oldshurst442

I just realized...a very high end watch was inspired by a Bulova Computron from the 60s and 70s... A digital watch of all things.     

I like very high end watches, but an old money millionnaire once told me back when I opened up my restaurant once told me:  Its money wasted to buy expensive watches.  Cheap watches tell time as well as, if not better than the most expensive ones.   They could be just as stylish.  And a gentleman NEVER shows his time piece.  Its humbly hidden under his shirt sleeve or pocket (pocket watch).   

And I tend to follow that logic more often than not.  

40 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

You still believe there will be a 25k Tesla? 

A 25 thousand Tesla is a mythical creature.  

The shear mention of either  brings hope and joy to millions.  The promise of  some sort of monetary compensation or gain...  A figment of somebody's wild imagination.   Both could be metaphors that we could use in life.   But really, all we could do is dream that we may be able to find that pot o gold at the end of that long rainbow.  In many cases in life, we do fall upon a financial windfall. But in Tesla's case, its more a case of wishful thinking.  

1 hour ago, ccap41 said:

It's unfortunate that it'll still probably be shaped like a Bolt. 

And there is sadly, nothing else to say.

OK...maybe one thing.   It actually sells no matter how it looks like.

People have realized its a good little EV.  

Original

Reissue

3 minutes ago, David said:

Disagree vote is just too strong with the red down arrow, but I just have never really gotten into Bugatti and especially the watches just are Blah weird to me. Guess I am just too simple for something too complex.  

Its NOT about the watches nor the car.   Its about the WHOLE picture.

About the watches first.   The brand:  Pargiani Fleurier.  A new Swiss watch company.  Made in...Switzerland.  The land of fine watches.  (rolls my eyes as watch snobs have this place as some sort of mythical watch making land)  

Tis true that Switzerland is home to many fine watch makers.  Almost all are of the high end.  Careful and precise horology engineering.  

OK...ALL watches posted are of the watch maker Parmigiani Fleurier.  And ALL of them are under the Bugatti name and were specifically made for the car.  The Veyron, The Chiron and all other successor variants of...   I ONLY like the first watch posted.  I HATE the middle one and I appreciate the last one.  BUT...the middle and last one  will always be appreciative with me. Not about the looks or the c=very very very high price tag, but for the very precise and out of the box thinking for a watch.  And I LIKE that kind of wierd thing for watches.  

The cars themselves:  I never liked the Veyron and the variants of.  But the engineering IS insane on them.  

But...if we glance at the WHOLE imagery of the pics posted:  elegant with old mansions, in France, Paris in some instances.  Elegance and arrogance in a European kind of way.  

Elegance and Arrogance in an American kind of way was kinda already done when I posted the watch theme with the Rolex and Cartier a while back.  

I could revist this theme.  Actually I will.  With an American arrogance of luxury and privilege!!!

I may include songs too...  

GREAT IDEA.  I I WLL DO THAT!!! 

16 minutes ago, Robert Hall said:

It will be interesting to see what the automotive landscape looks like in 2035..I'll be ready to retire then.

I never thought about it.  2035 would BE just about the time Id be considering retirement as well.   

Im guessing that the landscape from now until then will be just as much of a  dramatic change as it was going from the 40s to the 50s.  The 50s to the 60s.   

I remember conversations with @balthazar that automotive design was drastic and rapid change during those times but from the 80s onto to today was/is slow.   

Well, imo, when the EVs come kicking in, and when we get to the 2030s, the 2020s will look sooooo dated as how cars were back in the good 'ole days decade to decade.  

17 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

Thank you! I got lucky with the timing and with the in-laws owning a jewelry store, I only paid cost for it. It is used but there were zero scratches/scuffs on it and it was only a year old at the time. I think it's a 2019 and I got it in 2020. 

They came across a customer wanting to sell it to them, they bought it to sell it and when I saw it, it was exactly what I wanted. Stainless case and bracelet, white gold fluted bezel, blue dial with diamond indices, and the jubilee bracelet. All of those were exactly what I wanted and I more than likely would have never came across that combo without paying a few grand more

The bolded parts.   In a sarcastic, jealous tone.

"wooooooo. lucky for you!"

No. Seriously.   Good on you.   Paying cost.  On a Rolex.  Lately, Rolexes, no matter what vintage go for a mint above and beyond fair market value.  

And your Rolex aint exactly old either.  A couple of years old is still new to me.  ESPECIALLY if no scuff marks are on it.  Its pretty hard to scratch up the crystal glass as well.

So Id say, a very smart and awesome purchase.   I am positive you ARE enjoying it.  So...ENJOY IT!!!

