Watches, Stories, & Gear: This Is Gyachung, Aston Martin, and A Steam Deck

“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 and our upcoming Pop-Up happening in New York City. 

Donnie Darko 20 Years Later

Donnie Darko is a curious bit of pop culture. It was a modest box office success upon its release, but like so many films of the DVD era, it really found its cult status when it hit video and cable television. If you were a certain age (college age, to be specific) when this movie was hitting its peak popularity, you almost certainly have a story about how it impacted you and your developing taste, drawing so heavily on 80s nostalgia in everything from the soundtrack to the casting choices. Now that the movie is 20 years old, it’s getting another look, as if often the case when a milestone anniversary hits. This very deep dive on Donnie Darko over at Collider is worth a read for longtime fans of the film.

A New Streaming Service For Cabin Lovers

A lot of people are down on the 2020s. While it’s true that the world has problems (a lot of problems) it’s worth taking some time to remember that the times we live in are truly amazing and unprecedented in positive ways. Take, for example, the notion that even the most niche interests not only command their own little pockets of the internet and social media, but are are increasingly driving audiences of enthusiasts to dedicated streaming services. The latest we’ve heard about is called Shelter, and it’s a home for content devoted to outdoor lifestyle and design fans. Documentaries on influential designers in the space, cabin tours, and content related to sustainability in outdoor design all have a home here. While the service is small compared to the streaming service giants (it currently consists of about 200 hours of programming), Shelter is branching out and producing their own original content, just like the Primes and Netflixes of the world. You can read more right here via Field Mag.

Aston Martin Goes Hybrid In Latest Hypercar

Aston Martin has made its long anticipated debut in the hyper-hybrid sector, a new class of supercar that combines outrageous performance from a traditional internal combustion engine with a not so subtle assist from an electric motor (or, multiple electric motors). Ferrari, Porsche, and other elite automakers have been playing this game for several years, and the new Aston Martin Valhalla looks competitive with the competition, at least on paper. The Valhalla uses a Mercedes made 4.0 liter twin turbo V-8, and adds an electric motor to each axle. The end result is 937 horsepower with 738 lb-ft of torque, and a 0-60 time of 2.5 seconds. Max speed? According to Aston Martin, the Valhalla tops out at 217 miles per hour. And it looks, well, like an Aston Martin, so it’s quite beautiful in addition to wielding all the power that you’d expect given its viking derived name. You can find more information right here, via Road & Track.

This Is Gyachung

We love our Seiko lore around here, and a new book puts a spotlight on an under-appreciated part of Seiko’s history: their first professional mountaineer’s watch, and it’s part in the ascent of Gyachung in 1964. Author Chris Dahlman, a former professional cartographer, has compiled a timeline of the ascent, along with first hand accounts of the process with the help of the Nagano Mountaineering Association, who were able to interview three surviving members of the expedition on Dahlman’s behalf. In addition to the harrowing account, Dahlman details the Seiko J12082S that Seiko purpose built for the expedition. The book, called ‘This Is Gyachung’ is self published and available for purchase right here.

Valve Reveals Portable Steam Deck

Valve sent a shot across Nintendo’s bow this week with the reveal of the Steam Deck, a portable gaming device with some serious horsepower under the hood and access to your existing Steam library of games. The Steam Deck is using an AMD chipset including an 8 thread Zen 2 CPU alongside 16GM of DDR5 RAM. Pretty impressive for a hand held device. Three variants are available, starting at $399, and going up to $529 and $649 for more NVMe storage options. Pre-orders are live now with deliveries expected to begin this December, so if you’ve purchased a game prior to June in Steam, log into your account to reserve your spot now.

eBay Finds: Helbros Skin Diver

Helbros may not have much name cache, but this vintage diver sure has lots of juice. Circa 1960’s diver with a nicely sized 38mm all steel skin diver style case. The case has some wear on the back, but the top and sides look sharp and unpolished. Aluminum diver’s elapsed time bezel is in excellent condition. This is all well and good, but the gorgeous blue dial and super cool hands (including the spade tipped hour hand) are the real stars here. Beautiful patina on the lume as well. The dial has interesting split day/date windows, with matching split magnifiers on the original crystal. Very unique vintage diver that shouldn’t stress your wallet.

View auction here.