How The Watch Industry Is Testing Blockchain And Cryptocurrency, Plus Five Brands That Have Already Waded In

Blockchain may have its place; cryptocurrency remains a subject for debate. One thing is for sure: the watch industry is testing the marketability and benefits of both. Chris Malburg explains how each provides both risk and reward to five industry players.

Room 21 of Balcony House in Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado: the long wooden beam was used as a sort of gnomon for astronomically ascertaining the solstice and equinox

How The Native American Ancestral Puebloans Kept Track Of Time – Reprise

If you’ve been lucky enough to travel to the “four corners” area of the southwestern United States (where U.S. states Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico “meet”), then you may have seen or even visited some of the cliff dwellings built by the ancient natives formerly known as Anasazi. Read on to find out what we know about how this ancient tribe of people now known as the Ancestral Puebloans kept time and why.

‘Agave’ (Get It?) My Heart To Tequila: A Brief History And Tasting Notes By A Very Recent Convert

Ken Gargett has been reliably informed that there are tequilas now considered quality spirits, designated for sipping – he admits that he swallowed this obvious falsehood on an occasion many years ago, but in the interests of research once again he sallied forth. Sharing the results of his investigations here, he dips into two high-end tequilas: Fortaleza and Calle 23. Olé!

Fitting Rolex balance wheel and Parachrom hairspring

Hairsprings: Origins, Progress, And (Dare I Say) Exciting Future

The tiny, delicate, nearly impossible-to-create hairspring is the one of the biggest advances for modern scientific technology there is. Joshua Munchow takes a dive into the muscle of the beating heart of most mechanical watches: the hairspring.

The Shinola Hotel In Detroit: Everything For The Watch Aficionado

The latest offering from Shinola is a gorgeous hotel planted smack in the center of Detroit: the long-awaited and brutally beautiful Shinola Hotel. Elizabeth Doerr reports on a night spent there.

Michter’s Kentucky Bourbon (Plus The Difference Between Whiskey, Whisky, And Bourbon)

Michter’s aim is to make small-batch or single-barrel products so the distillery has restricted itself to a maximum of 20 barrels for any of its small-batch products. And, as Ken Gargett reports, the Kentucky-based company is making superb bourbon.

Rolex Oyster Perpetual Sea-Dweller Deepsea with helium escape valve

Deeper, Further, Faster: Why Do Some Dive Watches Have Helium Escape Valves? – Reprise

Humans have long had a fascination with the depths of the ocean, striving to go ever deeper, ever further, and ever faster by pushing the limits of the human body, technology, and advancing modern science. But like all things, we are often faced with limits. And the helium escape valve was invented to push one of those limits as watchmaker Ashton Tracy explains.

All You Need To Know About Omega’s METAS Master Chronometer Testing (Plus The De Ville Trésor In Sedna Gold)

In the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries, expert institutions were founded to test and certify the quality of the wristwatch’s precision. The most important and famous one today is Switzerland’s C.O.S.C., but as Sabine Zwettler reports, there are others including Omega’s Master Chronometer certificate.

Sullivans Cove Makes The Self-Professed World’s Best Single-Malt Whisky, But Does It Measure Up?

Ken Gargett reports that while the Sullivans Cove distillery in Hobart, Tasmania could hardly be further from Scotland, in double-quick time it has established a record that most distilleries around the globe would envy, including more medals, awards, trophies, and golds than Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt at their peaks. Does the concept of Australian whisky sound like an oxymoron to you? Read this and you might change your mind.

Warning: Strong magnetic field ISO symbol

The Truth About Magnetism And Watches – Reprise

General everyday contact with magnets isn’t going to cause your beloved wristwatch any real harm, but overdoses of magnetism may still present a problem, causing erratic timing and even stoppage altogether as watchmaker Ashton Tracy explains. What to do when this happens?