Design

Wild, extreme, outrageous, unrestrained: all might be used to describe MB&F’s futuristic Horological Machines, but traditional, classical… round? With its monumental central balance; superlatively finished movement; completely independent dual time zones; unique vertical power reserve indicator and elegant annular case, Legacy Machine No.1 (LM1) is a tribute to the great innovators of traditional watchmaking; and above all, an authentic three-dimensional MB&F Machine — via Maximilian Büsser & Friends

a lovely CB550 café racer belonging to Victor Sultana of Grand Rapids in Michigan. It’s one of those bikes that’s just right, and it put a smile on my dial as soon as I saw it. It’s a 1975 model, fully restored, and with no engine mods other than the 4-into-1 blacked out exhaust. The restoration and paint was done by a small workshop called Classic Snowmobile Repair in Fennville, Michigan. The solo seat is a custom fabricated fiberglass item by CB specialist Benjie’s Cafe Racers, complete with integrated tail light. And the rearsets, mirrors, linkages and turn signals are from Dime City Cycles — via Bike EXIF

The idea behind the Herzberg development [AllesWirdGut Architektur + feld72] is to create a built structure which combines a variety of residential offerings into one neighbourhood that facilitates different ways of living. This objective was pursued on both an urban-planning and on an architectural level — via ArchDaily

German watch designer Manfred Brassler — his watch brand is Meistersinger — brings us this 1950’s inspired timekeeper, the Meistersinger NEO. True to its origins, NEO has all the vintage design features of the 50s, particularly the slim case with a classically simple dial. The NEO comes in a single-handed model, as well as a two-handed-version with date indicator — via Perpetuelle.com Watch Blog

This year marks the centenary of the illustrious Italian marque Benelli—and according to my calculations, that makes it the oldest European motorcycle manufacturer in (more or less) continuous operation. Today the Chinese motor group Qianjiang owns Benelli, but the Pesaro factory still produces a handful of bikes each year—the Century, Café, Tornado and Tre models.

Benelli’s finest moment, however, came with the launch of the Sei in 1972. Sold first as a 750 and later as a 900, it was a worthy competitor to the Japanese superbikes of the day and a flagship of the Italian industry.

This particular motorcycle started life as a 1981 900 Sei, and has been meticulously rebuilt as a classic racerby Dutchman Joop Berghorst. The race bodywork emulates the style of the day, and the exhaust system mimics the exotic 750 Sei configuration rather than the conventional 6-into-2 system of the road-going 900 — via Bike EXIF

Anastasia Architects designed the Vila Castela Residence in Nova Lima, Brazil — via CONTEMPORIST

The Benarus Watch company offers their Moray model in bronze as well.  Unfortunately, they only made twenty of this particular model, and they are completely sold out. The most striking feature is, of course, that gorgeous bronze case, made from the bronze alloy UNI5275 — via Wrist Watch Review

What we have here is the wewood DATE, and I want to address the name of the model right away. After I got in contact with the company, that’s one of the points I wanted to clarify, because I most certainly was not seeing a date window on the dial.  To put it simply, it’s the name that the Italian designer selected, and that’s what the company went with — via Wrist Watch Review

Situated in Tigerland, the redevelopment of the Punt Road Oval [Suters Architects] fuels the themed landscape of the Richmond Football Club. Our desire is to root the design within a Melbourne context, as well as reference the athletic grace of the human body led us to the work of sculptor Clement Meadmore. The long narrow strip of land around Punt Road Oval allowed the continuation of this motif, with the building contorting and squeezing between the oval’s boundary and AFL Way, as it progresses towards the MCG from Punt Road — via ArchDaily

Ugly though they may be, these Swatch watches have a trick up their sleeves. Using the same technology found in the Tissot T-Touch line, these Swatch Touch watches are touch-sensitive and allow you to swipe through different functions and control most of the watch features with a simple finger tap.

The Touch 2011 models support two timezones, a date display, chronograph, alarm, and timer. There are no buttons and it has a curved glass display and weirdly proportioned numerals. It has an integrated strap.

Adding touch capabilities to watches isn’t new — there was a clever Swatch model that allowed you to switch timezones by tapping on the crystal — but this wholesale abandonment of buttons and controls is fairly intense — via Wrist Watch Review

Roland Sands Design built the Triumph Scrambler 900 for the Tony Hawk Foundation, and on Monday it sold for $32,500. It went under the hammer at a charity auction to raise money to build free public skateparks in low-income areas — via Bike EXIF

Mixing regional vernacular, local climate needs and a curved contemporary look [Aamer Architects], this award-winning residence addresses its client desires architectural mandates with an amazing dynamism but strong sense of balance — via Dornob

Singapore has embarked upon the excavation of an underground oil reserve, expanding the city’s industrial port beneath the floor of the Pacific Ocean. It is no ordinary construction site, the BBC tells us, but an elaborate project of engineering and infrastructure currently underway several hundred feet underground, below the seabed in Singapore — via BLDGBLOG

It seems that there are no shortage of companies today turning out flieger-inspired watches — but I believe this is the first time that I’ve come across a Canadian company making them. Today’s example is brought to us by Archer Watches.

What drew me to the Aero II was the layout of the dial.  On the outer track,  you have the minutes taking the main stage; in a smaller dial closer to the center of the watch, you have an hour track — via Wrist Watch Review

Jorge Hrdina Architects have designed the Lilypad house in Sydney, Australia — via CONTEMPORIST

Hamilton, of course, started as an American company 120 years ago, and today finds themselves located in Switzerland. This lends to a wonderful combination of American heritage and Swiss technology in the designs they bring forth, and this Jazzmaster Slim is a great example of this melding.

A timeless and classic combination of black and polished steel. The 40mm wide case should look at home on just about any wrist — and given the fact that it’s only 8mm thick, it’ll fit under just about any shirt cuff. This sliver of a watch case is held on your wrist by a 22mm strap (also available with brown leather or stainless steel bracelet) — via Wrist Watch Review

The differences between this watch — the Bell & Ross WW1-92 Military — and the WW1-92 Heritage — are minimal. Basically any B&R watch with the Heritage tag means that it will come with the B&R Heritage-style strap. This WW1-92 Military piece has more natural/suede-style strap and white numerals/dial markings — via Perpetuelle.com Watch Blog

Until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 Balaklava was one of the most secret towns in Russia. 10km south east of Sevastopol on the Black Sea Coast, this small town was the home to a Nuclear Submarine Base.

Almost the entire population of Balaklava could not visit the town of Balaklava without good reason and identification. The base remained operational after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 until 1993 when the decommissioning process started and the warheads and low yield torpedoes were removed. Then in 1996 the last Russian Submarine left the Base, and now you can go on Guided tours round the Canal System, Base and small Museum, which is now housed in the old weapons stowage hangers deep inside the hillside — via abandonedplaces