It Was a Good Time

 

via A Blog to Read

I realize that all of you are probably wondering “What on earth can I get Joseph for Christmas?”  Well wonder no longer folks, ‘cause I’ve found just the thing!  Sure,  Manufacture Royale’s Opera time-piece watch will set you back $1,200,000… but can you really put a price on friendship? Plus, according to their nine-page (!) press release they boast to be “unashamedly elitist” so… you know… it’s perfect for me.

Fashioned from 319 parts, this steampunkian time-piece is made from 18k rose and gray gold, polished brass in various tones and finishes, three sapphire crystals, twenty nine rubies and strap of what I can only assume is baby unicorn hide Mississippi alligator skin.

If that weren’t enough, the hours are chimed in with an A and the minutes with a C#.  You know, just in case you need to tune an orchestra and the concert master is out getting drinks with the oboe section.

The accordion-like extension of the watch acts as a resonating chamber for the above mentioned A and C#, most likely so it can create a louder disturbance while at the opera.  PLEASE TURN OFF ALL $1,200,000 WATCHES BEFORE THE CURTAIN RISES!!!!!

Apparently the watch comes in a veneered wooden box carved to resemble the Bastille Opera House. I mean, why wouldn’t it?

So act fast, readers, because only 12 of these little gems will be made!

 

Artist: Liza Minnelli/ Album: Liza with a Z

(I actually had a plethora of song choices for this one as the word “time” showed up in exactly 700 titles on my iTunes.  To be fair, that does include words like timeless and springtime but also sentimental and the Latin word timet [thanks Mozart!] I chose this one however because, well… it’s Liza and I’ve seen her in concert and it’s my favorite song from the album. Also, the song reminds me of my friend Nate, so that doesn’t hurt either. Not that I needed any justification or you actually needed any explanation.)

Other choices included:

- What Time is It? (Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire)— too literal

- Timewatching (The Divine Comedy’s Liberation)

- The Best of Times (Jerry Herman’s La cage aux folles)

- The Second Time Around (Eileen Farrell I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues)—you know, because a second is also a measurement of time and all