to modest quartz Seikos over the years, but as far as we can tell, this is the first time he’s been photographed with this particular Rolex. As milestones go, being sworn in as President of the United States is a pretty big one, so it makes a certain amount of sense that Biden would select something special, and perhaps brand new, for the occasion.

How Tenet’s Plot Sets Up A Sequel

Did you listen to our recent podcast about Tenet, the nearly inscrutable Christopher Nolan time travel action flick? If you did, you’re probably yearning for some analysis that goes beyond “this is CONFUSING!” frustration, so we encourage you to check out this story from Polygon, which dives deep into the plot and maybe, just maybe, provides some answers for the confused among us. It’s as compelling an explanation as we’ve seen, and definitely worth a read if you continue to be as confounded by this movie as we are. Spoilers abound, of course.

The Patek Philippe 5711a Is Discontinued

After swirling rumors of Patek Philippe axing the Nautilus reference 5711/1A-010, it was finally confirmed this week as truth directly by the brand’s HQ. Just what will become of the brand’s iconic steel sports watch remains unclear, but a replacement of some sort, whether in steel or PM, seems likely. The 5711a, in either blue or white dial has become a meme of wait lists and eye watering second hand pricing in recent years, boosting the popularity of steel Aquanauts in the process as collectors are forced to alternatives. What this will do to second hand prices is anyone’s guess, but until it settles anywhere near its MSRP of around $30k, count us out.

Taylor Stitch Raffle to Benefit NAACP

We love Taylor Stitch around here, we even had their CEO on the podcast not long ago. It came as no surprise to them launch a community raffle featuring the incredible work of their chain stitch artists from the likes of Psychic Stitch Embroidery, Stitch Witch, Ceremony Chainstitch, Crooked 8 and Stay Chill Bill with all proceeds going to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. The designs are rendered on their excellent HBT Jacket, and raffle ticket only cost $1 each. Head over to TS for your chance to rock one of these unique Jackets and support an amazing cause in the process. The raffle runs through February 21st so spread the love in the meantime.

eBay Finds: Vintage Caravelle 666 Diver

Here we have a nice classic vintage diver. This 1971 Caravelle 666ft diver was made by Bulova, and even though these are sought after by collectors they are still undervalued. The case on these is about 36.6mm wide, solid steel with a screw in caseback. Nice oversized original crown signed with the Caravelle logo. The black dial has a really nice and desirable ‘explorer’ style layout with stick markers except for the Arabic numerals at 12, 3, 6 and 9. No date window to preserve the beautiful symmetry. Lume filled steel hands with a white second hand with a lume filled lollipop tip. Overall the watch looks to be in excellent original condition, with a few marks on the aluminum bezel insert. Check it out soon as this one ends Sunday morning!

View auction here.