Eating Air
Adventurer-Survivalist Bear Grylls has added the Survival Air Series GMT to his Luminox Survival collection
BEST RECOGNISED FOR his survival adventure exploits, Bear Grylls, the man who popularised putting celebrities in hostile natural environments has just added a new variant to his namesake collection: the Luminox Bear Grylls Survival Air Series GMT watch.
Featuring a world time GMT complication upon a quartz calibre, the Survival Air
GMT shows all 24 time zones; but it’s not the typical capital cities you’d see on the rotatable bezel either but rather the homes of elite special forces based around the world.
Matched with a steel Milanese bracelet, the Carbonox bi-directional bezel with matching black dial makes the orange-tipped GMT hand, 24 hours indicators, minute rails and hour indexes especially striking. Accompanying the high efficiency time instrument is an orange screw down rubber crown for better grip, extending Grylls’ favorite colour across the logo and his “never give up” slogan.
It’s quite a beefy watch: Officially 46mmwide, but with the crown, it goes up to about 50mm-wide. With 13mm case thickness, it helps that there’s some sophistication to the finish with a combination of brushed and polished surfaces, otherwise a timepiece like the Survival Air Series GMT will walk a line of overt masculinity while looking strangely out-of-place in anything but combat fatigues. Instead, what you get is a rugged, yet goes-with-your-smartcasual timepiece with a water resistance of 200 metres.
It’s an overall fantastic holiday watch and should you happen to be in a Taken situation, it’s a watch you could so happen to wear while taking out baddies in Paris Liam Neeson style.
FEATURING AN ART DECO “sector” dial reminiscent of a beloved vintage Les Must de Cartier Tank of the 1980s, the Cartier Tank Louis Cartier (or Tank LC) - not to be mistaken for the Tank Louis Cartier XL (an entirely different model) combines an 18k gold case with, most intriguingly, a manufacture hand-wound 1917 MC movement, departing from the quartz calibres found on its classic predecessor.
Two new delectable Tank Louis Cartier models, one blue with a pink-gold case, the other red with a yellow-gold case are similarly proportioned as the monochromatic pieces, with the distinction that these limited edition Louis Cartier models are all gold while the Must models are steel. Taking heritage cues, the reworked design today feels every bit as elegant as the original, and on the wrist, the dainty 33.7mm does not feel dated, in fact, the classical proportions combined with 6.6mm thickness (despite its mechanical calibre) further accentuate the feel of refinement on the wrist.
The Tank Louis Cartier is the perhaps quintessential Cartier Tank, a sophisticated dress watch that conveys an air of blue blooded luxury as opposed to the more masculine Santos with exposed screws on bezel. It’s perhaps historical irony that the original quartz powered Les Must de Cartier Tank collection was meant as an entry-level in the House’s watchmaking collection but to our modern eyes, the simple yet striking Art Deco dials simply feeds into the halo effect of treasured nostalgia, following in the same vein as the re-interpreted Santos and Panthère, alongside a series of special Cartier Privé editions like Tank Asymétrique and this year’s exquisite Cloche De Cartier.
Hence, this Tank Louis Cartier, produced in limited quantities but in a one time run only means that the desirability and collectibility of this collection just went up a notch. This series is simply a must have, Cartier’s legacy re-introduced for a new generation.