Watches, Stories, & Gear: Tom Cruise’s Digger Trailer, a new Topo Designs Collection, a New Watch by DOXA

“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.

Digger Trailer is Here

You really have to give it to Tom Cruise. Nothing – and I mean nothing – can get that man down. From teen hearthrob to divorcing Nicole Kidman to inexplicably being his own stuntman, this man has lived a lot of lives. And now, we see another side of Cruise as the trailer for his much anticipated upcoming film Digger dropped.

Directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Digger stars Cruise as Digger Rockwell, an oil baron trying to convince the world he can save it from a catastrophe set off by one of his own company’s projects. The film is set for release on October 2, 2026, with a truly stellar cast that includes Sandra Hüller, Jesse Plemons, John Goodman, Riz Ahmed, and Emma D’Arcy.

While Cruise will undoubtedly be praised for being classically good-looking and  acting with prosthetics to look worse, make sure you don’t forget those heroes who have paved the way, like Charlize Theron in Monster and Eddy Murphy in The Nutty Professor. 

Twitter Turns 20

This week marks the 20th anniversary of Twitter which, like many, I refuse to refer to as X. Undoubtedly, Twitter has shaped the course of the 21st century in a variety of ways: culturally, politically, and even spiritually. Who would have thought, in our lifetime, we’d have Popes using hashtags?

But is that a good thing? While there has undoubtedly been a B.C./A.D. situation on the platform since Elon Musk’s takeover, there has always been an underlying reality to Twitter: a mirror onto our own collective psychosis, a shared hallucination of order in an otherwise chaotic world. And while you can ask whatever the hell Grok is a million questions, the answer will probably always be the same: the memes are the best part of Twitter, but at what cost to everything else?

Martin Smith’s Solar Orbiter

This is probably the coolest bit of news this week: artist Martin Smith has created the Solar Orbiter, a limited-edition watch winder for the 15th anniversary of MB&F’s M.A.D.Gallery.

Created in Smith’s West Yorkshire studio, the Solar Orbiter acts as both a functional watch winder and a kinetic sculpture. I love that it looks like one of those homemade solar system models from science fairs, only much more grown up and almost certainly more expensive. Limited to 10 pieces, the Solar Orbiter stands 60cm tall, is made from more than 300 handmade components, and runs silently with adjustable winding speeds.

Topo Designs x AWA

From his recent event with Criterion to the news of an upcoming western, Wes Anderson’s name is back in the news. And while I’m a big fan of the director, I can understand the criticism that he’s getting a bit too far removed from his original, if a bit heavy-handedly twee, beginnings. Luckily for anyone who feels this way, too, you may be more inclined to appreciate Accidentally Wes Anderson, a fan account of sorts that celebrates Anderson’s unique visual style through real-life moments and places reminiscent of Moonrise Kingdom, The Darjeeling Limited, and The Grand Budapest Hotel, to name a few.

Now, Topo Designs, the Colorado-based outdoor gear company, has partnered with AWA on a limited collection of products that nod to Anderson’s quirky charm. Utilizing the Essential Tote and Light Pack as the starting points for the collection, the AWA collab upgrades the color schemes and adds a set of patches featuring travel destinations of photographers featured in AWA’s books. No doubt Scout Master Ward would approve.

DOXA’s Latest Release with Topper Jewelers

Topper Jewelers is back with another DOXA “Great White” edition, this time built around the recently returned SUB T.Graph II. Inspired by the great white sharks that inhabit the waters around Northern California’s Farallon Islands, the 100-piece limited edition continues Topper’s white-and-blue DOXA theme with a fully luminous dial, navy blue lacquer accents, and a custom caseback engraving of the apex predator itself. The watch also keeps the T.Graph’s no-date layout, preserving the dial’s asymmetry while giving the lume as much room as possible to do its thing.

The SUB T.Graph II “Great White” Topper Edition uses a 42mm brushed stainless steel case, a flat sapphire crystal, DOXA’s signature dual-scale unidirectional bezel, and 200 meters of water resistance. Inside is the Swiss-made SW 510 Elaboré automatic chronograph movement with 50 hours of power reserve. It comes on DOXA’s beads-of-rice bracelet with a wetsuit extension and includes an additional navy blue FKM rubber strap. The watch is limited to 100 numbered pieces, priced at $4,690, with a portion of proceeds supporting the Greater Farallones Association.

Allies & Pies — Stone Brewing, Liberty Station

Editor’s Note: This is a special bonus addition to this week’s Watches, Stories, & Gear column. Our own James Helms attended the “Allies & Pies” in San Diego earlier this week, a small watch show featuring Christopher Ward, Ares, Giant Mouse, and Elliot Brown. This is his wrap up with some photos from the event (see the gallery below for all of the shots from Liberty Station). 

Christopher Ward and Elliot Brown brought watches, GiantMouse brought knives, and Stone’s garden at Liberty Station handled the rest. It ran this week: an open evening on the lawn, tables under the trees, no appointments and no glass cases.

Elliot Brown’s wheeled flight case opened into rows of black, green, blue and bronze dials over a strap tray. Christopher Ward laid out Tridents, the Twelve and the Bel Canto. GiantMouse spread folders and fixed blades across the end of the table.

Different countries, same brief: gear built to be used.

The setting fit. Liberty Station was Naval Training Center San Diego from 1923 until the Navy closed it in 1997 — the West Coast boot camp, where generations of recruits started out. The Spanish Colonial Revival blocks around the garden are restored NTC originals, and Stone’s restaurant is built into several of the old Navy buildings