Author Archives: tomvox1

What we’re listening to today — No Expectations by The Rolling Stones and Johnny Cash

It’s amazing how a great song can be interpreted by two major artists and be turned into two diametrically opposed versions that are still fantastic in their own way. Take “No Expectations”, originally recorded by the Rolling Stones in 1968 for their Beggars Banquet album. This Jagger-Richards gem is conceived as a slow, mournful Robert Johnson-like ballad — Jagger called Brian Jones’ weeping slide guitar his last meaningful contribution to the band. So the bluesy melancholy of “Expecations” takes on even more layers knowing that Jones would soon depart the Stones and, shortly thereafter, this earth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rIqBeMZAMc

Now fast forward 10 years to 1978 and the Johnny Cash cover of the same tune. One of the standouts on the grab bag of an album Gone Girl, where the liner notes admit that Cash was anxiously trying to come up with enough tracks to fill it, “No Expectations” is reborn as a hopped up Rockabilly travelin’ song.

With a vibrant live feel, chugging bongo beat and the glorious June Carter Cash backing up her man, the song is virtually unrecognizable save the lyrics. But within those profound lyrics of loss and resignation, the two versions point the way to differing ways of dealing with heartache. For the Stones it’s wallowing in the misery and ever so slowly coming to grips. For Cash it’s admitting defeat and getting the hell out of town ASAP. One great tune with two great versions to fit whichever way you feel like leaving those mean ol’ blues behind.

Watch Collector’s Notebook — Vintage Breitling 1809 “Jumbo” Cosmonaute

“Jumbo” is a relative term in the vintage watch world. For example, you can have “Jumbo” IWC dress watches at 36mm and “Jumbo” Omega Constellations and JLC Memovoxes at 37mm.  But in the (big) case of the first generation Chronomatic tool watches that Breitling produced in the late 1960s and early 70s, that adjective is well-earned, no air quotes required.

1809Cosmo-1 copy

Take one of the more attractive Breitling Chronomatic designs, the reference 1809 Cosmonaute. At 47mm x 47mm the 1809 and its standard Navitimer brother, the 1806, were the original inspirations for Breitling’s modern-era oversize watches. A true 24-hour watch, the 1809’s hands circle the dial once every 24-hours as opposed to the common once-every-12-hours standard. So when the watch is showing what we normally think of as 6 o’clock it is really indicating Noon. Designed with military time in mind, it takes some getting used to and this way of telling time is certainly not for everyone, as one has to relearn how to read a watch essentially. This limited appeal accounts for the somewhat small production of Cosmonautes over the years, as you can generally find about 10 Navitimers for every one vintage Cosmo. And when you come to own one, trust me, early on you will have to give several extra glances at your wrist trying to figure out the correct time. Continue reading →

tomvox1’s Watches for Sale — April Selection

Not a big selection actually as I am mostly keeping what I’ve got at present. But I do have this really handsome dress Tudor from the 1960s for sale. Very cool all-steel, Mad Men look on the wrist with its rare circular dial. Check out the ad on Vintage Rolex Forum’s Market and maybe you’ll choose to put this very stylish and classic vintage watch on your wrist.

ON SALE: 1960s Tudor ref. 7965 Small Rose Oyster-Prince w/ Rare Circular Dial — SOLD

What we’re listening to today — Presidential Suite by Super Furry Animals

There’s something to be said for unabashed romanticism. And the accomplished Welsh band Super Furry Animals can certainly bring the love when they want to. It’s one of their many, many moods. A song like “Presidential Suite” from 2001’s hyper-ambitous Rings Around the World makes a virtue of beautiful horn-fueled, almost Bacharach-esque balladry — even if the lyrics are a scathingly sarcastic tribute to the foibles of 90s world leaders.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOPyzAsYajQ

Rings features the Super Furry Animals showing off a dazzling array of musical approaches, from growling techno-punk to historical story songs to funked up tongue-in-cheek message music. One old friend of mind compared it to a modern day White Album. All in all, there’s a ton of good stuff to choose from. But call me a sucker for sophisticated love songs (not silly, though, despite the album cameo by Paul McCartney — the song actually features legendary misanthrope John Cale). “Presidential Suite” always reminds me of the scene in To Catch a Thief when Cary Grant & Grace Kelly kiss and then we cut to that cinematic symbol for something more profound outside their posh Monaco hotel room — “There were fireworks in the sky/Sparkling like dragonflies”. Strange that a Welsh alternative band in 2001 could bring a comparison from Hitchcock from the 50s to mind but there it is. Must be the universal language of love — and cinema — by way of Cardiff.

