Watches, Stories, & Gear: The Simpsons, Spiderman, & Einstein Rings

“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.

The World Pauses to Watch New Spiderman Trailer

Earlier this week, the trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home leaked to social media, and movie-Twitter exploded as the powers-that-be at Marvel and Disney raced to erase the footage as quickly as it dropped. But even grainy cell phone camera footage couldn’t spoil the actual reveal of the finished trailer a few days later, which quickly became the talk of a certain corner of the internet. And it’s pretty clear why: it looks like finally, after a great deal of teasing, the MCU is going full multiverse (MCMU?), thanks to Peter Parker calling in a favor from Dr. Strange. We won’t spoil the big surprise at the end of this clip in the event you haven’t already seen it (it’s worth it, trust us), but suffice it to say it opens up all kinds of new doors to what the next phase of Marvel’s storytelling will look like.

Area Man 3D Prints Simpson TV that Plays Simpsons

This is quite simply one of our favorite uses of creative 3-D printing that we’ve come across. An intrepid Reddit user and Simpsons fan who goes by the name of u/buba447 has 3-D printed an actual working TV (in miniature) that looks just like the set in the Simpson family living room. Naturally, it plays episodes from the first 11 seasons of the show in random order. The TV even has working knobs. It’s hard to think of a more desirable desk companion for the Simpsons fanatic, the creator of the tiny television has hinted that a how-to guide for the printing piece will be coming. Keep an eye on this thread if you’re curious.

Hubble Captures Warped Light of ‘Einstein Ring’

No, that’s not an image of Heimdall opening the Bifrost (probably), rather, it’s something known as an ‘Einstein Ring’ magnifying and distorting light from the far reaches of the universe beyond. This incredible image was captured by the Hubble telescope, and depicts something Einstein predicted back in 1915, that is, light being bent around massive objects, in this case, a pair of galaxies (SDSS J0146-0929). Here, we witness light from a quasar that lies beyond the galaxy pair, being bent and shaped into 4 dots of light around a ring of distortion. It’s an incredible view considering the vast, 3.4 billion light years between us and the galaxies. Now, if only we could un-distort the light and get a clearer view of the quasar behind.

What’s Going On With Season 2 of Ted Lasso?

Ted Lasso is midway through its second season on Apple TV+, and it’s become an unlikely hit. How else could you possibly characterize a television show based on a character that debuted in commercials for NBC’s coverage of the Premier League? The comedy is notable for its relentless positivity and a wholesome quality that makes it perfect counterprogramming for, well, much of what’s going on in the world at any given moment, and it has a cult-like following thanks in part to the unbridled optimism of the title character. But now that more eyes are on Ted than ever before, some backlash has inevitably started to brew, and this article in the Ringer dives into why, exactly, that’s happening, and how fair some of the recent critiques of the show have been.

Netflix Schumacher Documentary Gets Preview

As we gear up for the second half of the F1 season this weekend with the Belgian GP at Spa, Netflix has revealed a trailer for the anticipated documentary titled simply, Schumacher. The documentary will feature personal archival footage from Michael Schumacher’s family, along with interviews with his wife, father, and two children (including Mick, who will be racing this weekend for Haas). This one is sure to be an emotional roller coaster, from the highs of his career to his life changing ski accident in 2013, and we’re here for all of it when it goes live this September 15th.

eBay Finds: Vintage Vulcain Skin Diver

This week we have a real gem for you! A sweet vintage circa 1960’s Vulcain Skin Diver in excellent shape. Vulcain is best known for their Cricket alarm watches (which are super cool), but they also made quite a few diver models as well. This one has a 37mm wide classic skin diver style steel case which looks unpolished, but there are some tool marks on the case back. Beautiful black dial with perfectly patina’d lume with Explorer style 12-6-9 (plus date at 3) configuration. Wide steel baton style hands with matching lume. The aluminum divers elapsed time bezel has just a hint of fade to give it a blue/black look…sweet. The 17j A. Schild automatic movement is clean and seller states it runs well. What’s not to like about this beauty?

View auction here.