ultracrepidarianIt’s an ad for Switzerland, but really it’s an ad for life.
— Read on www.adventure-journal.com/2022/06/swiss-tourism-ad-is-simply-the-best-commercial-youll-see/
This resonates right now. Summer is looking busy at work, family visits are quite difficult and my head is super crowded. This is an excellent, excellent pitch.
Social change follows a critical mass pattern where something is adopted slowly then quite rapidly. Case in point today: residential solar power. Today my adjacent neighbors are all installed. I’m really jealous of this:
13.5kWh. So gorgeous. Now to convince my better half.
Tesla powerwalls combined with solar panels is a really elegant solution. About $8,000 per battery today though.
This looks just amazing – Ural took the guts of the Zero DS-R and made a sidecar out of it:
That looks so damned cool!
From the pictures, I could carry a passenger, maybe even two, and it’d certainly work for a most of our grocery and household shopping. Alas, it’s only a prototype for now, but the combination of modern powertrain and retro style (right out of the Indiana Jones movies, eh?) really tickles my fancy. One more picture:
Ural Motorcycles finalized the first development phase of an all-electric sidecar motorcycle. The electric prototype was built on the existing one-wheel drive cT chassis, utilizing Zero Motorcycles’ proprietary powertrain package (motor, batteries, controller and other components). California-based company ICG developed the overall design and was responsible for fabricating the initial prototype. Zero Motorcycles also provided the necessary engineering support during development and testing of the prototype that made this project possible.
via The Ural all-electric prototype | electricmotorcycles.news | It’s time.
I was reading OceanicTime: ORIS ProDiver GMT and the last image reminded me:
Image credit: OceanicTimeThat’s a nice clasp. If you look close, it has two side buttons, and when pressed you can lengthen or shorten the strap by about 1cm.
This is a brilliant feature and every strap and bracelet should have it.
Here are the ones I’ve seen, reviewed or coveted:
Image credit: ABtWThat’s the Girard-Perregaux Sea Hawk II, from my review on ABlogToWatch.com. That was the first time I had ever seen one, as as noted in the review, they’re a damned fine idea.
Rolex introduced their Glidelock (details here) and it’s on several of their models now:
Image credit: minus4plus6.comI owned a Tudor Pelagos for a while; it has a superb clasp and adds a spring-tensioned mode; probably the best of any design I’ve used:
Image credit: TudorThat’s not a great picture, here’s a better one found via Pinterest:
Image credit: Unknown/Pinterest
It’s more complicated but works better.
The Seiko Marinemaster SBDX001 I owned had one but I disliked it: too thick, sharp bits that poke the wrist and awkward to use.
Omega makes one too, part number 117stz001154, has quite a few fans:
Image credit: WatchUSeekIWC Mark XVIII (18) looks elegant:
Image credit: AblogToWatchNow, with all of those (and others that I’ve missed), you’d think that buying one would be easy.
Or at least possible. Nope. This is one of the very few that I’ve found:
It’s just OK, compared to the others, and they want $63 for it, more if you want it in PVD black.
Formex sells clasps designed to work with normal 2-piece watch straps. They’re pricy at $65 to $120. I’ve not seen one in person.
Hey watch companies: Please add these to every bracelet you sell! And the dive straps too.
Update: There’s now an entire site devoted to this, called https://tolmia.blogspot.com/ where ‘tolmia’ stands for ‘tool-less microadjust’.
More please!
ultracrepidarian 