I was quite excited about the Armin (by Armin Strom) Elements watch collection when it was first announced (seemingly a while ago). "Armin" seems to be a more sporty side line to the standard Armin strom collection of watches that is very elegant and traditional in focus. One thing that both lines share is the appreciation for dial skeletonization. You can see the modern style of partial skeletonization on the Elements watch here. The collection comes in a few colors. Each one representing a different Element. The pictured version is "Earth." Though I was initially excited about the line, now I am impressed and really want to get my hands on one of these beauties. One of the major strengths that the Elements watch is its ability to function as a comfortable everyday watch, save for one that looks different than most other everyday watches.

This watch has a titanium case, and here it has been coated in PVD black. The movement is manually wound with a 46 hour power reserve. The regulator display style has a different dial for the hours, minutes, and seconds, while there is also a retrograde date display. I believe that the pusher at 10 o'clock is to change the date. Each Armin Elements watch is part of a limited edition of just 100 pieces. This image indicates that the watch should now be ready for prime time. Price for the pictured version will retail at $18,850.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Earth is a big subject and Australian publisher Millennium House has created a book big enough to cover it. Their new book "Earth" is the the biggest atlas ever to be published and is nearly 2 feet tall and over 65 pounds. The 576-page books is the sum total of eight months work by 100 photographers, cartographers, geographers and oceanographers and it has 154 maps and over 800 photographs. The print run will be just 3,000 copies, 2,000 of the standard blue version at right and 1000 "Gold Earth" editions with gold leather, gold gilding and gold plated corners. The regular version will cost over $3,000. The book had its world debut in Sydney on October 9, hit the Frankfurt Book Fair and is on its way to the Sharjah World Book Fair in Dubai n October 29.

The Surfrider Foundation is dedicated to preserving the world's oceans, waves, and beaches, and works to further that mission through educational programs and the development of grassroots awareness. Their programs include everything from the expected like monitoring water quality and teaching kids to respect the beach to the slightly less expected, like information on how to create an "ocean friendly garden" that reduces runoff and harmful pollutants.

You can take part in their programs hands on if you live near any of the nations coasts (they have chapters pretty much everywhere) or join online and support them from anywhere.

The World Wildlife Fund works around the world to protect endangered species, protect and restore endangered habitats, and deal with the ever-growing global challenges facing the environment. As with most charities you can always give the simple gift of a donation in your loved one's name, or with WWF it gets a little more fun and personalized when you adopt an endangered wild animal. For just $50 you get an adoption certificate, a photo of your chosen animal, and best of all an adorable coordinating plush toy. And with 80 species to choose from you can certainly personalize your gift, and even encourage the starting of an annual tradition and a collection of animals. Donate/order by December 17th for Christmas delivery.


Via Inhabitat

Here's a great chance to both do something great for the environment and get something fun to show for it: adopt yourself an olive tree! Nudo, an olive grove in Italy, is offering people the chance to support small scale artisanal farming (instead of the large mechanized operations that damage the earth) by adopting a specific olive tree. And when you adopt an olive tree in the grove for one year not only do you get the satisfaction from the environmental effort, but you also get all the produce from your tree. You'll get a Spring Package with the olive oil from your tree, and then an Autumn Package of more olive oil and some handmade olive oil soap. $130/year.



via DailyCandy