Time for a Deep Breath

A (Very) Brief Interlude

Today, a shorter newsletter after the longest of weeks.

The past few days have been mentally distracting, emotionally burdensome, and psychologically exhausting.

This tweet from Venture Capitalist Paul Graham provides an apt metaphor:

Paul Graham @paulg

I feel like someone killed a background process that had been consuming 5% of my CPU for the last 4 years.

And yet, despite the rancor and furor: What a time to be alive!

This may well prove to be the most interesting, consequential, strange year of the early 21st century. I have this lingering feeling that we may be experiencing the last gasps of a number of political, economic, and social institutions.

We are proximate to modern history in the making.

We resemble our forebears gathered round Washington at Valley Forge, Lincoln at Gettysburg, Nixon at Watergate (hopefully not too close to Tricky Dick ;).

The events of the past (and coming) few weeks will go down in history with a reverberating bang, not a meek whimper.

During the most banal of times, I encourage everyone to write. As I have scrawled in a previous post:

To write (even poorly) is to better map one’s mind, order one’s perceptions, and refine one’s thoughts.

The next few weeks hold tremendous consequence.

I implore you to set aside some time to record your thoughts, describe your emotions, pen your concerns, and capture your feelings.

After all, what better, more fascinating gift to yourself, to your descendants, to history as a whole, than a peek into life lived amidst extraordinary events?

At the very least, future you will thank you.

At the very most, future generations will.

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What better way to remind ourselves of America’s beauty and grandeur than the stunning photography of Ansel Adams. Adams captured the raw, unvarnished beauty of America’s national parks and landscapes through stunning black-and-white photography. Interestingly, some of his work is up for auction at Sotheby’s now.

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The Best of the Rest

This past week has felt longer than most.

Indeed, that’s the funny thing about time; on some days it skips and bounds along, on others it crawls like a snail on hard concrete.

Put simply, time is a precious asset; we might as well tell it in as fashionable a way as possible. Below are four timepieces that I would giddily strap on my left wrist were money no object.

🏔️ Jacob & Co Astronomia Everest Watch ($884,800)

While the above timepiece appears delicate and complex, it is ready for the most rugged of adventures. Test it out yourself on a trip to Mt. Everest. Every purchase of the timepiece comes with a journey to the Himalayas led by Swedish explorer Johan Ernst Nilson.

🚗 Ressence X Automobili Amos Type 5X Watch ($34,400)

The new member of the exclusive "Collection X" is a collaboration inspired by the Lancia Delta Futurista. The collection celebrates Ressence's 10th anniversary and tapped Italian race car driver and designer Eugenio Amos for both inspiration and execution for the timepiece. Limited to 40 pieces, it is the brand's first auto-centric offering.

🏁 Carroll Smith's Rolex Daytona (Est. $150,000-$200,000)

Writer, engineer, and driver, Carroll Smith left a legacy on the sport of motor racing, most famously working alongside Carroll Shelby on the Le Mans-winning Ford GT40. Gifted to Smith by the Cuddy Racing team for the 1973 SCCA L&M F5000 Championship Series, this watch was worn by Smith quite often.

⚜️ Patek Philippe owner Charles Stern’s personalized reference 1527 ($6.5M+)

In 1943 Charles Stern, the owner of Patek Philippe, commissioned a watch for himself from his own company. Patek had recently launched the 1518, featuring the firm’s unmatchable perpetual calendar, and the watch that Stern ordered was a version of that model. But he also wanted a dial that went beyond the production design. And for that Charles Stern turned to his old family firm, Fabrique de Cadrans Sterns Frères of Geneva.

Time to get back to work if I ever hope to afford one of the above!

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Per my about page, White Noise is a work of experimentation. I view it as a sort of thinking aloud, a stress testing of my nascent ideas. Through it, I hope to sharpen my opinions against the whetstone of other people’s feedback, commentary, and input.

If you want to discuss any of the ideas or musings mentioned above or have any books, papers, or links that you think would be interesting to share on a future edition of White Noise, please reach out to me by replying to this email.

With sincere gratitude,

Tom