“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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Header Image Via: Singer
Since 2009, Singer has continually raised the bar when it comes to reimagining the Porsche 911. With each design solely based on the 964 chassis, Singer has restored countless Porsche 911’s with no shortage of thoughtfulness and attention to detail. Their latest is a road and track version of a 934/5 distinguished by its accentuated curves, bold coloring and Singer’s patented DLS Turbo technology.
Dynamic and Lightweighting Study or DLS is a product of ingenious engineering combining contemporary materials and sheer mechanical power that gives this particular twin-turbo Singer approximately 700 horsepower at a touch over 9,000 rpm. Both the track-made Blood Orange and road-ready Black Moet models are characterized by a markedly wide frame and an aggressive rear silhouette that looks ready to fire off an afterburn at a moment’s notice. Brenden McAleer over at Car & Driver has the scoop on the eye-catching Singer DLS Turbos here.
During an ongoing field survey deep within the jungles of Campeche, the Mexican National Institute For Anthropology and History (INAH) discovered several stone formations that they believe to be a part of the great Mayan civilization. The Mayans have been known to have created one of the largest established civilizations since the dawn of time, spanning from North to South America and reaching their prominence around A.D. 250. The Mayans had over 40 thriving cities deep and a population that may have reached upwards of 10 million people. The newly discovered archeological site was discovered thanks to a laser technology that allows researchers to bounce pulsed light waves that then return information to a sensor that eliminates any visual barrier such as the jungle canopy, revealing any hidden ruins beneath.
Among some of the findings were several stone buildings and pyramids that reach as high as 50 feet. The INAH have called the new archaeological site Ocomtún due to the abundance of stone columns that were found at the time of discovery. With the advent of laser technology such as LIDAR, more and more of these discoveries have become a common occurrence – not just within the depths of the Central American jungle, but at the bottom of the ocean floor.
Keeping up with the jungle theme, vintage jungle jackets have recently gotten on our radar. Think of the traditional M65 military jacket, but more lightweight without sacrificing functionality. Its versatility makes it a perfect piece to have during the summer months whether you’re staying local and need a stylish layering piece or traveling abroad and need the practicality of pockets to stash away your passport, airpods and other miscellaneous things you feel the need to carry along with you. Its vintage aesthetic is equally cool as the history behind it. Permanent Style has an interesting breakdown of the jungle jacket including the historical significance, where to track one down and how to exactly pull it off this summer.
In the world of underwater photography, you can find yourself in a deep hole pretty quickly. Camera housings aren’t cheap and when you start factoring in lighting systems, your entire rig could potentially cost you in the thousands. The SeaLife 3.0 however is an appealing option for those just getting started with the niche hobby.
Recently, we had some hands-on experience with the SeaLife Micro 3.0 during a recent dive trip with Citizen watches. It’s a point-and-shoot camera that has three piano key buttons to navigate through a simple menu system by way of a small playback screen and has a shutter button on top. It’s equipped with a 16 megapixel Sony 1/2.3” sensor, an internal memory storage of 64 GB and captures both JPEG and RAW files. The SeaLife 3.0 offers up the ability to customize white balance settings or a straightforward “dive” setting for quick plug-and-play usability.
The SeaLife Micro 3.0 fits in the palm of your hand and can easily be stowed away in any BCD pocket. The camera is small enough that it doesn’t add any drag when it’s looped around the wrist and fairly easy to use on the move. For a camera of this type, the underwater image quality it produced was surprisingly decent even when lighting wasn’t at a premium at deeper depths. Sure, you’re not going to get the sharpness you’d expect from more capable cameras and the response time isn’t the fastest, but where the camera excels is its simplicity, compact size and low-stakes shooting that’s sure to put a smile on your face whenever you review your images at the surface. The camera also proved useful when capturing images mid-surface swims and doubled-up as a backup camera on the boat if we needed to capture a moment. The SeaLife 3.0 is most certainly an approachable entry-point into underwater photography and a serviceable stopgap as you look into upgrading your underwater photography rig.
In the past decade and some change, UNDERCOVER founder Jun Takahashi has collaborated with Nike to create a successful range of athletic apparel that blends the worlds of streetwear and running. The brand name is called Gyakusou and it has yielded some of the most radical looking things that you can throw on for a casual 10 mile run or for just casual kicks. We recently came across a few early Gyakusou pieces that might appeal to some watch folks here. It’s a technical jacket that has all the signature profiles of a Gyakusou piece including a transparent portion of the sleeve called the “Watch Window”. It might not be the most memorable design application from Takahashi, but a quirky feature that us watch nerds can appreciate.
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