Comments on: A Guide To Wearing Men’s Bracelets (Tastefully) & The Bes

Scientist’s ‘Contamination’ Experiment Proves Why Masks Are Still So Damn Important

In a perverse turn of events, the United States has become the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic, while China seems to be bouncing back. Whilst most countries seem to be ‘flattening the curve’, things don’t seem to be getting any better in America – hundreds are dying every day.Americans, particularly those on the conservative side of politics, have an almost self-defeating obsession with personal freedoms. Thousands of Americans have forgone social distancing measures and refuse to wear personal protective equipment (PPE) like face masks or rubber gloves because they don’t like the inconvenience (or being told what to do). And America’s paying the price: there are over 2.5 million cases in continental USA alone.Australia’s not immune to this attitude either. Melbourne’s seen a huge spike in coronavirus cases recently due to social isolation breaches, i.e. people not observing social distancing or properly wearing PPE. International flights into the city have been cancelled for the next fortnight to help curb the state’s high infection rate, and a number of hotspot suburbs have been completely locked down, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.We get it – no-one wants to wear a face mask. Thankfully, most people aren’t so selfish and just deal with what’s really quite a minor inconvenience.For those of you still on the fence, an American scientist recently shared a basic experiment which proves how useful PPE is in preventing the proliferation of disease, and why it’s still so f*cking important to wear a mask.

What does a mask do? Blocks respiratory droplets coming from your mouth and throat.

Two simple demos:First, I sneezed, sang, talked & coughed toward an agar culture plate with or without a mask. Bacteria colonies show where droplets landed. A mask blocks virtually all of them. pic.twitter.com/ETUD9DFmgU— Rich Davis, PhD, D(ABMM), MLS (@richdavisphd) June 26, 2020

Dr. Rich Davis, a microbiologist from Washington state, shared this ‘simple demo’ in order to demonstrate how effective masks are at stopping respiratory droplets.When you cough, sneeze or even speak, you’re basically aerosolising bacteria or viruses. It’s why it’s so important to cover your mouth when you sneeze: if you don’t, it’s like you’re firing a shotgun round of germs into the air.Davis followed up his initial tweet with a disclaimer:

“I’m aware that this simple (n=1) demo isn’t how you culture viruses or model spread of SARS-CoV-2. But colonies of normal bacteria from my mouth/throat show the spread of large respiratory droplets, like the kind we think mostly spread COVID-19, and how a mask can block them!”

To be frank, this experiment disgusted us – and that’s kind of the point. Masks are an effective tool in containing the spread of disease, and you’d be a fool to not wear one if you live in a coronavirus hotspot.But masks are only one piece of the puzzle. Social distancing; making sure you’re regularly and properly washing your hands; working from home and avoiding unnecessary travel; supporting your immune system by eating well and exercising… These are all important (and easy) steps we can all take to prevent the proliferation of this awful virus.Stay clean, gents.

Keep A Positive Mindset

It may sound trite but a positive mindset can make all the difference both to your physical and mental health. Sometimes, health gains or losses are purely psychosomatic. If you’re worried about getting sick, you’re more likely to get sick. If you think you’re going to be well, you’re more likely to feel well. It’s why placebos in medical trials often return illogically positive results: you’re expecting to be better, so you become better.This doesn’t mean you should eat like a pig, avoid exercise and just try and ~manifest~ gains. But if you’re trying to avoid getting ill or maintain your fitness levels, a positive attitude can make a world of difference.

Stay Hydrated

Brady recommends consuming 1/32 of your bodyweight in water every day (he weighs 102kgs, so that’s 3.2l, FYI). The whole ‘8 glasses of water a day’ adage has very little scientific basis, but drinking plenty of water has almost no adverse health impacts and could be incredibly valuable for maintaining peak condition.Making sure you’re having plenty to drink, and swapping unhealthy drinks like cola or beer for healthier alternatives like tea or water ensures that your body is ticking over smoothly.

Eat Your Vegetables

This one’s a no-brainer. Veggies are good for you, champ. Make sure you’re getting your ‘five a day’. Next!

Micronutrients, Trace Minerals & Probiotics

Brady explicitly mentions Vitamins C and D; zinc; essential fatty acids and probiotics as must-haves. A balanced diet is critical to building a strong immune system: you need to make sure you’re consuming enough essential micronutrients and trace minerals like the ones he’s mentioned.Vitamin C is readily found in fruits and veggies, and Vitamin D comes from the sun, baby! Make sure you’re getting outside, even if you’re working from home!Zinc, essential fatty acids (e.g. omega-3 and omega-6) and other important stuff like iron, folate or niacin can be found in animal proteins like fish and red meat. This ties in to another of Brady’s recommendations: eat lots of protein.Probiotics (aka ‘good bacteria’) are also important for maintaining gut health and can have a substantial impact on your health. If your immune system has been compromised and you’ve had to take antibiotics, restoring your microflora needs to be a priority once you’re well.Luckily, the easiest source of probiotics is good-quality yogurt, which also contains valuable protein and calcium. Fermented foods like pickles, miso, tempeh or kimchi are also easy ways to get probiotics into you.

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A post shared by Tom Brady (@tombrady) on Jun 23, 2020 at 7:28am PDT

Move For 30-60 Minutes Each Day

Another no-brainer is making sure you’re not sedentary and doing just a bit of exercise every day, which makes a huge difference in the long run. Whether that’s walking the dog, taking the stairs, a nice morning swim or structured workouts, every little bit helps.A great way to fit exercise into a busy routine is high-intensity interval training (HIIT). Check out our guide to HIIT here.

