Watches, Stories, & Gear: Z Cars, Parchie Pals, and Optimus Prime

“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 OT Podcast Celebrates Episode 100 With Sweet Merch

Our friends Felix Scholz and Andy Green are celebrating a podcasting milestone as their weekly show OT: The Podcast hits 100 episodes. OT has become one of our favorite watch podcasts – Felix and Andy really know their stuff and have a great sense of humor, as can be seen quite clearly in the t-shirt design they’ve unveiled to celebrate their hundredth episode. It casts the two hosts as slices of cartoon pizza, served up via an imaginary pizzeria. We’re glad Felix and Andy embarked on a podcast venture rather than becoming restaurateurs, as a freshly cut slice just doesn’t travel as well from Australia. Snag a shirt before they’re gone right here, and check out the latest episode of OT: The Podcast here, or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Honus Wagner Baseball Card Sells for $6.6M

The trading card world has seen its ups and downs in recent years. After a period of incredible growth in the 90s, the whole market essentially crashed. It seems that there wasn’t much value in inexpensively made, mass produced pieces of paperboard after all. But with enough time, everything gets a second look, and the onset of the pandemic, 90s kids having disposable income, and a desire among those same kids to recapture some of their youth has led to a resurgence of interest in trading cards that’s seen some impressive valuations. That’s being expressed throughout the market, particularly at the highest end, as can be seen by the sale this week of a T206 Honus Wagner, long the holiest of Holy Grails in the card game, for a record setting $6.6 million. Forbes hasthe whole story, and it’s worth a read if you’ve ever ripped open a wax pack.

Hasbro Makes Self Transforming, Programmable Optimus Prime

Speaking of 90s kids with disposable income, here we have a story from the Verge in which Hasbro’s $750 Optimus Prime toy gets a review. This is not the action figure of your youth, but an honest to goodness robot that, yes, transforms, thanks to a series of 27 small motors all working together to make your childhood dreams come true. This thing is 19 inches tall, has a voice command feature (that doesn’t always work, according to the linked article), and is fully programmable to take any number of poses. It even, somewhat creepily, simulates breathing. This Optimus Prime works with an app, and the video shot by Verge makes this look pretty impressive, even if there are few kinks here and there.

Parchie Watches For Kids 

A new watch brand aimed squarely at children (and fun loving adults) was launched this week by Cara Barrett, formerly of Hodinkee. The brand, called Parchie after Cara’s childhood imaginary friend, features colorful aluminum cases sized at 32mm, equally colorful dials, and fabric velcro straps (also colorful). The three colorways available at launch all use a Seiko PC21J quartz movement, and are priced at $50. If you have kids that like the idea of wearing your watches, but can’t quite pull them off yet, this is the perfect option to keep them engaged in the hobby, and have something all their own. Parchie watches are available to order now at parchiepal.com.

Nissan Reveals Next Generation Z Car

After 12 long years on the market, the Nissan 370Z is finally getting a successor. The new car, which is simply called the “Z” (Z34), and while it is built on the same platform that underpinned the 370Z, it’s got a lot more oomph under the hood, and fresh retro-cool design. Nissan is finally returning to forced induction with this Z, using their 3.0l V-6 with twin turbochargers making 400hp. Thankfully, a manual transmission is still available *cough* Supra *cough* and it’s even getting a mechanical limited slip differential to keep that power on the ground. The design is a beautiful nod to Z cards of the past, and with a starting price of $40,000, it might even be within reach.

eBay Finds: Vintage Croton

The Croton Chronomaster Aviator Sea Diver has one of the all-time greatest names, but it’s not just a great name, it’s a fantastic watch too. (See our review of the remake here.) Classic chrono-diver styling with a 38mm steel case that has killer faceted lugs and an aluminum elapsed time bezel. The black dial has two sub-dials and simple Speedmaster style lume hour plots are in beautiful condition with a really nice patina. The hands add a nice touch with the broad arrow hour hand. The Chronomaster was made with a number of different movements, but this beauty is powered by a super clean hand wind Valjoux 92, which the seller states is currently running well. I don’t see these come up for sale without an exorbitant ‘buy-it-now’ price, so here’s a chance to grab a really nice example at auction.

View auction here.