It’s Friday; it’s six o’clock in Brussels, where this week’s newsletter comes to you from, and that means it’s time to down tools, pour yourself a drink, and look back at what A Prodigal Week it has been.
Glass in hand? Let me offer you some canapés of news and views.
BUT FIRST
👑 Rolex will now sell you a pre-owned watch and our latest episode of Persiflage finds us dissecting the news in the name of downtrodden watch fans everywhere.
Listen in >
WATCHES
Deep dive
The Rolex Submariner owners out there - yes, I’m one of them - always struck me as just a little bit sad. They missed the mark. They let marketing get in the way of them buying the better watch. The better - and the first - dive watch was of course Blancpain’s Fifty Fathoms. To this day, it’s the more accomplished, more interesting, and certainly more characterful dive watch of the two. It might be the best dice watch on the planet. And this week Blancpain made it one of the most insane too. Hodinkee reports:
Today, Blancpain is announcing the first Fifty Fathoms "Tech" watch – part of a new line dedicated to technical diving – the Fifty Fathoms Tech Gombessa. The watch, cased in Grade 23 titanium (surgical titanium rated higher than grade 5), measures 47mm wide and 14.81mm thick, features a helium escape valve, an unusual central lug design, an integrated strap, and houses a brand new caliber. This triple-barrel-powered movement has five days of power reserve along with a three-hour hand and matching bezel.
Also worth your time
The dive watch’s history reviewed: “To some, the history of the dive watch starts in 1953 with the introduction of the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms and Rolex Submariner. Divers, however, already had to rely on water-resistant watches, decades before the commercialization of two of the category’s most iconic models.
IWC Portugieser Automatic 40 gets a salmon dial: “This is one of those dial-swap ‘new’ releases that sort of stopped me in my digital tracks. To me, even without handling it in the metal, it is empirically good-looking. The design elements of the existing model range when adjusted for the salmon aesthetic, just work.”
Patek Philippe Aquanaut owned: “I don’t think I would wear it very much. It just feels too risky in a city like Amsterdam, where people are assaulted sometimes because of the watches they wear. And that’s a proper shame because it takes all the fun away from owning and wearing such a great watch like this.”
CARS
Fare well
Fossil fuel-powered cars are dead. We need to say goodbye. And, dear fucking God, do the Italians know how to say arrivederci… This week they unveiled two bespoke supercars: the Invencible coupe and Autentica roadster. CityAM reports:
Lamborghini is sending off its naturally aspirated V12 in typically raucous style. The duo are powered by Lamborghini’s free-breathing 6.5-litre V12 engine, modified here to produce a ferocious 780hp. Four-wheel drive is standard to ensure maximum traction, aided by a seven-speed automated manual transmission. The interior design for both supercars is themed around minimalism. There are no gauges on the dashboarditself, just a pair of 3D-printed air vents. A digital instrument panel provides driving information, with bespoke graphics for each car. You’ll spot plenty more exposed carbon fibre and hexagons, too.
GADGETS
Metamarvellous
Zuckerberg can keep his metaverse of meetings and legless loons. It’s long been obvious to normal people that the only place virtual reality really shines is gaming. And for games, there’s only one meta player. Welcome back, Sony. BGR reports:
PlayStation pulled off what it set out to do — create a next-gen VR headset with enough specs to set developers up with a lot of potential going forward. If you’re wondering where it lands in a score of 1-10, the general scores range in between 7-10.
More for subscribers
🏎️ Persiflage № 12 is about Eric’s Lotus. He’s finally seen sense and plans to sell it.
Should he let it go? >
🍎 Our despatch from Apple’s WWDC 2022 keynote in June is here for you in case you missed it live: all you need to know about Cupertino’s latest announcements.
Catch up >
🎧 Persiflage № 11 finds us bickering over different ways to replace an irreplaceable watch.
Which would you choose? >