And about 5 years ago, EVs had barely 2%...

I recall a certain @balthazar  laughing at the prosect of EVs even cracking 5% in a decades time...

And I know this is about the good ole USofA...  Globally, EVs have a 14% market share.  And it has spiked considerably...the last 3 doubling each year...

So yeah...I think @smk4565 is rght on about this declaration:

19 hours ago, smk4565 said:

I can't imagine who will want these ICE cars in about 10 years time.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1371599/global-ev-market-share/

EVs are almost an obvious choice now...   In the next 5 years, EVs will almost be a no brainer.  By 2035, they will most probably BE the ONLY wise choice to make...  

We have had prolific egg shape on wheel styling since the 1990s.  Ill agree that it has become old and outdated and perhaps archaic?   But Im not hatin' on the Aehra design language.   Im not full on enamored by it.  Im accepting of it.

I am GRATEFUL that whether its the SUV or sedan, they do NOT have the stereotypical crossover look to them.  

They got the new crossover CROSSOVER transition of the CUV to look like a sedan... A sleek sedan.  But sedan nontheless.

Like this KIA for example.  

Except the cab forward design taken to extreme like how you said @Robert Hall.

Should electric vehicles follow the styling elements of internal combustion engined vehicles?

In an EV, there is no huge block of iron (or aluminium) to HAVE to be accounted for in the first third of the vehicle and then to stylize and prepare for the cabin. 

I mean, designers and engineers, cant they have carte blanche to design an EV with a brand new way of thinking and engineering?

Do they need to be shackled by old engineering and design standards?

When the automobile was first concieved and the body of the vehicle that housed the passengers was directly lifted by the horse and buggy carriages.  It took a couple of decades to get off of that idiotic way of engineering the 'horseless carriage'.  

I think, today's engineers and designers are smarter, wiser, keener than our forefathers when they done the first automobiles...

I also think its wiser to design and engineer EVs like they are their own entity. Because they are...

Stylistically.  There is nothing wrong with it. 

And if EVs start plopping out looking like that, inherently, there is nothing wrong with that either.

Smartly, they would be engineered this way to look exactly like that...  I presume, inherently, because of the lack of a huge iron or aluminium block up front, lends itself for there to be more cabin space for the passengers... 

Something that was thought of 20 some odd years ago...I might add.   From General Motors as it were...

Those Italian car pictures mimicking the HYWIRE pictures...

1. We wont know the Ultium platform Bolt's msrp until it comes out.   Whenever that will be.  Nothing has been announced . At least Im not informed of anything. 

2. The Equinox EV's starting msrp is said to be around $30 000.  

3. But...GM is pulling an Elon Musk move and will not sell that 30 000 dollar version tout de suite.  GM will sell the higher trimmed versions first.  Not a bad move per se...   But shytty none. the. less.

4. I have a sneaky suspicion that GM will further copycat Elon Musk and wont offer a 30 000 dollar Equinox EV.  And this is where a 30 000 dollar Ultium Bolt comes in...     Its starting msrp now is $27 000.  So yeah, its possible that the starting price tag for the Ultium Bolt will be 30 000.  And the Equinox will be bumped up to 35 000 or maybe even 38 000... 

But in a world where avg US transaction prices for new cars has hit 50 000 American smack-a-roonies...   The American consumer is just as much to blame for this mess as is the car makers that sell cars in North America...

American and Canadian car consumers dont seem to want cheap, stripped cars...   We want all option boxes ticked even in the most cheapest cars available to us to buy.  

Its like going to Micky Dees.  We NEEEEEEEED to supersize everything.   We need just about all the shytty phoquing tech in our most basic of transportational cars.   

Maybe with inflation being sky high as it is, maybe we could live life a little bit more humble?

 But nah!   That will never happen as we American and Canadian consumers are spoiled phoquing little brats!!! 

But we sure like to whine a lot, dont we???!!!

PS:  Canuck rock RULES!!!  

9 hours ago, ccap41 said:

I intended on getting a different strap, be it leather or a bracelet but this was waaaay more comfortable than I expected. I'd still like to get a few different staps for it, just to change it up. Also, with it having a grey dial, I could put nearly any color and I think it would still look good. I'd like a red leather, blue leather, and a green leather strap for it. 

The best part about a non-bracelet strap is the adjustability.

The adjustability is quite understanding.  I got hairy arms myself.  Not too hairy though.  I guess that is why I prefer my watches to be loose fitting. I cant stand them being tight on my wrist.  

The customization that these straps lends themselves to is fantastic.   Fairly inexpensive to buy several different styles and colours  its like you have a different watch with each different strap.  And easy to fit on. 

