Posts tagged Luxury
Five Automotive-Themed Watches To Keep The Car Lover On Your Gift List On Time
Dec 14th
Nobody likes being late and while anyone can check the time on their smartphone, it’s not a particularly elegant option. Watches have made a huge comeback lately (especially mechanical watches that don’t require batteries to run) and it’s easy to see why. With a style to fit nearly any wrist, there’s something cool about strapping a tiny little machine or supercomputer to your wrist. Being a bunch of car lovers here at Morrie’s, we figured we’d compile a list of our favorite automotive-themed watches to keep the car lover on your holiday gift list on time.
We’re big fans of Autodromo, not just for their watches, but also because the owner of the company is a big car guy. He races a vintage Alfa Romeo and creates some great driving gloves as well as sunglasses. Autodromo’s watches (ranging from $375 – $1,200) are offered in five styles, although we prefer the models that emulate the classic gauges of our favorite race cars such as the “Veloce”, the “Stradale”, and the “Group B”.
While Autodromo is a relative newcomer to watch world, Tissot has been assembling watches since 1853. While that was quite a while before the first cars (or horseless carriages) were ever created, Tissot has built a solid reputation for themselves with a line of automotive-themed watches. The range features both quartz (battery-powered) and mechanical watches with prices ranging from about $350 – $2,000.
For those that appreciate motorcycles, Tudor offers the Fastrider chronograph (about $4,000) in conjunction with Ducati. Available in three unique colors taken directly from the hot new Ducati Scrambler motorcycles, they also come with a really unique leather strap that reminds us of our favorite leather jacket.
One name synonymous with motorsports and cars in general is Steve McQueen. While Heuer (now Tag Heuer) has been around since 1860, Heuer went through a bit of a golden age when they began sponsoring motor racing events in the 1960s. That resurgence hit critical mass when Steve McQueen began wearing a blue and red Heuer Monaco at the track and on set while filming movies like LeMans. As such, that style of Monaco has been dubbed the “Steve McQueen” and now Tag Heuer is offering an updated version with their Caliber 11 movement for 2015 ($5,500).
One of the quintessential timepieces that harkens back to vintage racing is the Chopard Mille Miglia. Named after the famous 1,000 km street race through Italy, the Mille Miglia comes on a really cool rubber strap made from actual recycled tires and stamped with a cool vintage tire tread pattern. We especially like the Mille Miglia GTS Power Control ($6,640) model seen below because it features a power reserve indicator that looks just like a gas gauge to alert the wearer when the watch needs to be wound.
Those of you who attend our Formula One viewing parties at our Morrie’s Heritage Car Connection warehouse, you might’ve seen three-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton sporting his signature IWC Ingenieur Chronograph ($15,200) around the paddock. The titanium case, ceramic crown and chronograph pushers, and carbon fiber dial just scream motorsports.
But for those who aren’t part of the Lewis Hamilton Fan Club might want to consider something even more exotic: the carbon fiber-cased IWC Ingenieur Automatic Carbon Performance Ceramic. With a case made out of solid carbon fiber and accented with shiny and nearly indestructible black ceramic, this lightweight watch is just as much F1 car as it is a watch ($20,800).
OK, so that was more than five watches but with so many cool options out there, we didn’t like limiting ourselves, or you, from seeing some really cool watches. And since we already blew past our five watch limit, we’ve got one more holy grail of a watch to share with you…
The MB&F HM5 CarboMacrolon is a true piece of haute horology with a completely in-house designed movement and a sleek case that was designed as an homage to one of the most beautiful cars ever built: the Lamborghini Miura. Limited to just 66 pieces in each of three colors, we picked this version as the best of the bunch. What makes this watch so unique is the fact that this is a mechanic watch that displays the time in a digital way, showing the time in two little windows on the side of the watch. What would normally be the face of the watch is actually made up of intricate movable louvers that can be opened by the wearer to allow light to come through the watch and illuminate the time readout. But good looks don’t come cheap – the MB&F HM5 CarboMacrolon carries an eye-watering pricetag of $63,000, or about as much as this lightly used 2014 Maserati Ghibli S Q4.
