I like to capture the bride and groom on the way out of the church, during the march in they are usually very nervous but on the way out the are much more relaxed and are starting to enjoy their big day. I was just a guest during this wedding but couldn't help myself when I saw this photo coming to life and stepped out in the middle of the isle to get it.
The Jaeger-LeCoultre Gyrotourbillon II. Photo by Claude Joray.
I’m fascinated by tourbillons, the tiny, tiny mechanical marvel invented around 1795 by Abraham-Louis Breguet to increase the accuracy of pocket watches. It’s still one of the most complex and difficult horological complications to master and only a handful of manufacturers can make them. The basic idea is to offset the effect of gravity on the watch by rotating the scapement and balance wheel (often one turn per minut). While I’m mesmerized by normal tourbillons I’m totally hypnotized by Jaeger-LeCoultres Gyrotourbillon II. In this complication there are two tourbillons, one inside the other rotating on a perpendicular axis at a speed of one turn per 18.75 seconds while the outer rotates at the normal speed of one turn per minute. The result is a spectacular mechanical animation that not only takes the tourbillon into the 21st century but also is the base for one of the most accurate mechanical movements ever made.
Tuscan hills in the beginning of April.
The Pagani Zonda F. Photo by Pagani.
The Pagani Zonda C12S was the car that redefined the slumbering supercar market in the beginning of the 2000′s. The first Zonda (the C12) was introduced in 1999 but it was really the 2000 C12S that changed the game and the F that through some small visual alterations tied together the entire package. Pagani was the first in the new era of boutique super car makers and was considered the new benchmark from day one. The Zonda had a couple of unique selling points, it was way faster than anything else on sale and the styling was out of this world. The small fact that the quality and craftmanship was also up to par didn’t hurt either.
I’ve just released a new version of the lumebox at the jQuery plugin site, the new version fixes a bug where the popup isn’t correctly positioned when the popup is shown before the image has finished loading. More info and download available in My Projects/lumebox.
The Cabestan Winch Vertical Tourbillon in white gold, photo by Cabestan.
I have a very weak spot for beautiful machines (guess why I bought the Elektra coffee machine?) and one of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen is the Winch Vertical Tourbillon from Cabestan. It’s a timepiece like no other combining technical novelty, mechanical art and impeccable finish and execution.
About a year ago I launched my first version my blog as a SEO-optimized HTML 5 website, today I take it one step further with even more mimimalistic and semantic code, CSS 3 and better use of microformats. Since I’m already using WordPress behind the scenes the change is quite easy, it’s basically just a new theme and an upgrade to WordPress 3.0.
The Confederate B120 Wraith in side view. Photo by Confederate Motors.
Confederate Motors (along with founder Matt Chambers) and I live on the same planet. Their first motorcycle, the F131 Hellcat, was conventional but better looking than any production bike I’ve seen. With the B120 Wraith they took the step to the level of Cabestan, Zonda and a few others capable of creating a truly unique, exciting and beautiful mechanical sculptures.
The dial and power reserve indicator for the HM4. Photo by Max Büsser & Friends.
I’ve been dying for Max Büsser and his friends to create a timepiece that actually seems wearable. I love the steampunk aestethics and concept of all the Horological Machines, but the superwide aspect ratio of the two first machines looked strange on wrists the HM3 Sidewinder and Starcruiser just felt strange (until the Frog, but more on that later).
I’m working on a project that uses reviews and ratings and it got me thinking about scoring systems. The most widely adopted system is the five star ratings but I’m not really sure that it’s the best system out there, it’s confusing like many other systems. But is there a system that can give consistent ratings from a diverse group of users while keeping the rating threshold down?