Watch Collector’s Notebook — For most new watches, there’s no need to pay retail

With the massive 2014 Swiss watch fair “Baselworld” just completed and all those hot new models being released, it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement and yield to temptation by forking over your hard-earned dough as soon as those beauties become available later this year. And if there’s another watch out there that you’ve been jonesing to own for a while now, you might also be considering going to the brand’s boutique store or authorized dealer and ponying up for it there. But the truth is that for most models (unless money is no object), there’s no real reason to pay full retail for the watch of your dreams. For example, you might consider buying from so-called “gray market” sellers who will offer small discounts over MSRP. But very often they will deliberately leave out such desirable pieces of the new watch package as certain authenticating paperwork and, worse yet, some will even file off serial numbers because these watches have literally gone out the back door of an authorized dealer. Far better in my opinion to do your hunting among like-minded enthusiasts through one of the very high quality and high volume Sales Corners hosted by the major watch forums on the Net. With a little due diligence and patience, you can usually save a significant percentage by buying a pre-owned example from another collector rather than paying dealer prices. Just as with a newish but pre-owned automobile, the prior owner will have taken some of the depreciation out of the price equation, leaving you with a lot more bang for your buck.

One of the largest watch discussion sites in the world, Timezone.com also has an excellent Sales Corner

One of the largest watch discussion sites in the world, Timezone.com also has an excellent Sales Corner

Continue reading →

A little Monday comedy — Bowfinger (1999)

It’s hard to believe that the sly and uproarious Hollywood satire Bowfinger is 15 years old. The Frank Oz directed film from a Steve Martin-penned script tells the tale of a band of show biz hangers-on struggling to make a grade Z sci-fi flick via a highly dubious workaround to the whole lead actors-knowing-they’re-shooting-a-movie thing. It still slays with its dead-on take of what makes LA the company town it is: unkillable dreams of fame, beautiful starlets with “felxible” morals and weirdo movie stars in need of cult control. Best of all, the unlikely comedy dream team of Martin as the titular never-was “producer/director” Bobby Bowfinger and Eddie Murphy, in priceless dual roles as paranoid exhibitionist action star Kit Ramsey and his mega-dorky brother Jiff Jiffrenson (a Steve Martin character name if ever there was one), create gold when they share the screen together.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZUU563eAaM

And for laugh-out-loud, funny-as-hell scenes there really aren’t that many as good this one short of primo Mel Brooks:

Oh, for that complex Starbucks order! Definitely worth renting again or even buying the DVD if you haven’t seen it in a while. It’s that good and after all these years, it holds up hysterically well. Welcome to Mindhead and Keep It Together!

Rolex collector’s site of the day — 5513mattedial.com

Vintage Rolex collecting, perhaps more so than any other brand of vintage watch and especially with regards to the Sports models, is very much about the minute variations in the details of a given model line over time. Very often these changes in fonts, for example, occurred in rapid succession as Rolex ramped up production of, say, their Submariner line in response to increased demand for their iconic watches. Therefore, one sees not only relatively big changes in dial printing, such as the switch from red SUBMARINER to white in the 1680 date model or the move away from gilt/gloss dials to matte/white writing in the later 1960s, but also extremely subtle shifts in the basic fonts and printing of otherwise very similar dials that are much harder to keep track of and difficult for the unitiated to see. In the end, a lot of the main factors of a Vintage Rolex Sports watch’s appeal and value come down to hard-to-spot minutiae.

And that’s where a new site like 5513mattedial.com becomes so valuable. Taking a magnifier to the Matte dial non-date Submariners that were produced from the late 1960s until the early 80s, the site’s author, longtime collector Beaumont Miller II, has catalogued the key evolutionary differences in that ultimate Rolex tool watch, the reference 5513 Submariner, during its long years of matte dial production. Now in one place we have a handy collector’s resource that makes clear the key characteristics of Maxi dials, Pre-Comex, and the early Meters-First variations, among others. And as a result of these comprehensive efforts you will see more variety in this “common” model than you previously thought possible.

If collecting Vintage Rolex is all about the details (and it is!), then 5513mattedial.com is an exceptionally handy resource to consult when hunting a white-writing 5513 and determining where its dial falls in the production sequence and if in fact the printing is actually legitimate. Written in an entertaining and self-depricating style, the site is as thorough and specific as they come and shows that by looking closely and analyzing seemingly random minutiae at length, a much greater mosaic comes into view when all the puzzle pieces are finally laid into place. It’s a job well done all around and I strongly recommend it to anyone interesting in collecting these iconic Submariners.

