rubber

This isn't the first time (or certainly the last) where the watch industry has gotten their hands on an exotic material or compound that was originally used for military or space travel purposes and placed them in watches. This is only the latest application of the trend. The question for you should be, is this a good idea? Does the addition of components such as carbon fiber, or exotic metals really give you any benefit? There is no good answer as it really depends on the instance. Sometimes a new look, or slightly lighter watch is the result. More important is the way the watch makes you feel - knowing that your precious timepiece has some seriously special materials in it that only exist elsewhere in high performance machines that you'll never get a chance to own or operate.

Biwi is a plastics, rubber, and strap maker in Switzerland (they might do more things as well). They will begin using a material known as Kalrez to make watch straps. What is Kalrez? It is an elastomer, which is basically a fancy plastic with some remarkable qualities, and flexibility like rubber. Kalrez is owned by DuPont chemicals and was originally developed for much more important purposes in aircraft. It can flex like rubber, but is not nearly as prone to deterioration as rubber (which comes from a plant as opposed to being a by product of oil refining). Kalrez is also extremely resistant to heat and cold, and highly anti corrosive (resistant to a ton of chemicals and harsh elements). Most important to luxury watches, the stuff costs a lot, about 6000 Swiss Franc per kilo. These qualities together make it prime for use in luxury watches that today often use rubber, but want something a bit (or a lot more) fancy. These new Kalrez watch straps from Biwi are the answer.

Via WorldTempus (in French).

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

These rubber tubs from The Conran Shop might not be the prettiest things we've ever seen but they could be the workhorse of your summer. The tubs, made from recycled car and truck tires and based on early Middle Eastern leather designs are incredibly tough and long lasting. Use them to hold beach towels, pack them full of ice and use them as a drinks cooler, use them to tote your barbecue supplies to the cookout or any other of dozens of storage options. The tubs sell for $74 to $135 depending on size.

The latest design from TeNo is the YuKoN, a rubber bracelet with changeable elements that can be taken from basic all the way up to posh. The bracelet can be customized with a variety of pieces made from steel, red gold, yellow gold, wood, horn, mother of pearl and diamonds. The line starts at $165 for a plain bracelet and goes up to $3,585 for a bracelet with a total of .248 carats of diamonds. Bracelets can be ordered complete or piece by piece depending on your style and the elements slide off so you can mix and match. The bracelets are available in seven different wrist sizes.