I definitely see the upsides and the popularity for them.  

I am trying to figure out what Tag Heuer watch I wanted in 1996.  The same year I opened up the restaurant.  It would have been my gift for a succesfull  opening.  I cant for the life of me remember what it was.  It was two tone.  Silver and Gold and had a white face.  Its was kinda like a chrono. I cant find it.  

It was something like this.

It was more silver than gold.  The gold accents, like the watch above, were just that, accents.  Except the face was white. Or it could have been silver. And yes, the band had that gold accent in the middle as well.

This one is a Professional 2000 200 meters.  It looks to be that model going by memory.

This one is too gold-y

Swap the bezels in which the bezel is silver and the gold is just an accent and it would appear to be the Tag I saw and wanted at a Downtown Montreal jewelery front store.  Dont remember what jewelery store it was either... 

14 minutes ago, David said:

@oldshurst442 So you have no restaurant now due to the partner. Has the wife gone bonkers with you being home and wants you to get another place or job? What are you doing?

I dont want to discuss the reasons of me selling.  Too painful, still.   My ex-partner is no longer with us.  By choice...

Im on vacation.  I took about a month off.  Ive got another couple of weeks.   I got another job lined up.   It wont be paying me as much...obviously.  Its still income.   I dont want to discuss where just yet as the job aint secure yet.  Ive got to prove my worth...   Its in management.  So its a decent paying job. I wont get my hands dirty anymore.  More slowpaced.   Im still a boss.  But not THE boss.   

My wife also has gone back to work.  She started today.  We have to compensate in the income.  (cash flow).   She, the last 3 years, she wasnt totally a stay at home wife.  She needed and wanted to get out of the house.  She has a bachelor's degree in finance and in special education.  Before we met, she was quite the intelligent young lady.  I made her drop of few IQ points. LOL.   Anyway, 3-4 years ago, she started working at a primary school nearby our home helping out teachers with special needs children.  A few hours a day.  Well, with the advent of me selling the restaurant so fast, she asked if she could have a more fulltime position and the school agreed.  She is very much needed. Actually, they kept on asking her for more availability...

As cars get faster, and as transmissions get more gears in them and as electric motors have an almost endless amounts of RPMs and almost no need for transmissions...the 1/4 mile speed metric does seem to be too short of a distance metric.  Automobiles today seem to have more pull after the 1/4 mile mark than ever before.  

During the musclecar era ('60s)...doing the 1/4 mile in 14 seconds @ 95 or 100 MPH was fast.  20 years before that time, cars werent even able to do 100MPH let alone to do it in a racing fashion to determine performance domination.

0-60 was a good metric.  That metric today is not as relevent.  Passing times in a specific speed range is much more indicative of what a fast car can do today.    1/4 mile times are becoming what 0-60 became 10-15 years ago.  

Also.  liek @ccap41 stated, tire ratings seem to be the obstacle.  Limiting speed is important though as tires are not engineered to be going that fast in heavy heavy EV vehicles like that.   Especially Raptor like trucks that are buiklt for offroading and the tires offered are of the offraoding kind. 

Yeah I know.   The Raptor aint an EV.   OK...substitute Raptor for GMC Hummer then. 

On 8/26/2023 at 8:47 AM, Drew Dowdell said:

You guys will think I’m weird, but when I wear my watch I have to also wear a cuff or bracelet on the other arm or it feels unbalanced to me. I have a large collection of leather cuffs for my right hand for that reason.

Like how @ccap41 said.   Not weird at all.   

Im not a huge jewelery guy.  Just a watch, wedding ring and my dad's pinky ring is what Ill wear.  His pinky ring has his initials on it and his initials are my intitials as well.  But Ill wear that only on special occasions.  So for me, Im the opposite of you.   But I love wearing watches.  

I had ALWAYS worn watches.  Except when working.  In the restaurant biz, no jewelery allowed.  That means I have never worn my wedding ring.  Only on special occasions.  OK...going to the grocery store sometimes Id wear it.   I recently found out though, since I dont have the restaurant anymore, that my wedding ring does not fit my finger...   

Watches however, if Im going out anywhere, Im going to put on a watch.  Im wearing shorts and a t-shirt on a short jaunt somewheres, Im putting on a watch.  Im going to a wedding, Im wearing a watch.   

2 hours ago, ccap41 said:

Oh no offense taken, bud! 

Honestly, I was really skeptical of it when I bought it. I intended on getting a different strap, be it leather or a bracelet but this was waaaay more comfortable than I expected. I'd still like to get a few different staps for it, just to change it up. Also, with it having a grey dial, I could put nearly any color and I think it would still look good. I'd like a red leather, blue leather, and a green leather strap for it. 

