Watches, Stories, & Gear: New Cadillacs, Crowd Funded Shoes & Remembering Ricky Powel

“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.

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

The Dyatlov Pass Incident Gets A Rational Explanation

In January of 1959, ten members of the Urals Polytechnic Institute set out on a skiing and mountaineering expedition in the wilderness of Russia’s Ural Mountains. One member of the team turned back, but nine were never heard from again. By spring, their bodies had been found under snow and ice in ways that never truly added up (eyeballs and tongues were missing, bodies were found without clothing, and the scene was generally quite gruesome in a bad horror movie sort of way). The Dyatlov Pass Incident, as it has come to be known, has provoked conspiracy theories of all kinds for decades. Yetis, aliens, military tests and more have all been blamed for the strange, unexplained deaths. Now, it appears that after some careful research into avalanches in the area, a sensible scientific explanation might finally be feasible. And we have, in part, the Disney hit Frozen to thank. No, really. Read more at National Geographic right here.

Rancourt & Co. Turns To Crowdfunding

Rancourt & Co., one of our favorite traditional shoemakers, is once again promoting a crowdfunding campaign to keep their Maine based business alive. The way it works is relatively simple: Rancourt is taking pre-orders on shoes for a two week period, and then all pre-ordered shoes are produced together. It takes a little longer to get your shoes (orders filled in this campaign are expected to ship in May), but the wholesale pricing can’t be beat, and you’ll be supporting a family owned business that makes high quality shoes the old fashioned way. Check out the promotion right here.

Remembering Ricky Powell

Ricky Powell might not be a household name to most, but if you cared about New York City hip-hop in the 80s and 90s, there’s no doubt you’ve seen his photographs. Often called the “Fourth Beastie Boy,” Powell was known by many as the photographer for Run D.M.C., Public Enemy, the aforementioned Beastie Boys, and others, and chronicled life in the city from his West Village apartment for decades. He was a legend in the street photography scene, and he passed away this week at the age of 59. This remembrance in Vulture takes you through his life and career, and showcases many of his great photographs. 

Cadillac Proves The Powerful Analog Sports Sedan Isn’t Dead

Move over BMW, Cadillac has an axe to grind with a new small sport sedan that keep a keen eye toward preserving the analog experience. The Blackwing branded CT4-V packs a 472hp wallop thanks to a twin-turbo V6, which is mated to a 6 speed manual gearbox and magnetic ride control. The muscular exterior is refreshingly free of oversized vertical grills, and it even gets a duckbill wing out back. The whole package starts under $60k, making it a surprisingly good value compared to other cars in this segment. If you just can’t get there with the G80, maybe head to the Cadillac lot and give this one a shot. Here’s hoping for a wagon.

Remastering The Super Mario World Soundtrack

Prepare for peak nostalgia with a project to capture and restore the original soundtrack audio from Super Mario World. The uncompressed audio was never possible thanks to system limitations of the era, but fans have taken it upon themselves to track down the original sources and remaster them for full effect. The project is not yet complete, but you can follow along with the progress with The Brickster on Twitter right here and learn more about the project from The Verge right here.

eBay Finds: Vintage Gold Omega Seamaster

If you like vintage Omega, here’s a real gem for you that is somewhat scarce to boot. This is a reference 166.010 in yellow gold fill. These are considerably more common in steel than they are in gold fill. The nearly 35mm wide case looks to be in superb shape with no wear-through, and the flat, heavily knurled signed crown is original and correct to the model. The gold tone dial is super clean and original. If you look closely at the pics, you can even see the little Omega symbol on the original crystal! The best part is the caliber 562 movement is clean and the seller states it runs well. This is one of my favorite Omega movements, it is robust, accurate and has a true quick-set date. An added bonus is the original gold filled beads of rice bracelet! This one ticks all the boxes…

View auction here.