Watches, Stories, & Gear: NFTs, 10 Years Of Skyrim, & Fly Fishing In Italy

“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, which now features an EDC section. Header credit: Susan Wright for The New York Times

X-Rays Reveals Secrets of 14th Century Tomb

Edward of Woodstock is one of the most interesting and complicated figures from medieval England, and now an enormous effigy of the so-called “Black Prince” has been studied by researchers using advanced x-ray and imaging technology. The massive statue is one of only six cast-metal effigies to survive from the period, and learning about its age and construction through the use of non-invasive techniques can potentially tell students of medieval history a great deal about the period itself, as well as the statue. As this article in Ars Technica points out, while the name of the artisans who created the statue are likely permanently lost to history, there’s a great deal of value in understanding their artistic process even today.

Fly Fishing In Italy

Along with baking sourdough bread and binge watching Tiger King, fly fishing became a somewhat unlikely pandemic hobby for many over the course of the last year and a half. It makes a lot of sense: it’s an outdoor activity, can be done in total isolation, and lends itself to the type of quiet contemplation that many sought (and still seek) during a particularly trying time in our collective history. That said, I bet when you think of fly fishing, the country of Italy doesn’t exactly spring to mind. This recent piece in the New York Times explores the unique pleasures of fly fishing Italian style, and offers a ton of great photography that will make you want to book a plane ticket and learn to tie a fly.

Launching An NFT Revolution

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last year (or just well outside certain corners of the internet, which is totally fine) you’ve no doubt been reading a lot about NFTs. Non fungible tokens are starting to infiltrate more and more sectors, the watch community very much included. If you’ve found yourself shaking your head at NFTs and wondering why in the world otherwise sensible human beings would pay thousands of dollars for simple digital images, this piece in Wired is worth a look, as it traces the history of the Crypto Punks, which have become an NFT sensation, through the perspective of someone who also didn’t quite get it at first.

The London Symphony Orchestra Celebrates 10 Years Of Skyrim

It’s been 10 years since the (initial) release of Skyrim, Bethesda’s signature fantasy RPG set in Tamriel, and to celebrate, the London Symphony Orchestra performed some of the most iconic components of the games soundtrack live. In lead up to the anniversary, Todd Howard, the game’s director, gave an interview to IGN recalling the success of the game over the years, and confronts the issue of the dreadfully long wait times between games (yes TES VI is coming; no, not anytime soon). There’s a few snippets about their upcoming game, Starfield in there as well, but where you’re familiar with the game or not, this performance is worth a listen.

Animated X-Men From The ‘90s Returning To Disney+

The late ‘90s were a bit of a golden era for great animated series, from Batman: The Animated Series, Animaniacs, and of course, X-Men: The Animated Series. Disney+ has announced plans to revive the X-Men series, picking up right where it left off in 1997. The show, currently titled X-Men ‘97 is slated to return in 2023 and will include a slew of the original cast members. Now all we need is a remaster of the X-Men Arcade game. Queue that sweet music. More on this one from The Wrap.

eBay Finds: Gallet Multichron

Here we have a nice, crisp looking vintage Gallet two register chronograph. The gold plated case is 35mm wide and looks unpolished with nice sharp edges. The silver dial is original and is in good shape, with a few patina marks, but nothing too distracting. Really cool symmetrical dial with the dual registers and not date, and blue outer tachymeter track. Gold dauphine hands round out the look. This chronograph is powered by the classic workhorse Valjoux 7730 manual wind movement, and it looks nice and clean and seller states is runs well. The pushers show a little wear to the gold plating from use. The prices for vintage chronographs keep going up and up, so this one with some slight blemishes should go for a ‘reasonable’ price.

View auction here.