The best part about a non-bracelet strap is the adjustability. I absolutely notice a difference in my body swelling in the middle of the summer versus fall/winter temps. I know higher end bracelets have micro adjustments for this reason but those are expensive watches and even those, not all have micro adjustments.

With that said, my Datejust fits great 90% of the time but a hot summer day, it's juuuuust a bit tight and I'd like to be able to adjust the bracelet a bit. . 

(also not sure why this picture rotates 90 degrees clockwise when adding it. What's weirder, if I go to the image in the folder itself and rotate it to compensate for the 90 degree turn, it stays in THAT orientation. but if I have it correct, it rotates it. WTF?!?)

another beautiful watch.  Im feeling jealousy...

When I opened up my restaurant in the mid to late '90s, I was at a cross roads.  I wanted to start a collection.  

It was between a watch collection or scale 1/18 die cast automobiles.   

The cars won.  And its a good thing.  Diecast cars are less expensive.  And because watches are smaller, I would be able to buy more because watches dont require as much display realestate so potentially, I could have bankrupted myself buying all kinds of watches...   

Id probably start with Tags.  Since that brand was the one to own back then and especially with my entourage and all the people I was hanging around with mingling.  

40 minutes ago, David said:

What facts do you have to back up this fire hazard on batteries?

Answer:

17 hours ago, oldshurst442 said:

Admittedly,  some shyte in my post is overdramatic.  Not without some merit though.  

There are battery cut-off switches...yada yada yada. 

However:

17 hours ago, oldshurst442 said:

Not without some merit though.  

Not proof...but there maybe an elephant in the room that nobody may want to discuss fully...because of this push ton all EVs...

Its a long article.  I copy/pasted a good chunk of it.  

The article concludes that there simply isnt enough data to conclude anything.  There simply isnt enough EVs on the road to suggest safer or more dangerous in fire hazard than ICE.  HOWEVER...thermal events will occur more frequent as EVs become more abundant on the roads.  The article states that EVs and lithium batteries ARE safe...BUT...fires will occur at a more frequent rate as EVs are bought more and more.   So...let us NOT say with a rapid response that ICE cars are more prone for fire than EVs.   EVs are just as inherent to be a fire hazard as gasoline powered cars.  BOTH are flammable.   And engineers NEED to be more vigilant to make sure that lithium battery cells arent as fickle as they are now and start combustin'.    

PS:  ITS NOT FUD TO QUESTION IT!!!  TO QUESTION THE FIRE HAZARDRY OF EVs.   WHEN A  FREAKIN' HUGE BOAT SANK BECAUSE OF A FIRE THAT STARTED FROM A LITHIUM BATTERY POWERED CAR WITH WHAT IT SEEMS TO BE A SPONTANEOUS FIRE.   IF FICKLE STARTS A FIRE...IM NOT SO SURE IF A SIDE IMPACT TO AN EV IS THAT SAFE...IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN...

https://www.forbes.com/sites/neilwinton/2022/03/02/electric-car-fire-risks-look-exaggerated-but-more-data-required-for-definitive-verdict/?sh=4494af312327

The fire risk from electric cars appears to be less than for conventional vehicles, although Americans awaiting their new Volkswagens to be delivered from Europe could be forgiven for doubting that as their new cars were destroyed, apparently by a spontaneous lithium-ion battery fire on the Felicity Ace car transporter ship.

The ship sank Tuesday.

Any firm conclusions on fire risks generally are not yet possible because there is not enough data to decide that pure electric cars are more prone to spontaneous fire than internal combustion engine (ICE) ones, or more likely to burst into flames after an accident

a report in Britain’s Daily Mail quoted the Felicity Ace’s captain Joao Mendes Cabecas saying lithium-ion batteries in the electric cars on board caught fire.

VW warned against a rush to judgement.

“At this time, any comments on the cause are speculative and of course will be subject to investigation,” VW said.

As the battery electric vehicle (BEV) revolution gathers pace, spontaneous fires, or electric car fires after accidents, have attracted media attention. If you see a picture or video of a pricey TeslaTSLA +0.4% engulfed in a spectacular fire it’s easy to make the lazy assumption that this is somehow a problem with all electric cars. After all, a bog-standard internal combustion engine (ICE) car on fire would probably not be in the headlines.  

Graham Conway, principal engineer at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas, said there’s not enough information to decide if EVs are more prone to spontaneous fire than ICE ones.

