Watches, Stories, & Gear: Soloing Everest, Flat Lays, & The Batman

“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.

Share your story ideas or interesting finds with us by emailing our Managing Editor at [email protected]

This installment of “Watches, Stories, and Gear” is brought to you by the Windup Watch Shop, which now features an EDC section. Header image credit: Daniel Hug via NYT

New YouTube Channel By and For Watch Collectors

If your passion for watches overlaps with an interest in photography, you’ll want to check out this new YouTube channel from Lydia Winters and Vu Bui. The channel, called Winters & Bui, features a pair of personalities you may recognize from Instagram (@lydiawinters & @vubui) for their charming behind the scenes breakdowns and stunning Swedish backdrops. Oh, Lydia also happens to be the Chief Storyteller for a game called Minecraft (which my son tells me is ‘a pretty big deal’). The new YouTube channel will offer plenty of inspiration and knowhow for shooting watches in a way that, well, tells a story. Their latest video (above) will walk you through the process of creating your own flat lay, from ideation to execution. Check out the channel right here.

Sony Nabs Bungie in Multi-Billion Dollar Deal

Not content to sit on the sidelines while Microsoft buys up all the independent game developers out there, Sony announced this week the acquisition of Bungie Studios, the once developer of Halo, and now developer of the Destiny series. The deal, worth $3.6B, will give Bungie a much deeper resource pool in developing as yet unannounced IPs, as well as continued support for their online services for Destiny 2. It may also serve as a bargaining chip in supporting cross console releases of popular games, which have been increasingly going toward Microsoft and their PC Games Pass. The Verge has more details on the news right here.

Wordle Gets Acquired

It’s no exaggeration to say that the biggest bit of news this week that really impacts our lives came in the form of this announcement from the New York Times, letting the world know that Wordle, the ultra popular word game that has taken over social media in recent months, has been acquired by the Times. The game is incredibly simple. Everyday, players are asked to guess a new five letter word. You get six chances, and each guess either confirms or eliminates letters and their placement within the word. What makes the game unique, and addictive, is that you can only play once per day, and the puzzle is the same each day for everyone. It imbues Wordle with a social aspect that makes sharing your score a huge part of the fun. How will the Times impact our Wordle addiction? Time will tell. For now the game remains free, completely charming, and a lot of fun.

German Climber Tackles Everest Solo

File this one under: things you didn’t think a human being could physically do. The New York Times has an incredible piece this week on Jost Kobusch, a German alpinist attempting an Everest summit in winter. Alone. Without oxygen. An off season summit is rare enough, but adding in the extra challenges of doing it solo and without supplemental oxygen, and you’re in truly rarefied air, no pun intended. This long read will have you marveling at what the world’s best climbers can do with some planning, training, and intestinal fortitude, and the photography is simply stunning.

The Batman Teases Funeral Scene

We are less than a month away from the premier of The Batman, the latest entry in what is now a long line of Batman films, and the first to star Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne. We’ve seen a few trailers over the last several months that have us excited to check this out once it hits theaters, and this week we got an extended clip of an intense scene placing Pattinson’s Wayne at the center of a scheme cooked up by The Riddler, played by Paul Dano. This clip, along with the earlier trailers, seems to indicate that this version of Batman is grittier and seamier than earlier versions, and we’re ready for it. The Batman opens on March 4.

Meet The A-Team Of Avalanche Rescue

The story begins with skier Jöel Jaccard who set out to ski the slopes of Roc d’Orzival with a couple of friends. It should have been a routine session, but nothing about free ride skiing (skiing off-trail) is ever routine. An unforeseen sequence of events led Jaccard triggering an avalanche and tumbling down the mountain. Miraculously, Jaccard’s limbs remained intact and despite being buried underneath several feet of ice and snow, he was still able to breathe thanks to instinctively placing his hands over his mouth, preventing him from choking on loose snow and simultaneously creating a pocket of air-space. Jaccard, helpless and paralyzed by the heap of snow, was unable to move his arms to answer the radio call from his friends further up the mountain who managed to avoid the avalanche. 

Somewhere over the mountain, the Air Glaciers (go-to avalanche rescue team in the Swiss Alps) get the call. Within minutes the team made up of pilot Gérald Maret, rescue guides Gérald Mathys and Pascal Gaspoz, and rescue physician Pierre Féraud are scrambled together in a Écureuil AS350 high altitude helicopter and begin the harrowing rescue. With Jaccard still trapped under the snow, time is ticking and every second is precious. The story entitled “The Rescue Artists of the New Avalanche Age” written by Joshua Hammer is exciting, nerve-racking and reads like you’re watching an action packed film.

eBay Finds: Vintage Lord Elgin

Another vintage beauty with box and papers! This mid 1940’s Lord Elgin drivers watch is minty fresh and comes complete with box, papers (including Elgin Observatory certificate), hang tag and even the original Elgin signed leather strap! This model has flexible lugs so the watch can be worn on the side of your wrist, thus making it easier to read while holding onto the steering wheel. The gold fill case and lugs are in excellent condition with no visible wear. Seller states the watch is new old stock, but from the looks of the strap it appears to have been worn at least a few times, albeit carefully. The black dial looks immaculate. So much so that it could be a really well done older re-dial, but if I had to guess I’d say it was original. Movement looks clean and seller states it runs well. But the best part is all the little extra stuff. The box and hang tag are great. However, the Observatory certificate and the warranty booklet both are filled out which is not really too common. Yeah, this is a tiny watch, but it packs a whole lot of cool in that little package.

View auction here.