Watches, Stories, & Gear: Planet Omega in NYC, NASA Debuts their Streaming Platform, and Auctions Go Mainstream

“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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Planet Omega Comes to NYC

This week, Omega is opening their Planet Omega exhibition in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood. The exhibition brings some of the brand’s incredible museum pieces to the US, and places them alongside a curation of their modern collection, including special editions like the Planet Ocean 6000M Ultra Deep and the gem set Canopus gold Seamaster 300 celebrating 60 years of James Bond (there are also screen worn Seamasters from the Bond films on display). The exhibition is an immersive experience in the brand, and offers a decent primer of their history in film and sport, but there are also historic models on display in their own space. 

A small selection of museum pieces sits next to the main exhibition, and features watches worn by Elvis Presely, John F. Kennedy, and Walter Schirra’s flown CK2998, the first Omega to be worn in space on board the Mercury-Atlas 8 mission. The history is palpable and these watches are a small glimpse into the treasures within Omega’s museum located in their home town of Biel/Bienne, Switzerland (a place well worth the visit). The exhibition will be open November 10 to 19, from Monday to Sunday, 11am to 7pm, at the Chelsea Factory, 547 W 26th Street. Visitors are encouraged to book their place in advance.

NASA Launches Their Own (Free) Live Streaming TV Service

NASA is getting into the live streaming TV game with NASA+ a, an ad-free, no cost platform that will give you access to historic content and discoveries, as well as live streams from the ISS. There are educational experiences as well as inside looks at some of NASA’s latest projects, such as Artemis, and the James Webb Telescope. Best of all, it’s free and easily accessible at plus.nasa.gov. There’s even content built specifically for younger audiences so it’s a family friendly affair from top to bottom. You can search content by series, or by subject matter that interests you, from humans in space, to the solar system, and even the earth and its climate. Catch more of the lineup, as well as a schedule of upcoming live streams at NASA+.

Soft Serve Studio Forecasts 2024 Style Trends

If you like keeping on top of style trends and have a penchant for carry goods, you’ll want to check out the latest forecast created by Soft Serve Studio. This document provides insights to color and material trends, and how they fit into the structural design trends of the soft goods space. Even if you don’t consider yourself a design conscious trend setter, this is still an immensely interesting document to explore, as it provides context to what you can expect from some of your favorite brands and products. On top of that, it’s just a beautiful document to browse, with bold, colorful graphics set with some inspirational products that you might want to consider adding to your kit heading into the new year. Catch the full document right here from Soft Serve Studio.

The Auction as Must See TV

The fall auction season is in full swing, with the major auction houses offering up their very best in watches, fine art, and just about any other collector category you can think of. The inherent drama of an auction is no secret to those who observe the watch market closely, but for a long time viewing live auctions felt like an extremely niche activity. As the New York Times explains this week, that’s changing. With a growing interest in collecting markets in general, auction houses are seeing new interest in auctions, and have been upping the production values of the live streams that coincide with marquee sales. More eyes are on these auctions than ever, with viewers tuning in not just through auction house portals, but via social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram Live. Some auction houses have invested heavily in hiring production professionals to give their live streams a reality TV-like sheen, all in the name of keeping viewers (and potential clients) engaged. It makes you wonder how far away we are from a “Drive to Survive” style reality show documenting the world of a high end auction house.

The “60 Songs that Explain the ’90s” Podcast Gets a Companion Book

If you can remember the 1990s and/or love the music from that decade, Rob Harvila’s “60 Songs that Explain the 90s” podcast is absolutely essential listening. Over the course of way, way more than 60 episodes (that bit dried up long ago) Harvila dissects many of the 90s classics you remember, and probably a few that you don’t, with a ton of humor and insight. The podcast has proven to be popular enough to spawn a new book of the same title, written by Harvila and including lots of material from the podcast in written form, as well as plenty of new stuff to supplement it. In this excerpt published on The Ringer this week, Harvila examines the concept of the “sell out,” an idea that was pervasive in 90s popular culture as Gen-X artists in every genre of music faced the prospect of seemingly trading credibility for the cash that comes with major label record deals. It’s a fun read, and will give you a great idea of the tone of the podcast.

Protecting Birds from the “City of Glass”

Chicago is the “window strike capital” of the United States. According to those who study the phenomenon, more birds are killed or injured flying into glass windows in the Windy City than anywhere else in the country. Is there anything that can be done about it? In this piece from bioGraphic, writer Ben Goldfarb explores the window strike problem, why it’s pervasive in Chicago, and the architectural and ecological solutions that might be at play.