“It is still too early to make any conclusions about EVs and spontaneity of fires. I just don’t think we have the sample size of data or the reporting structure for fires to say with any certainty. What is clear is that the fire is more difficult to deal with, the energy release during the exotherm of the electrolyte takes a lot of cooling to extinguish,” Conway said

Conway said the data didn’t allow for solid conclusions.

“The NTSB data said that after 41 fatal collisions involving BEVs, 1 caught on fire (2.44%). The NTSB data said that after 20,315 fatal collisions involving gasoline vehicles, 644 caught on fire (3.17%). The NTSB data said that after 543 fatal collisions involving gasoline hybrid vehicles, 12 caught on fire (2.21%),” Conway said.

“But 41 crashes vs 20,315 crashes vs 543 crashes make it statistically irresponsible to compare these numbers. For example, if there was a 42^nd crash with an EV and it caught on fire then it would be 4.76% of EVs or double the rate of hybrids. Until the sample size is the same and significant we just can’t say which will be worse or not,” Conway said.

Richard Billyeald, chief technical officer at Britain’s Thatcham Research, said EVs generally appear less likely fire risks, but the data is limited.

“Our latest research indicates that the risk of a fire for all types of EV remains less likely than for ICE vehicles. It should be noted that the usable data only goes back five years and even now the number of EVs on the roads still represents a very small sample size. This is also reflected in the safety testing we conduct in the U.K. on behalf of Euro NCAP (European auto safety), where despite the robust impacts to the front and particularly the sides of the vehicle where the battery is most vulnerable, there have been no resultant thermal events,” Billyeald said.

“I believe the likelihood of a vehicle’s battery failing is becoming ever more less likely. However the number of EVs on the road is increasing possibly at a higher rate so I believe thermal events for the foreseeable future are still likely,” Petschenyk said.

In a frontal crash an EV is unlikely to cause thermal runaway.

“Side impact or underside puncture I believe may pose a greater risk to EVs than ICE, anything that can cause cell damage or to short, but again assuming the battery has adequate fail safes, thermal runaway risk is minimized. There have been situations where EVs can ignite some time after an incident, this is typically due to coolant leaking into the battery and again causing cells to short, but similarly the risk of this happening is ever diminishing as technology and fail safes improve,” Petschenyk said.

51 minutes ago, smk4565 said:

I don't think it needs to be on the high end of range if doing so is just adding tons of weight that hurts handling, braking, acceleration, efficiency, etc.  You could have a 300 mile range version that would be better in every way except range than the 450 mile version, plus it would cost less.

And Tesla has figured this out to some degree, a Model S dual motor is like 600 lbs less than a dual motor Mercedes EQE sedan and they are about the same size.  Nor surprising the Model S has about 100 miles more range and is a full second faster 0-60, it is hauling less mass around.

You are not wrong about anything you said.

However, because of FUD and mis/dis-information regarding range anxiety and all that nonsense with the biased anti-EV rhetoric, I understand why many (all)  brands want to showcase range and sell their EVs with unnecessary amount of battery in their EVs.  And let us not forget,  this is a flagship EV for Cadillac.   Sure, the Celestiq is the PRIMARY flagship, but the Escalade IQ is as well.  Its a showcase for the big and badass SUV class.  And its separate from the GMC Hummer.

Ill repeat, and its kinda like how you put it. But not with less battery. Its with a breakthrough with lighter materials to counter with the unnecessary amount of battery.    A breakthrough of new engineering techniques with new ways of packaging things that use less materials in the packaging.  Also, the use of stronger yet lighter materials but a way to manufacture these lighter but stronger materials in a profitable way for mass production use.

Example:   Aluminium usage in mass production was prohibitive in the 1980s and expensive in the 1990s but in the 2000s it became feasible and today its almost a go-to metal for mass produced vehicles.   

Example: Find a way to mass produce carbonfibre cheaply and there you go.  

These kinds of breakthroughs are necessary and imagine the first automobile manufacturer to find a way to do these things feasibly, imagine the bragging rights???!!!

1 hour ago, Robert Hall said:

It is funny how in olden days automakers looked at lightening vehicles for performance and/or efficiency, but with EVs the weight is irrelevant...

Yes...

 Admittedly,  some shyte in my post is overdramatic.  Not without some merit though.  

There are battery cut-off switches...yada yada yada.  

The juice to which the accelerator pedal is pressed is not out of control and maniacal...

But the weight problem when North America will eventually switch to and when EVs will outnumber ICE,  WILL be a problem and nobody wants to address it.

And like how you said, light weigh, whether in ICE or EV, WILL improve efficiency.  And the cycle is thus:  Less weight -->greater effeciency -->better range -->longer range --> less KW/H battery needed --> cheaper EV.