For a long time Cartier has been over looked as a serious watchmaker. Although they are a top tier jewelery design house (my personal favorite at that), and have been making fantastic watches since the wristwatch was created, for many years their name was far from the lips of those discussing haute horology. That is certainly changing as of late, Carole Forestier-Kaspi is leading the Cartier’s watchmaking department into a new era. Every year they have been coming up with new and innovative complications and creating modern, wearable watches with fine in-house calibres. The latest masterpiece is the Calibre de Cartier Diver, an ISO-certified dive watch powered by the in-house 1904 MC calibre. Continue reading
Category Archives: What to wear
Merry Christmas from How To Be Swell
Merry Christmas all you swell readers. My wish for you is to be surrounded by loved ones and enjoying your favorite holiday festivities. I love Christmas, and being a hopeless romantic I am always nostalgic for my favorite sights and sounds of the season. One of my favorite images this time of year is the big city shopping districts all decked out for Christmas, like those immortalized in movies like Miracle on 34th street, Christmas Story, and more recently, Elf. You can imagine holiday shoppers bustling about carrying packages with large bows for that special someone, and Santa on the street corner ringing bells for the Salvation Army so those less fortunate can enjoy the Holiday as well.
The Baume et Mercier Clifton Complete Calendar
What an absolutely beautiful watch from what is quickly becoming one of the best brands around. It is no secret that I am a huge Baume Mercier fan. They have been doing absolutely everything right lately, from design and craftsmanship to marketing and service. They really are growing into a powerful brand on the level with a number of the luxury makers out there, and at a better value than many. So, it will come as no surprise that I am going to rave about their new Clifton Complete Calendar.Rolex Oyster Perpetual Sky-Dweller
I have admittedly been on a Rolex kick for some time now, but frankly they offer a lot to talk about. This particular piece also happens to be one to dream about. New for Rolex is the moderately complicated Sky-Dweller, I have heard about this one for a little while and had the opportunity to play with one recently, and it is fascinating. The properly titled Oyster Perpetual Sky-Dweller is Rolex’s new flagship watch. I am not sure of the origin of the name Sky-Dweller, but it definitely sits above most of their line up. With a completely new calibre 9001 movement, the Sky dweller does more than your average watch. Continue reading
The Most Amazingly Swell Men’s Skivvies Money Can Buy
We can’t really talk about how to look and dress swell with out addressing the basic foundation of clothing. Of course we all know that if you sweat wear an undershirt, going commando is for kids, and tightey-whiteys are way out, but there should be more thought put into your underwear than just grabbing a package of what is on sale at your local stuff-mart. Continue reading
Rolex Oyster Perpetual Explorer II
I am growing into a rather loyal Rolex fan. I do understand the stigma attached; the perceived pretentiousness by the uninitiated. I had felt this way at one time as well. That was until I owned one of my own, I now appreciate the brand for their longevity, history, technical feats, and overall quality and value. I do tend away from the instantly recognizable blingy “look at me” models in favor of the more understated pieces. After all I appreciate a Rolex for what it is, not what it means to everyone else who sees me wearing it. Continue reading
Hamilton Jazzmaster Face 2 Face Limited Edition
It’s no secret that Hamilton watch company is one of my perennial favorites when it comes to watch brands. For the money they offer one of the best values in the world of watches; great design and style, nice materials like sapphire crystals, titanium and stainless steel cases, and great automatic ETA movements. Being part of the Swatch group, they have access to the full range of ETA movements and use them quite well as their “in-house” movement. Eta is nothing to sneeze at either, they are robust , accurate, easy to maintain and relatively inexpensive. So, now that you know why I like Hamilton so much, you have got to see what they are releasing that really gets me excited.Something Swell from Detroit
I came across one of the coolest designers this week, If you are a car nut like I am you will agree this stuff is great. A company called Urban Relic Design has created some swell mens and ladies jewelry from what they call Fordite. They do lots of jewelry in gemstones and metals, and plenty of recycled materials, which I really think is pretty swell of them, but what I fell in love with was what they call Fordite. Fordite is kind of a play on words, the root being the Ford automobile and the Suffix “ite” to sound like a natural gemstone, they also call it Motor agate.
Top Ten Car themed Watches
I love top ten lists, they are fun aren’t they? Your top ten best concerts you saw, the top ten cd’s you would want on a desert island, the top ten watches of historical significance, they are all fun to compile and to talk about huh? Well as the weather has been warming and Basil show is going on my mind wanders to my favorite things; cars and spring drives, and of course watches. So, how about another list! the top ten automotive themed watches. Now this isn’t a serious list or comparison of the merits of all of these watches. No, this is merely a list of ten watches(in no preferential order) I believe have done a great job of capturing the theme of speed.
The French Cuffed Shirt
I am a man who like jewelry. Of course I would, I am a gemologist, I run a jewelry store, and I blog about mens fashion and jewelry. Unfortunately there is a limit (contrary to what some men believe) to how much jewelry men can wear. I am not going to lie, there are some days I push that limit, but if you do it right and subtle you can get away with just a little extra. Here is where the french cuffed shirt comes in . Now that is sort of tongue in cheek, I don’t wear frenched cuffs just to wear extra jewelry, that’s a bonus.
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