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What to Wear: Back to School

By Ann Binlot Published August 6, 2021

Yes it’s September and for those of you who are in college, that means you’re probably back to school. We know how tempting it is to just roll out of bed and throw on a hoodie, jeans and a pair of sneakers, but do you think that’s really going to impress that pretty sorority girl in your economics class that you’ve had your eye on? Stop kidding yourself and clean up your look.

First thing’s first, you’ll need a nice backpack to carry around all those gadgets you need for taking notes and keeping up your Instagram, Facebook and Twitter feeds. Oh yeah, and for all those books as well. Then go for a nice yet cool button-up shirt a pair of fall appropriate corduroy pants, slick shoes and a hip jacket. Throw on a watch so you’re not late to class and glasses so you can see the chalkboard.

Now go see if you’ve caught her eye.

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Biography Wear Bio-Canvas Pack, $80 at karmaloop.com; Nooka Zoo AL Blue Watch, $225 at nooka.com; Minimum Shirt With All Over Pattern, $106.69 at asos.com; Jack Spade Slim Fit Corduroy Pants $195 at shop.nordstrom.com; Macbook Air, starting at $999 at store.apple.com; Drift Eyewear The Caulfield, visit drifteyewear.com; Acne Brando Jacket, $763.14 at farfetch.com; Bass Burlingon Plain Toed Shoes, $84.99 at macys.com

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Ann Binlot is a New York-based freelance writer who contributes to publications like The Economist, Wallpaper*, Monocle…

Fashion & Style

Swatch’s new gold MoonSwatch is priced like it’s 1969

The Mission to the Moon 1969 packs 11 grams of real 18K gold — priced at the 1969 gold rate.

Wristwatch, Arm, Body Part

Guess what? It's another MoonSwatch — but this isn't just another colorway. The new drop from the Switzerland-based watchmaker, the MoonSwatch Mission to the Moon 1969, is the first to use real gold across the dial, hands, crown, and pushers.

The watch marks the anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on July 21, 1969.

Fashion & Style

Breitling’s new Top Time is a wearable tribute to the Aston Martin DB5

The new watches rep the iconic Bond car right down to subdials shaped like its dashboard gauges.

Car, Watch, Man

Breitling just released a trio of heaters: the Top Time B01 Chronograph 41 Tribute to Aston Martin DB5, a three-edition collaboration with the British carmaker. The connection between the Swiss watchmaker and the British car company runs back to 1965, when a Top Time ref. 2002 appeared on Sean Connery's wrist in Thunderball, worn alongside the DB5 — the first Q-modified watch in the Bond series. It's a nice bit of trivia that the DB5 and that Top Time shared the screen in the same film, and both went on to outlive the movie by decades.

The car cues go deeper than the "squircle" gauge-shaped subdials: a wooden inner ring nods to the DB5's steering wheel, and each edition rides on a hand-colored gradient calfskin strap meant to read like automotive upholstery. All three run on Breitling's in-house Manufacture Caliber 01, a COSC-certified automatic chronograph with a 70-hour power reserve, visible through a sapphire caseback and finished with an Aston Martin-engraved rotor. The case measures 41mm. The editions are divvied up by material and rarity. Stainless steel with a silver dial is limited to 1,022 pieces and sticks closest to the original ref. 2002, while steel with a platinum bezel and black lacquered dial drops to 315 pieces.

Fashion & Style

Look to the sky for these space themed watches

These 5 space themed watches will have you seeing stars

Accessories, Strap, Wristwatch

It was the 1960s. We were in the middle of a Cold War with Russia, and instead of escalating to an actual war with bullets and bombs, we took the conflict to the sky. We created a war of economics, science, and morale in a race to the sky to be the first nation to reach the moon. While the race picked up throughout the decade, it came down to the wire before the USA won the race by landing on the moon (if you believe that sort of thing and don't believe Stanley Kubrick directed the greatest ruse of all time). In any case, no race can be run without a good timekeeper. And watches were a must-have for all involved. Ever since, chronophiles like me have been obsessed with space-themed watches and, in particular, moon mission watches.

That is why I happened to have this list in my head. Five watches that bring the space race and the great beyond to the forefront of thinking to build a collection that is out of this world.