Top 10 of 2019

Frankly, we’re glad 2019 is coming to an end.  We’re ready for a new start in a new decade.  Hopefully, the world will get on with the name Roaring 20s again, and it will actually roar.  In the watch world, it’s been an exciting few years, a Cheese watch selling for $100K USD, Paul Newman’s Paul Newman Daytona selling for $17mil USD, and Timex releasing some of the most interesting watches of the year in 2019.  We’re here to give you the download of the Top Ten Things of 2019.  Watches, cars, TV shows, everything is fair game.  Let’s get it!

10 Devolved Parliament

A 2009 Banksy Painting, Devolved Parliament, auctioned by Sotheby’s in London on October 3 in London for a cool £9,879,500. (~$12,000,000 USD)  Five times the estimate, it landed at nearly ten million pounds after a 13 minute bidding war.  The enormous painting features the British House of Commons with the politicians replaced with Chimpanzees.  Banksy has said he’s made changes the 8’x13′ work over the years. Sotheby’s info here.

09 THE CYBERTRUCK!

The Tesla Cypertruck is a thing of beauty.  Ugly in its brutalist style.  Bearing three engines on the top-end model and charging $7000 for the self driving software addon who could resist?  This truck and its botched press launch won’t easily be forgotten. Get started today for $100.

  
08 The Mandalorian

At long last and much to the chagrin of parents everywhere, Disney launched their own steaming service, Disney+.  Included in this SVOD product are all the Star Wars films and most of the classic Disney movies we all know and love.  Possible watch related Disney Movie titles: 101 Paul Newmans, Lady and the Tourbillion,  The Jungle Dial GMT.  OK, I’m, done.

To launch their new service, Disney threw down on Netflix and Hulu with a Star Wars original live-action series; The Mandalorian.  It features a baby Yoda.  That is all. (And Gus Fring!)

07 Midsommar

Director Ari Aster’s second feature film.  A modern day folk-horror set in Sweden.  Drop everything and rent it now on all the usual platforms.  And while you’re at it, watch his first feature Hereditary on Netflix.  Aster is our favorite new director.  Both films are top shelf genre-bucking “horror+” masterpieces.  

06 The Mid Engine C8 Corvette

We’ve been waiting for years, maybe decades.  It finally happened in 2019.  Chevrolet abandons its tried and true front engine Corvette for a fiery new mid-engine layout.  This car even won MOTORTREND‘s 2020 car of the Year.   Very fairly priced, starting at $59,995, I’ll take one.  (EDITOR’S note:  We haven’t been able to work out timing for Chevy for a trial, but stay tuned.)

05Bulgari’s Octo Finissimo Chrono GMT

Launched at Baselworld 2019 this watch ticks all the boxes.  Cool factor, automatic movement, gmt complication, and titanium case.  I was sold after trying one on at an NYC Redbar gathering.  I was hooked after 10 seconds.  Apparently everyone agreed on how cool this watch it because it won the 2019 GPHG Chronograph watch award.  We’re not huge chronograph guys here at Fake Alligator but this watch does the business. Buy directly from Bulgari here or Hodinkee here.

04 Auction Hype

After the fabled Paul Newman Paul Newman Daytona Auction in October 2017, every time a celebrity watch auction happens, the world is watching.  Phillips’ Game Changers action featured Marlon Brando’s Apocalypse Now Rolex GMT Master and Jack Nicklaus’s Rolex Day Date he’s worn for decades.  Auction night comes and goes.   Both watches bomb, depending on who you ask, with Brando’s GMT going for $1.95 million USD and the Nicklaus Day-Date fetching $1.22 million USD.

03 Travis Scott Jordan 1 High

The creepy brown color, the backwards swoosh, the frowny face stamp on the rear all add up to the coolest sneaker release of 2019.  There’s a hidden pouch for your extra change, too.  Perfect for wearing with jeans and a Gruebel Forsey GMT Quadruple Tourbillon.

02 The Timex Q

A reissue of a watch from 1979 the “Q” references the Pepsi bezel of the Rolex GMT models. The announcement in the Spring brought in mild some fan faire.  Once people got their hands on it, it took on a life of its own. The case is bizarre.  I mean Bizarre in a good way.  We bought one online like everyone else on planet Earth and didn’t know what to expect.   Well, what showed up was a fine presentation box, and a watch the transcended all expectations.  The case is lovely and very comfortable, the 7-link-wide bracelet also very comfortable, the fau-tina lume fit right in to the 70s aesthetic..  It’s been on one of our editor’s wrists for most of the year.

01 A duct-taped Banana

The Banana duct-traped to the wall at Art BaselThis year’s Art Basel in Miami was hilighted by a fantastic Maurizio Cattelan piece cleverly titled “Comedian”.  Created simply out of a Banana and a strip of duct tape, Gallerist Emmanuel Perrotin sold three copies for $120,000 each…..  NYC based performance artist David Datuna walked up to the version on display, pulled it from the wall and ate it.  The absolute best moment of the show. The absurdity is exactly what Fake Alligator is about. Mega crazy, mega expensive and totally insane.

There you have it, the Fake Alligator Top 10 of 2019! Thoughts? Feelings?