Today in Gear: Start Your Week With These Updates

Long before the Apple Watch became a modern-day wearables juggernaut, Apple did have its eyes on the smartwatch market. The “WristMac”, developed with support from Seiko, was first released in 1988 and used AppleTalk to connect with a Mac computer. As reports have stated, its most famous use was onboard the space shuttle “Atlantis”, where astronauts had a Macintosh Portable (itself a predecessor for the MacBooks we know today) for sending emails. As expected for the late-1980s and early-1990s, the tech onboard the WristMac was fairly limited; it was effectively used as a way to trigger reminders and track chores over time. While Apple has obviously moved far beyond the WristMac, that hasn’t stopped collectors from going after this uniquely rare piece of Apple history. With the discovery of a new, unopened WristMac, the model is going on the auction block. Bidding started at just $1 this afternoon, but appraisers are expecting the final price to hit somewhere north of $25,000. Niche Apple knick-knacks aren’t the only thing we’re diving into this morning. Get the details on Roark’s new Wrangler collaboration, WESN’s recently announced care kit and Fujifilm’s fun new take on the Instax camera. This is Today in Gear.

MSTR’s Ambassador Collection timepieces aren’t just luxury watches, they’re also more affordable than ever before.

MSTR Watches

MSTR’s luxury timepieces aren’t afraid to make a statement. Case in point? The brand’s Ambassador Collection. Crafted in a range of different materials — ranging from gold to steel (NASA-grade steel, to be exact) — the watches in the Ambassador series feature a chronograph-style build, powered by either quartz or automatic movements. Best of all, to kick off the holiday shopping season, MSTR is launching its Black Friday sale ahead of schedule — starting this Wednesday.

WESN products may have a lifetime guarantee, but that doesn’t mean they don’t need some periodic TLC.

WESN

WESN proudly stands behind its products 100 percent — embodied in its lifetime guarantee. That said, most products simply need a little fine-tuning to be fixed up (as opposed to returned entirely). This is the thinking behind WESN’s new care kit, which features a pocket sharpener, a bottle of Pete’s Lube and a few other accessories to make sure your WESN gear stays in tip-top shape — long before it needs to be swapped out for something new.

An “off the grid” excursion into New Mexico shaped Roark’s new collab with Wrangler.

Roark

Roark has always designed its clothing with a sense of adventure in mind. It’s that spirit that directly informed its collaboration with one of the hardest-wearing denim brands in the business: Wrangler. Sending a crew of adventurers literally off the grid for over a week in New Mexico, the team’s journeys on horseback (and dirt bike) shaped the pieces that appear in the collection — including chore coats, vintage-style tees and denim (naturally).

Paul Smith pedigree, but with a bit more subtlety: Check out Anglepoise’s Paul Smith lamps

Anglepoise

Paul Smith isn’t afraid to use a bit of color; its signature “Artist Stripe” is literally proof of that. That love of color has been applied to Smith’s earlier collaborations with British lighting label Anglepoise, which usually combines bright shades on equally bright Type 75 desk and floor lights. Now, the pair have come together for something a bit more subtle, incorporating the Artist Stripe motif only down the model’s central arm, and leaving the rest of the piece finished in sleek tonal black.

Fujifilm’s new Instax camera is like having more than ten vintage cameras all in one modern package.

Instax

Even in an era of apps and smartphones, it’s hard to deny the appeal of an instant camera. In a move that celebrates and modernizes the classic instant film camera, Fujifilm has released the Instax Mini Evo. Featuring ten different filters and ten different lenses, the Mini Evo can flip from retro film with a fisheye lens to a vintage vignette with blue-toned film — all in the same camera, all at the twist of a dial.

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