The Weekly Round-up: 30th May 2020
In the interest of honesty… This week has been a tad quiet in the watch world. Whilst the world is battling with the challenges of slowly returning back to a ‘normal-ish’ way of life, releasing new watches has not been top of the list! However, the past 4 weeks or so have been jam-packed, and it is worth noting that there has still been some tasty nuggets of watch news this week for you all, so sit back and enjoy!
Extra-Flat MING 27.01
The 27.01 is almost a flagship for MING. The watch was released as their first foray into the watch industry, and it was incredibly well-received by the watch community. MING are incidentally one of my favourite brands, micro or not. I do not imagine that this release will be any different. Featuring a case profile of under 3mm, and the same striking dial, which uses negative space perfectly, this watch will no doubt be a big, big hit. As I always say about MING, they are killing it, and I want one. Badly…
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Photo Credit: Hodinkee (Surprisingly)
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Watches in the Wild: Space X Omega Speedmaster X-33
For those of you geeks who tuned into the SpaceX launch at the weekend, you have noticed an ‘oddball’ Speedmaster on the wrist of astronaut Bob Behnken . Since 1998 when it was released, the Omega Speedmaster X-33 has been adorning the wrists of NASA astronauts. I must say I'd get more of a tingly feeling in the pants region if they still used regular speedies, but practicality outways the ‘exciting Felix quotient’ sadly... The Speedmaster X-33 is a quirky ani/digi Speedmaster with more functionality than any normal person would need. It is not an everyday watch, being the epitome of a tool watch, but very very cool nonetheless!
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Photo Credit: Hodinkee
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Ressence x Southeby’s Design Competition
A few weeks ago, Southeby’s and Ressence launched a competition and auction to support the efforts against COVID-19. I think 3 out of the 5 weeks I have written these articles have mentioned some efforts within the watch industry to help with COVID, which is truly commendable that so many watch brands are doing their bit. The idea behind the competition was that everyone had access to a high-resolution outline out of the watch, and could go completely wild with designing their own interpretation! The winning entrant's design will actually be produced as a piece unique and auctioned through Sotheby’s with the proceeds going to COVID-19 research.
There were over 450 entrants, from children to top designers submitting their efforts. The panel of judges narrowed the entrants down to 4, and then turned to Instagram to get the community to decide the winner, and here it is below! The winner is a man called Raymond Ramsden, a 58 year old from Yorkshire! And I have to say congratulations as this design is just awesome. But anyway this is a fantastic initiative, and I wish this became a production model, because it is such a cool mix of swatch style casual with all of the colours, and serious haute horologie with the pedigree of Ressence.
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Photo Credit: Hodinkee
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As always, thank you very much for reading, and I hope, despite the lack of new releases, that you still enjoyed this round-up of the week's watch news! So, until next week…
Adios!
Felix Arnold
Co-Founder