Aston Martin Vulcan leading the way for the future of oil changes
Nov 10th
Castrol is working hard to reinvent the oil change, which frankly sounds about as easy as reinventing the wheel. After a couple of years of developing what they are calling Nexcel, they have done something special. The Nexcel unit itself holds oil and the filter all in one container and simply fits into a base within the car’s engine bay. Once the recommended oil change interval is reached the Nexcel unit can be changed out in 90 seconds by simply lifting the unit out and replacing it with another one. The unit is sent back to be reconditioned for reuse and can be reconditioned 5 or 6 times before its service life is over.
We first found about this new product from an article on Autoblog.com and it peaked our interest that the Aston Martin Vulcan was going to be the first car to implement Nexcel. While the Vulcan is a track only car, Castrol UK worked closely with Aston Martin to develop Nexcel and test it in the real world, retrofitting Aston Martin’s cars with Nexcel and have been testing in England for the last couple of years. After talking to a representative from Castrol at SEMA we found out that other manufacturers are very interested, one being Ford as they get the street version the GT ready for 2017. There are also a couple of companies with fleets of long service life heavy duty trucks looking to retrofit this technology for their use as it would pay off over the life of the truck as they are in service for hundreds of thousands of miles.
James Bond: SPECTRE Premiere Event at The Loop and ICON Theatre
Nov 6th
Last night Morrie’s Luxury Auto hosted a movie premiere party for the release of the new James Bond movie “SPECTRE” last night at ShowPlace ICON Theatre at West End with a pre-screening happy hour at The Loop. Continental Diamonds came out to support the event with a range of Omega watches including the special edition Seamaster worn by James Bond in the movie. To mark release of the movie, we features three gorgeous new Aston Martins in front of the theater, including the new 2016 DB9 GT model in special Spectre Silver.
Thanks to everyone who came out to the event last night and we hope you enjoyed the film!
We’re open for business at 7300 Wayzata Blvd!
Aug 5th
We’re proud to announce that we recently transitioned from our showroom in Minnetonka to our brand new, state of the art facility at 7300 Wayzata Blvd in Golden Valley. We now have separate show floors for Maserati, Bentley, and Aston Martin, and the dealership features on of the largest elevators in the Midwest! Stop by during business hours (Monday through Thursday: 8:00AM to 9:00PM, Friday and Saturday: 8:00AM to 6:00PM) and check out the new space.
Guest Photographer at Morrie’s Luxury Auto
Mar 21st
Guest blog post written by: Joshua Duffy- The Art Institutes International Minnesota.
Ghibli: A fiercely hot wind of Northern Africa
Feb 4th
On the 100th anniversary of the Maserati brothers opening their shop, the Ghibli arrived in Minneapolis. As the exclusive distributor for Maserati in Minnesota, Morrie’s Luxury Auto witnessed record sales during the last month of 2013. Customers are coming en masse to experience what is sure to be the car of the year.
Ghibli: A fiercely hot wind of Northern Africa. While the Ghibli name has been used to define such things as an AMX fighter jet, ultra-light bicycle wheel sets, and even a Japanese animation studio, one thing is evident… the Maserati Ghibli is an exotic sports sedan that truly embodies the fleeting wind and fiery temperament.
Not only is the Ghibli a magnificent example of beautiful Italian design, it has been rated as a top safety pick from the IIHS. The European equivalent, the Euro NCAP, claims that “Maserati’s level of protection would be available to occupants of different sizes and to those sat in different positions.”
With the Ghibli being the first Maserati under $100,000, earning top safety picks, and featuring an elegant design; Maserati is set to take market share from the cookie cutter designs from the usual luxury manufacturers. Please browse these links to read more about recent crash testing.
http://www.euroncap.com/results/maserati/ghibli/539.aspx
http://www.iihs.org/iihs/ratings/vehicle/v/maserati/ghibli
MN Cars & Coffee July 2013
Jul 9th
July has historically been the busiest month during the Cars and Coffee season at the Automotorplex and this year was no different. We were excited to bring out a number of cars from Morrie’s Luxury Auto, but we knew the show-stopper would be the all-new 2014 Maserati Quattroporte. As expected, the redesigned Quattroporte drew quite the crowd and gained a lot of attention.
But spectators made sure to also get a peek at the other vehicles that we brought including the Mazda2 B-spec racecar build, the 2012 Maserati Granturismo MC and the 2011 Porsche 911 Turbo in Meteor Gray.
It was a beautiful day for the event and we were so pleased with the turnout. Make sure to stop by and see us during next months event!