Watches, Stories, & Gear: Rowing Blazers Has a Buyer, Inside the Criterion Collection, and the Tesla Roadster is Coming (Maybe)

“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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Rowing Blazers: Sold

Big news hit hte menswear world this week when it was announced that Rowing Blazers had sold a majority stake in the company to Burch Creative Capital. Cofounder Jack Carlson, who is a familiar figure in the watch world as he’s stepped into the spotlight with a string of recent collaborative watches with Seiko, TAG Heuer, and Zodiac, will remain on board as the brand’s Creative Director, as will cofounder David Rosenzweig will remain in place as Director of Strategy. According to Carlson, the new ownership will allow the company to expand with a women’s line of apparel, and continue to reach new customers and provide a higher level of service. More on the move can be found here. 

The First Trailer for Kevin Costner’s Horizon

This week saw the release of the first trailer for Kevin Costner’s massively ambitious two-part western, Horizon. When the project was announced last year and we got a glimpse of Costner astride a horse with a rifle in a brief teaser, the film community began to feverishly speculate about the movie(s), which Costner reportedly financed much of himself. From the looks of the trailer, Costner seems to have made a return to a very old-school style of filmmaking, employing a large ensemble cast to tell an epic tale of…well, we don’t really know yet. What we do know is that the pair of films have an unusual release strategy, with parts one and two debuting in theaters just weeks apart later this summer. If the movies are a hit, they could put Costner at the center of popular culture for months later this year, something few of us probably had on our bingo cards. If they flop (which some are expecting – when was the last time there was a hit western in theaters?) it could be one of the most epic movie disasters in years. 

Is Surge Pricing Coming to Fast Food? 

In news that can only be described as bleak, Gizmodo reports this week that Wendy’s is planning to experiment with surge pricing next year. Stealing an idea from rideshare services like Uber, the idea here is that menus will have variable pricing depending on time of day, availability of certain items, and of course overall demand. It puts the chicken sandwich wars (are those still going on?) into a slightly new context, and begs a million questions: will everything have surge pricing someday? How much are you really willing to pay for that Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger? Are we on the worst timeline? 

Inside the Criterion Collection 

The Criterion Collection gets a lengthy profile in the New York Times this week, with writer Joshua Hunt talking with key members of the company past and present, as well some of the filmmakers they’ve worked with over the years, to get the inside story about what makes the boutique video label and streaming service special. If you’ve just discovered the Criterion Channel streaming service or their excellent Blu-ray editions recently, you might be surprised to learn that the company has been around since the 1980s, when they pioneered the concept of the “Special Edition” video release with Laserdisc editions of movies like Citizen Kane and King Kong. Over the years, the label has become a true tastemaker and proven to be influential to a generation of filmmakers who grew up seeking out Criterion titles on DVD and Blu-ray. This is a must read for anyone who has dreamt about having a few minutes to themselves in the Criterion closet.

First Look at Bill Skarsgård in The Crow

The Crow is a pretty important 1990s artifact for many. The moody action/fantasy was a solid box office hit in 1994, and holds up well even today. It’s of course most well known for the tragedy that struck star Brandon Lee (son of Bruce Lee) during production, when an accident with a prop gun resulted in his death. Thirty years later, The Crow is set for a reboot in a much anticipated new film starring Bill Skarsgård and FKA Twigs. We got our first official look at the stars in character this week in a series of photos seen on Deadline, and it seems to have fans of the original film excited for the new version. According to Deadline, if the movie is a hit we can expect more Crow “stuff” to come, including video games, television series – a Marvel-like universe of content. Read more here. 

The Tesla Roadster is Coming 

The long promised Tesla Roadster is reportedly on its way, at least if Elon Musk is to be believed. Announced years ago, the Roadster has been delayed multiple times due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the semiconductor shortage that followed. Now, however, Musk is claiming that it’ll be unveiled late this year, with cars on the road sometime in 2025. As usual, Musk made a series of bold claims about performance, the most insane of which is that the Roadster will be able to go from 0-60 in under one second. That hardly seems necessary, and barely seems possible for a car that’s road legal, but we’ll anxiously away further news in any case. You can read more right here.