What we’re listening to today — Monkey Gone to Heaven by The Pixies

Just a quick and dirty blast of punk rock today as life intrudes but it is often posited that without the Pixies, there would be no Nirvana. Discuss.

And remember, kids: If man is 5, then the Devil is 6 and if the Devil is 6 then GOD IS 7!!! Bless Black Francis for that bit of theology and I promise we’ll get into the Pixie ouvre in greater length — or at least crank out some more of their tunes — at a later date. In the meantime, enjoy it again live and watch out for that NY/NJ sludge!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJwnpi_iM6A

Watch Collector’s Notebook — Benrus Sky Chief

On the theory that you can never have enough cool vintage chronographs, here is another little gem that I have known and loved, the Benrus “Sky Chief”. Produced in the post WWII-era by the New York-based Benrus Watch Company and marketed with its evocative name to the aviation-mad public of the late 40s and 1950s, as well as the increased purchasing power of the Western world’s newly beefed up air forces and transatlantic airlines, the Sky Chief is a classic pilot’s chronograph by design.

SkyChief-1 copy

In its most common iteration, it has 3-registers for constant seconds, minute recorder and 12-hour recorder, the latter complication being a somewhat new development for a mass-produced wristwatch that came to be the standard for most fine chronographs going forward. The usual engine found under the hood was a Venus 178 well before it was adopted by Breitling for their Navitimers in the mid-50s. And a bit later, perhaps because Breitling sucked up almost all Venus production, Benrus used the ubiquitous Valjoux 71/ & 72 column wheel chrono ebauches that would go on to serve the watch industry for so many years. Different alphanumeric codes were engraved on the bridges to indicate which caliber was being used and none of these movements had shock protection at this early date.

Sky Chief with Venus movement

Sky Chief with Venus movement

Continue reading →

Brooklyn Wine & Dine — South Williamsburg’s OTB

Time was when South Williamsburg, that part closest to the Williamsburg Bridge, was a bit of a sleepy outpost. Sure, there was Dressler, Diner and Marlowe & Sons. And of course, there was always Peter Luger’s. But by the watering hole/restaurant “density standard” of the Northside, that seemed a relative paucity of choices, no matter that the quality of those stalwarts were all well above average. But like so much in Brooklyn’s hottest nabe, a lot is also changing on its Southside and changing fast. In the last 3-4 years, there have been at least 5 or 6 big new apartment buildings erected. And that means a lot of hungry and thirsty new folk in Los Sures.

Thankfully, one of the better new additions to the scene is the excellent bar/cafe, OTB. Occupying a former hardware store right on Broadway between Bedford and Driggs, just next to Motorino Pizzeria’s new location and only a few doors away from the now-shuttered Dressler, OTB is a super comfortable space — dare I day “homey”? — that offers reasonably priced and always tasty food and drink. With a subtle nod to the now-defunct Off Track Betting parlors of New York’s past, there are sly allusions to that peculiar institution, such as an old-fashioned rotary wall phone, heavily padded swivel bar chairs and super comfortable club booths. There are also attractive light fixtures, cool paisley-textured vinyl wallpaper and beautiful oversized photographic prints adorning the walls that feature retro-cool vintage scenes of servicemen at a burlesque show or well-turned out gentry attending a horse race. The food menu is nicely focused with an emphasis on French bistro standards like escargots, frogs’ legs and a killer steak frites, as well as a very juicy grass-fed burger. There is also a good raw bar with ceviche and oysters (the latter on special for a buck each late nights and Mondays) and meaty chicken wings done in a choice of three finger-lickin’ styles. If you’re lucky, you may also run into an occasional special of the tastiest chicken tenders around — much too good for kids and my only caveat is that they should always be on the menu.

As for libation, there is a tight little selection of craft & imported beers on tap such as Captain Lawrence IPA and Radeberger; and a very fine cocktail list with essentials like a traditional rye Old Fashioned and in-house creations like the aptly named and all-too-quaffable Pimm’s Knockout (a particular favorite of the Missus). Best of all, the gracious and friendly staff makes you feel at home the minute you sit down or belly up to the bar. And Wiliamsburg or not, that kind of vibe is hard to come by these days. It all adds up to make OTB an excellent and unpretentiously hip hangout to while away an evening, as well as a welcome addition to a rapidly changing neighborhood. So check it out on your next visit to the Southside and if you haven’t been over that way in a while, you’ll be dumbstruck at how much else has changed.