At first glance, the street culture of graffiti seems worlds away from luxury watchmaking. But in the brand’s typical boundary-pushing fashion, Richard Mille has proved the two are a match made in horological heaven.

Richard Mille teamed up with Paris-based artist Cyril Phan (aka ‘Kongo’) to release a world-first tagged Tourbillon, the RM68-01. Kongo was forced to develop brand new technology in order to apply his artistic technique to the watch. Dubbed “micro-painting”, the process allowed the artist to create intricate details on his tiny canvas.

Mille designed the movement to reflect the energy and vibrant colours of Kongo’s artwork. The bridges of the movement arc in different directions like the wild paint strokes seen in street art. From the back, the central form of the baseplate radiates outwards like paint thrown against a wall.

Only 30 of the Kongo-customised wristwatches will be made, all of which are hand-painted, ensuring that each one is absolutely unique.

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There’s nothing you can do about a delayed flight or uncooperative weather, but you can ensure you’re as prepared as possible if your adventure becomes a misadventure. Seasoned travellers can sail through snafus like a Hollywood starlet shaking off a prison sentence.

Above are 15 common beginner travel mistakes. These aren’t the kind of small slips that make a funny story later. These are the miscalculations that cost you time, money, sanity, and dignity. Stick to our guidelines and you’ll have a trip that’s leisurely, stress-free, and unforgettable.

Because no one wants to come home feeling like they need a vacation from the vacation they just took.

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Remember Bar Century? It was that sticky-floored dive bar on George St that was practically giving away $4 beers to fresh-faced 18-year-old binge drinkers. Well, it closed earlier this year to make room for Australia’s first ever Capsule Hotel.

Spanning over three floors and including a bar, lounge area and electronic gaming room, “The Capsule Hotel” might sound like every other tradie pub in the city but with one major difference. Instead of lush hotel rooms and suites, The Capsule Hotel will offer (as the name suggests) 2 x 1.5 metre modular boxes reminiscent of those popular with Japanese businessmen in Tokyo’s Shinjuku nightlife district.

Aimed at solo backpackers, instead of sleazy backpackers and students, The Capsule Hotel is pitched at guests who are perhaps a little too old to stay in a backpackers lodge and want “the comfort of a design hotel without the price tag.”

Giant Design is the firm responsible for the fit-out of The Capsule Hotel, set to open mid-November, which will externally retain its “vintage look and feel, somewhat reminiscent of Soho House in London and New York” but inside will feature capsules ranging between $35 and $50 in price.

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Thought you were going about your Tinder dates in stealth mode? Think again. The Washington Post recently sat down with some major restauranteurs to discover that your awkward first date is not only totally obvious to staff, but pretty laughable when it goes sour.

One general manager of a restaurant recounted seeing a woman whip out Tinder the minute her date left the table and another “witnessed more than one Tinderella arrive, get a glimpse of the person they’re supposed to meet – and head right back out the door.” Ouch.

These days, first dates fill restaurants and bars so often that the staff are almost always onto it when you’re on one. “They’re moderating how much alcohol they drink,” Chris McNeal, general manager of Bar Dupont said. “They have that twitchy-eye thing where, like, they don’t know each other.”

Apparently, your awkward first date isn’t just cringeworthy to watch, it’s also affecting many businesses’ bottom line as every seat is a piece of money-making real estate. Tinder alone claims to generate 1.3 million dates per week and it has begun to transform a restaurants’ table timing, ambience and even the way in which it has been designed.

Gone are the days of the long dinner and even longer movie date. With the rise of geo-locating dating apps like Tinder, Grindr and Bumble, these days practically every first date is ‘blind’, making the less-risky approach of ‘a quick after work drink’ far more appealing. In fact, in a survey of 5,500 American daters conducted by dating app giant Match last year found that the best way to land a second ate is to have the first one of drinks.

According to biological anthropologist Helen Fisher, “It’s a look see…Was she kind to the server? Did he have good taste in wine? A just-drinks date is extremely well built to assemble date about a potential partner.”

Some restaurants have cottoned on to the in-and-out dating phenomenon and have changed the design of their dining rooms accordingly.

“At Bardeo, we had 10 tables, and a lot of those tables were for hour. Every single table, almost every single night, was filled with couples,” restaurant owner Ashok Bajaj said. To accommodate all his hungry Tinder hopefuls, Bajaj did away with booths and installed tables for two which meant more people, more money, and more awkward dates.

So there you have it, it seems you can either embrace the potential awkwardness of a first date restaurant encounter, or forget the formality and just go to a good old fashioned bar.

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Black is the new black. It’s a colour that never goes out of style – and looks particularly cool on a watch.

The first black watches were used by military operators in an effort to reduce the amount of light reflected by a soldier during night ops, and typically featured PVD (physical vapour deposition) coatings. These days, black watches come in a wide variety of materials, from black resins or ceramics to PVD or DLC (diamond-like carbon) finishes.

Be afraid of the dark no more. We’re taking you through some of the finest black watches you can score today.

