Five Things

[tribe125]

Pedant mode. Dons anorak: GN-37 Almond Green was introduced in 1960 (ish); so a 1954 Morris Minor could not have been in that colour. I dare say they were available in something (very) similar, but wouldn't have been that colour code designation.

I picked the Morris Minor (and year) at random as a car in production at the time that was available in almond green. Some of the other models were ones with less resonance today. I don’t know if I’ll be able to find the references again, particularly the one about car colours, but I’ll have a quick look. It was probably a few months ago when I collected this particular thing.

[tribe125]

Here’s the reference for the Alpinist colour, where the designer says it came from the colour of what he calls a Mini Rover.

https://www.seiko-design.com/en/alpinist/index.html

I’m guessing that I then went off to find the colour of that car, and took it from there. I might not be able to retrace that route - but again, I’ll have a go.

[tribe125]

Yup, looking it up, it looks as though my Morris Minor should have been a 1960s model.

[Dimman]

Here’s the reference for the Alpinist colour, where the designer says it came from the colour of what he calls a Mini Rover.

https://www.seiko-design.com/en/alpinist/index.html

I’m guessing that I then went off to find the colour of that car, and took it from there. I might not be able to retrace that route - but again, I’ll have a go.

Rover Mini, was a BMC Mini made by Rover in the 80s or later.

I was in Japan in 2016 and was shocked at how many old-style Minis in mint condition they have on the roads. Real Minis, but also a bunch of Mini-homage Japanese microcars too.

[tribe125]

Rover Mini, was a BMC Mini made by Rover in the 80s or later.

I know, but it’s a nomenclature we would never have used in the UK.

[geoffbot]

• The crown is called the crown because it looked like a crown when combined with the bow (hanging loop) of a pocket watch. Crown winding was invented by Jean Adrienne Philippe, and was the reason for the French watchmaker being hired by Antoni Patek. Initially, Philippe received one third of the company’s profits.
  
  
  [*

I'm sorry but this just isn't true! It's called a crown because in 1840 this man - Louis Victor-Baume aged just 23 and in his prime at the forefront of pocketwatchmaking, was looking to name the 'knurled roundall atop the stem' when his wife gave birth that weekend, he saw her crowning, saw the likeness to said roundall, and had his eureka moment.

[tribe125]

Things come early this week because I’m travelling tomorrow.

• A wristwatch is three times dirtier than a toilet seat. In some cases, a watch can be eight times dirtier. Watches with straps, whether plastic or leather, are dirtier than those with metal bracelets.
  
  
• There is such a thing as wristwatch-associated ski injury. Winter sports go hand in hand with falling over, and a wristwatch can act as a fulcrum around which an arm may be fractured. The wristwatch serves as a stress riser, focussing the force of the fall. A British medical case report advises that wearing a wristwatch while skiing could lead to a fracture of the distal forearm, as a result of a fall on an outstretched hand.
  
  
• Bergeon, the maker of watchmaking tools, is older than most watch companies. Established in Le Locle in 1791, it was originally called Faure Frères, but when the Faures died out, it was taken over by a small group of employees, including Jules Bergeon. Bergeon’s factory, now on an industrial estate in La Chaux-de-Fonds, is next door to the Breitling Chronométrie, and just round the corner from Universo, the watch hand manufacturer acquired by the Swatch Group. Some watch companies have their own branded tools, but they too are generally made by Bergeon. Roughly speaking, Bergeon is pronounced ‘bear-jhon’.
  
  
• Abraham-Louis Breguet was a little like Kikuo Ibe, inventor of the G-Shock. Having invented the ‘pare-chute’ shock protection system, he was keen to demonstrate its effectiveness with a stunt. Breguet was a friend of Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, better known to history as simply ‘Talleyrand’. Talleyrand is the master diplomat of European history, an aristocratic politician and confidant of Kings and Emperors. Talleyrand hosted gatherings of the rich and notable at his house, and Breguet chose one such occasion to describe his pare-chute invention. Asked for a demonstration, he threw his watch to the floor, after which it was passed round and found to be working. Considering the people present, the world soon knew that Breguet had made a shockproof watch. Talleyrand is reputed to have said: “Does this devil Breguet always have to go one better?”
  
  
• The traditional pilot’s watch became a thing of the past in 2017, replaced by the smart watch. The US Navy had been experiencing ‘cockpit episodes’ for a while, and in one incident, the canopy of an attack aircraft exploded, reducing the cockpit temperature to -34° centigrade. A layer of ice spread across the flight instruments, rendering them unreadable. Despite suffering from hypoxia and frostbite, the crew were able to navigate back to base, assisted by a smart watch. Following the incident, US Navy pilots were issued with the Garmin Fenix 3.

[mlcor]

Things come early this week because I’m travelling tomorrow.

• A wristwatch is three times dirtier than a toilet seat. In some cases, a watch can be eight times dirtier. Watches with straps, whether plastic or leather, are dirtier than those with metal bracelets.

OK, I definitely did not need to know that.

[rodia77]

I challenge that with any of my watches 'cept for the WEW (the only one that doesn't go in the shower).

[Dan R]

Threw his watch to the floor? How hard did he throw it?