Watches, Stories, & Gear: IWC Watches in an Upcoming F1 Film Starring Brad Pitt, One Year of Threads, and What the “The Bear” Gets Right About Working in Restaurants

“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 [email protected].

IWC Watches Featured in F1 Movie Starring Brad Pitt 

If you’re a movie fan, you’re probably already looking forward to the still untitled Formula One movie coming next year starring Brad Pitt and directed by Joseph Kosinski. It’s Kosinski’s big follow up to Top Gun: Maverick, one of the most successful movies ever made by just about any metric, so anticipation is high. The film is produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, Plan B Entertainment (Pitt’s production company) and Dawn Apollo Films, which is Lewis Hamilton’s production company. It’s that bit of information that has had some in the watch world speculating about a possible IWC tie-in, and this week we received official word from the brand that they will in fact be involved in the project. According to IWC, several models from the Pilot’s Watches collection will be featured on the wrists of different characters. 

The partnership underscores a strong relationship between IWC and the world of Formula 1 racing, particularly with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas team. IWC has been the Official Engineering Partner of the team since 2013, and the sight of IWC watches on the wrists of team members has become commonplace for observers of the sport. According to IWC, the new film depicts Pitt as a veteran driver who returns to the sport after an absence, racing for the fictional APX GP team, which in the world of the movie is sponsored by the brand. The film is currently in production with a June 2025 release planned, and is being shot in and around actual Formula One races, including the British Grand Prix at Silverstone this weekend. IWC

The Trailer for Here, a Forrest Gump Reunion Directed by Robert Zemeckis 

The first trailer for Here dropped last week, the new film from Forrest Gump director Robert Zemeckis. Zemeckis also directed the Back to the Future trilogy, Contact (a Time on Screen alum), and, more recently, a string of films using motion-capture animation. Here is a curious project and looks to be quite experimental. The premise seems to be that the film observes the action from a specific vantage point across a vast period of time (there are dinosaurs in the trailer…) with the focus being on a couple played by Tom Hanks and Robin Wright, making this a full fledged Gump reunion. It honestly looks like it could be pretty special or a total train wreck, but our interest is piqued by Zemeckis trying something genuinely different with a pretty stellar cast. 

Ace Jewelers and Nivada Team Up for a Limited Edition F77

Amsterdam based Ace Jewelers has unveiled their latest limited edition, a collaboration with Nivada-Grenchen and a new take on their F77 integrated bracelet sports watch. Ace consistently produces some of our favorite limited edition collabs, almost always adhering to a well defined color palette and design language. The new F77 is no exception, and features a sleek black dial similar to other Ace LEs along with a red “XXX” symbol for Amsterdam, and a recurring theme in Ace limited editions. The new F77 is a limited run of just 50 pieces and is priced at EUR 1,050 (excluding VAT). More information can be found at the Ace Jewelers website. 

Meta’s Threads Turns One 

Remember when Threads, Meta’s competitor to Twitter, launched? It was, by most accounts, one of the most quickly adopted social media apps of all time, and caused a genuine frenzy for a few weeks as users rushed toward it and away from the Elon Musk Twitter, soon to be renamed “X” (which still doesn’t feel right). Threads hasn’t quite overtaken Twitter (not by a long shot, in fact) but it has made significant strides over the course of its first year, adding new features that integrate it more closely with Facebook and Instagram. The Verge has a story covering the first year of Threads, chronicling its successes and hiccups, and what it still needs to do if it’s going to fully compete with X.

What does “The Bear” Get Right, and Wrong? 

A new season of “The Bear” premiered at the end of last month, and with all episodes dropping at once, it’s likely many readers have already made it through this new crop of episodes. With every new season, a conversation re-emerges about the accuracy with which the show depicts the restaurant world. It’s no surprise given that such a huge number of people have some experience working in a restaurant, and virtually everyone has dined in a restaurant at one point or another, so just about every viewer has a point of reference on the show’s realism. This year, the story is set largely in the world of fine dining, which is perhaps a little more specific than what “The Bear” has shown us in previous years. The New York Times has a story this week focusing on some of the little details, like Carmy’s strategy with an ever changing menu, and the not insignificant matter of the financing of the whole operation. Spoilers abound for season 3, so stay away if you still have some episodes in front of you.