IWC Schaffhausen Big Pilot’s Watch 43 TOP GUN

Let’s kick things off with the IWC Schaffhausen Big Pilot’s Watch 43 TOP GUN. IWC has always been one of the leading producers of black watches – indeed, they were one of the first watchmakers to make watch cases in black ceramic. To this day, they remain a leading innovator and producer of ceramic watches.

This blackened version of their iconic Big Pilot honours the pilots of the United States Navy Fighter Weapons School (better known as TOP GUN), the best of the best in the air. Utilitarian, highly legible and oblique, it combines a black ceramic case with titanium hardware.

Retail Price: AU$15,400

Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar

Legendary fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld arguably kicked off the black watch craze back in the 70s with his aftermarket PVD-coated black Audemars Piguet Royal Oak. These days, AP uses hand-finished ceramic to give their iconic luxury sports watch a black makeover.

Unlike Lagerfeld’s time-only piece, this luxurious black Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar features day, date, month, astronomical moon, and week of the year indicators. The leap year indication – pioneered by Audemars Piguet in 1955 – is also featured on the “Grande Tapisserie” decorated dial, integrated into the month display at 12 o’clock. This is a black watch non-pareil.

Retail Price: AU$137,490

TAG Heuer Monaco ‘Dark Lord’

A tribute to the coveted ref. 74033 from the 1970s, the TAG Heuer Monaco ‘Dark Lord’ is a devilish take on the distinctive square chronograph. Released in time for the 2022 Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix, its black case and dial are contrasted by rose gold and red highlights – this is one for the collectors.

Compared to the original Dark Lord, this 2022 iteration features a much more scratch-resistant black DLC coating which covers the entire case, crown, and pushers – which the original didn’t have. it’s also crafted from titanium instead of steel, which means despite its heavy metal appearance, this bad boy is pleasingly light on the wrist.

Retail Price: AU$11,850

Tudor Black Bay Ceramic

When the Tudor Black Bay Ceramic dropped in 2021, it immediately caused a stir. This murdered-out take on Tudor’s popular retro dive watch immediately ruffled feathers. Not only is it Tudor’s first-ever ceramic watch, it’s also the first METAS-certified watch that isn’t an OMEGA – Tudor and Rolex tend to chase COSC certification, so it’s another point of difference.

Mounted on a hybrid leather and rubber strap and aggressively monochromatic, the Tudor Black Bay Ceramic is a rather unusual beast and is easily one of the most exciting watches Tudor has ever made. It’s also one of the best black watches on the market.

Retail Price: AU$6,590

Seiko Prospex Black Series ‘Captain Willard’

Nicknamed ‘Captain Willard’ by fans for Martin Sheen’s character who wore it in Apocalypse Now, this 70s-era dive watch remains one the most popular and capable timepieces in Seiko’s extraordinarily large repertoire thanks to its unique chunky case with the crown mounted at 4 o’clock.

Stealthy let legible, this limited edition combines a black DLC case with orange highlights, green lume and a brown nylon strap. It also comes with an optional black rubber strap if you need more black in your life.

Retail Price: AU$1,995

OMEGA Seamaster Professional Diver 300M ‘Triple Black’

Continuing on our theme of blacked-out dive watches, we have this startling rendition of the 90s favourite, the OMEGA Seamaster Professional Diver 300M.

Its case, bezel, wave-pattern dial, crown and helium escape valve are all made from black ceramic. OMEGA has even used anthracite Super-LumiNova on the watch’s diving scale, the black PVD indexes, skeleton hands and dot at 12H for even more blacked-out goodness. It looks sick, but good luck reading this watch…

Retail Price: AU$13,200

Hublot Big Bang Integral Black Magic

The futuristic Hublot Big Bang can be found in a wide variety of colourful ceramics but for our money, this Big Bang Integral Black Magic is the pick of the litter.

Boasting an integrated ceramic bracelet and slick black and red colour scheme, this is one macho-looking timepiece. A rubberised crown and chrono pushers also in black add to its purposeful appearance.

Retail Price: AU$28,000

Baume & Mercier Riviera Baumatic ‘Smoky Dial’

One of the more underrated releases from Watches & Wonders 2022, the Baume & Mercier Riviera Baumatic ‘Smoky Dial’, as you may have guessed, features a cool smoky grey sapphire dial that subtly reveals the inner workings of its in-house Baumatic movement (which boasts an impressive 120hr power reserve).

Then, mount that dial in a black steel-ADLC dodecagonal case with a black rubber strap? You’ve got a winner on your hands, Baume. This is a great Swiss-made black luxury watch that won’t break the bank either.

Retail Price: AU$6,150

Panerai Submersible Marina Militare Carbotech

Rounding off our list we have the Panerai Submersible Marina Militare Carbotech, which unlike the other watches on this list, which are made from ceramic or DLC-coated metals, is made from Carbotech, a signature Panerai carbon fibre composite material that’s lighter than titanium, tougher than steel and completely scratch-resistant.

Named after and made in homage to the commandos of the Italian navy, this techy 47mm dive watch features an engraving of a frogman on its caseback along with a ‘Survival Instruments’ designation – testament to its toughness.

