Issue #346 | Is Night Vision the Next Battleground in High-End Watchmaking?

Is Night Vision the Next Battleground in High-End Watchmaking?

Didn’t Timex already do this with Indiglo? Kinda. While that tech back-lights displays, luxe watch brand IWC’s brand new Pilot’s Watch Chronograph 41 is made of a proprietary ceramic covered in Super-LumiNova—the pigment often used for hands and indices that absorbs light and glows in the dark. Last weekend, F1 star Lewis Hamilton debuted IWC’s luminescent watch, but it isn’t the only high-end piece of late that’s harnessing the power of glowing pigments.

Gear Patrol

A Cigar Sampler Pack for Dads With Discerning Taste

[Partner] For the dads out there who love a good cigar—or any that are just firing up the hobby—this sampler pack from Cigora is a jackpot. For only $39.99, (shipped free) the suite of eight smokes features a variety of flavor profiles that let you hone your tastes, whether budding or established, and explore something new off the beaten path. From the robust flavor of the Rocky Patel Sun Grown Maduro to the smoother tones of the Tatascan Connecticut , the range will give any dad—whether that’s you or your old man—something new to puff on for hours on end.

Give (or give yourself) the gift of cigars.

The End of Merch

First, a quick explanation on what is meant by merch: “an item of clothing or accessory that is distributed to promote something, like a New Yorker tote bag or a Beyoncé Renaissance tour tee,” explains GQ’s fashion writer Sam Hines. He says that while sporting merch was once a chance for connection, it’s now embarrassing since we’re well past its cultural zenith. So what, sporting tees and hats and bags from all the bands and restaurants and shops we love is just—over? If you subscribe to trends without a true appreciation of something, then it was an embarrassment from the very beginning.

GQ

Someday Your Jeans Could Be Grown in a Greenhouse Down the Street

Or at least the cotton to make them might be. G-Star Raw, a Netherlands-based denim brand, has been experimenting with growing the crop in greenhouses locally to reduce its emissions. Since cotton requires humid conditions to grow, it’s typically farmed thousands of miles away in places like China, India, or the American South. That means shipping it long distances, which makes it difficult for companies like G-Star to keep tabs on the carbon footprint of its supply chain. Here’s how the jeans brand is working to produce denim that comes from just around the corner.

Fast Company

Swatch Adds Six Watches To Its Neon Collection Just In Time For Summer

They might not glow in the dark aggressively like IWC’s pilot’s watch, but these six new releases from Swatch are eye-catching in a range of searingly bright hues. The new Neon collection—including the Neon Wave—is “playing on laser-tag adjacent models” from the ’80s and ’90s, which originally kicked off the lineup of radically colored timepieces around when Andre Agassi ruled the courts and Marty McFly was zipping through the space-time continuum. “They're fun additions,” says Hodinkee. “Agassi's jorts would be proud.”

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