Skipping Sugar

Added or ‘hidden’ sugar is absolutely rife in the things we eat or drink, and it can be surprising how much sugar is added to things that either don’t need it, or you wouldn’t expect to contain sugar.It’s perhaps not surprising that there’s 40g of sugar in a standard Australian 375ml can of Coke, but did you know there’s 12g of sugar in a can of tomato soup – the same as a bowl of ice cream?Natural sugars from fruits or juices aren’t quite as bad for you as the refined sugars common in snacks or soft drinks, but it still adds up. For example, there’s about 8g of sugar in a glass of orange juice, which doesn’t sound like much but works out to about 16% of your daily intake.Keeping an eye on your sugar intake and avoiding sugary food options is an easy way to stay fit.

The Importance Of Sleep

Lastly, getting a good 8 hours is crucial for maintaining your health. Sleep is involved in healing and repair of your heart and blood vessels, and ongoing sleep deficiency is linked to an increased risk of heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and stroke, this study reveals.The less you sleep, the more stressed you are, too. That links back to our point about psychosomatic illness: stress can have a tangible physical effect on your health, and skimping on sleep can undermine all your good work in other areas.

Bremont MBII Quick Facts

MODEL: MBII-BK/JET
MATERIAL: B-EBE2000 Hardened Stainless Steel
MOVEMENT: BE-36AE, based on ETA 2836-2
SIZE: 43mm
PRICE: $6,800

If you’re familiar with the 2009-era MBII, then this updated model will probably look startlingly different. If, however, you’re new to the brand or at least the MBII series, then you’ll instantly notice the clean dial. Clean in the sense the only complication is a date window, although we wouldn’t quite call it minimalist, at least compared to some other watches that fall into a similar category.

Despite it sporting the same 43mm diameter as its predecessor, this 2020 MBII actually gives the illusion that it’s smaller, due to a more prominent and darker-in-colour (on the black dial version, at least) chapter ring. Bremont has also stripped back the minute markers, making them less pronounced, letting the hour markers take centre stage instead.

The hands have had a refresh too, with the black colour mismatching hour hand of the 2009 model being replaced by colour-matching sword style hands. A day-date window has been substituted for just a date on the new model, too. We have no complaints about the positioning of the date window here, with it taking place of where the number 3 would normally be placed. A day function would have been appreciated, especially as the movement inside is capable of displaying such information, so we’re not entirely sure why Bremont decided to remove it.

The casing, however, remains the same. This is Bremont’s forte after all. Our model was presented on a silver hardened steel case with a black middle barrel. Both of these pieces are now customisable, either the steel we received of black DLC (diamond-like carbon) for the case, and a choice of nine colours for the middle barrel (we would have loved to have seen it in orange, but beggars can’t be choosers).

Elsewhere, aesthetically, the latest MBII mimics its predecessor, with two crowns at 2 and 4 o’clock. The upper crown handles time and date setting, while the lower is used to turn the dial. Bremont’s own Roto-Click bezel needs mentioning here, as it gives a satisfying click with each turn.

Specs of this MBII round out with 100 metres of water resistance and a domed (incredibly so) sapphire crystal. With aviation being the target group, it more than meets the criteria of being legible, and from all angles at that.

The movement inside, which you now physically see via an open caseback (an optional choice) isn’t an in-house Bremont movement. The company says we will see one eventually, but right now, sources them from ETA and makes some modifications. So what you’re getting here is the Bremont BE-36AE, which in reality is an ETA 2836-2. It’s a self-winding movement with 38 hours of reserve power, 25 jewels and a frequency of 28,800hz.

Enough talk about what the MBII offers, how does it actually feel on the wrist? In our experience, incredibly comfortable. The leather strap (changeable to steel or any of 10 leather options with various colours of stitching) moulds well around the wrist and doesn’t give out any hint of squeak (something we’ve noticed on straps from other watchmakers).

A 43mm dial may seem large to some, but this is a watch designed to be glanced at quickly during flight, so a larger dial is necessary. Having worn timepieces from various manufacturers and in various sizes, we’d argue a 40 or 41mm case is the absolute ideal.

We expected the two crowns to dig into our hand but are happy to report we were subjected to no such torture. And despite the materials used in the build of the MBII – which includes an iron inner case for its anti-magnetic properties and a patented floating cage to minimise the effect of any shocks on the movement, such as being ejected from an ejector seat – it feels remarkably lightweight.

If the 43mm case doesn’t deter you, then we’re resolutely sure you will find the 2020 MBII to be a comfortable daily wearer.

So, if we’ve done enough to convince you that the Bremont MBII should be your next purchase, we imagine you’ll be keen to know about the price. $6,800 is the asking price for this particular configuration. That figure can of course change depending on which options you select at the customisation stage.

Dial, barrel colour and leather strap can all be changed without affecting the price (unless you want the titanium barrel, a $130 extra). If you want the black DLC case option you can expect to pay $7,065 instead of the base price. Want an open caseback? Of course, you do. That’s an extra $200. and if you’d rather have your timepiece on the stainless steel bracelet then you’ll need to pay another $650.

Also ‘pops’ against a backdrop like a charm.

At the base cost, however, the Bremont MBII can be directly compared against the IWC Schaffhausen Pilot’s Watch Mark XVIII, which is ever-so-slightly easier on the wallet at $6,550. The IWC, naturally, also appeals to aviation enthusiasts and, like the Bremont, doesn’t feature an in-house movement.

We’d argue the IWC’s 40mm dial is more manageable and therefore more appealing to a wider audience but aesthetically, which model you prefer is entirely down to personal tastes and brand loyalty.

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