Retail Price: AU$28,300

• Best Chronograph Watches To Stop The Clock For
• Best Dive Watches That Should Be On Your Radar

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You’ve swiped your way to a first date and now comes the hard part: proving you’re interesting even when you’re not hiding behind a screen. It’s one thing to craft an engaging profile when you have hours to perfect it; it’s another to be engaging on the fly.

How do you come off as calm, collected, cool, and compelling in real-time? Science offers these 3 strategies for nailing the first date conversation.

#1 Talk About Travel

A study by Richard Wiseman found that a beloved topic for first date talk isn’t as effective as you might think. When talking about movies, less than 9% of participating pairs wanted to meet up again. After a chat about travel, on the other hand, that number doubled to 18%.

Men and women tend to have strongly different tastes in film. Forty-nine percent of men in the study liked action films compared to just 18% of women, and 29% of women liked musicals, compared to only 4% of men. Participants who talked about movies ended up arguing, while those who talked about travel shared stories of memorable holidays and fantisized about dream destinations. The latter makes people feel good, and consequently appear more attractive to one another.

#2 Be Open To Intimacy

Intimacy is an obvious requirement for a budding relationship, but research shows just how powerful it really is. Arthur Aron, a psychologist at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, devised an ingenious method for creating lightning-fast intimacy with couples who have just met. In an hour or less, he sparked intimacy levels that typically take weeks, months, or years to form.

Aron accelerated the getting-to-know-you process using a set of thirty-six questions that encourage deep dialogue. At the end of his experiment, the intensity of participating partners’ bonds was rated as closer than the closest relationship in the lives of 30% of similar students. And that was after only 45 minutes. Sharing emotional, personal information proved to be a potent way to kindle feelings of connection.

#3 Don’t Fear The Controversial

Traditional dating advice cautions against including controversial subjects, like religion and politics, in first date conversation. Research from Dan Ariely paints a different picture.

Ariely’s experiment found that interesting, personally revealing, and potentially contentious questions (like “Do you have any STDs?” and “Have you ever broken someone’s heart?”) created much livelier conversations than playing it safe.

When you’re afraid to rock the boat, your conversations aren’t just dull – they’re also inadequate tools for assessing the potential for long-term compatibility. Embracing controversial questions made everyone happier with the interaction at the end of Ariely’s study.

[Via TIME]

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Is it possible to surprise a man who has been to 75 countries and eaten maggot fried rice? Anthony Bourdain may seem unflappable, but there’s a destination he calls “intimidating” and “thrilling” despite his many adventures, especially for solo travellers: Tokyo.

Bourdain dishes on the Japanese capital in an interview with Travel + Leisure. “Tokyo is very exciting alone,” he said. “Every time you need to feed yourself at a restaurant you’re taking the plunge, stepping through the curtains into a room filled with locals, menus in Japanese, feeling awkward and freakish—the tallest guy in the room—having no clue what it is that they’re serving.”

The author, chef, and television personality remembers his first time in Tokyo as “an eye-opening, traumatizing, life-changing experience.” Even now, though he has visited many times and his travels have taken him to some of the most unusual locales on earth, Bourdain is still challenged and inspired by the city.

“When you finally get to the point when you can order breakfast at a restaurant? That’s a great feeling of accomplishment,” said Bourdain. “That’s what I love about Tokyo. You’re forced to learn stuff every inch of the way.”

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Elon Musk is no stranger to far out ideas that we often question at first, but this one has to take the cake. The billionaire owner of SpaceX recently made headlines when he dropped his theory that we’re all living in a giant video-game simulation created by a super intelligent entity.

It might sound like all kinds of crazy but during that same on-stage interview with the founders of Recode, Musk also mentioned his desire to develop an implantable computer for the human brain that would prevent our future destruction by ultra-intelligent AI beings.

Musk refers these computer brain implants as ‘neural lace’, a term coined by sci-fi novelist Iain M. Banks in his Culture series about a utopian futuristic society.

Banks’ version of ‘neural lace’ is a mesh-like device humans would implant in their brains to control the release of certain neurons with specific thoughts. Musk’s idea of neural lace, however, would add a digital layer of artificial intelligence to our brains, working symbiotically with our cortex and limbic systems to enhance intelligence. The thinking is, if AI takes over then this neural lace would ensure we are humans aren’t rendered obsolete.

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Whether you’re a fan of Snapchat or avoid it like the teenage plague, there’s no denying that the wildly popular social media app is growing beyond the scope of its initial function.

Following in the footsteps of Facebook as a source of information, Snapchat has announced that it will be starting its very own digital magazine called Real Life which will focus on tech stories from the industry. More specifically, it will only be publishing one thorough piece of writing every weekday which will live on a website as opposed to the app. A blog post from the soon-to-be-announced Editor Nathan Jurgenson, revealed that the site will produce “essays, arguments, and narratives about living with technology.”

Jurgenson added that Real Life will “eventually expand to other mediums and formats as well.”

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