Five stories that earned a second look as the week closed: a dive watch whose waves sit under glass, a serious diver built backwards for the left wrist, a championship collection that leads with leather, the military's most copied jacket rebuilt lighter in Tokyo, and a waxed trucker that went to the timber.
Each item below is summarized in Pinstripe's own words from the original reporting, with a link back to the source so you can read the full story and see the brands' own photographs. Every link here is a plain link to the original story. Pinstripe has no affiliate tags on these links and received nothing for including them.
1. TAG Heuer Aquaracer Sundowner II — the wave dial under lacquer
TAG Heuer and Time+Tide returned this week with the Sundowner II, and the whole watch turns on one manufacturing detour. The dial starts as a brass blank with a wave pattern stamped into it over a black sunray finish — the same wave family the mechanical Aquaracer line already uses, ridges raised. This time the ridges are flooded with transparent lacquer and polished flat, so the surface reads glossy and calm from straight on, and the waves only show when the light moves, like water over sand. It is a small trick with an outsized effect: the texture stays, the glare goes.
The watch around it is the Aquaracer Professional 300 in sandblasted Grade 2 titanium — 42 mm across, 12 mm thick, 300 metres of water resistance, a grey sandblasted ceramic bezel insert, and rose-gold-plated hands and indexes filled with Super-LumiNova. Inside is the Calibre TH31-01, a COSC-certified automatic chronometer with an 80-hour power reserve, built here with no date at all: no window in the dial, no cyclops on the sapphire. The report notes this is the only current automatic Aquaracer sold that way, and the only titanium Aquaracer on a rubber strap. The run is 500 numbered pieces, split unevenly on purpose: 450 on black rubber at $5,100 (reference WBP5184.FT6257) and just 50 on a matching sandblasted titanium bracelet at $5,750 (WBP5185.BF0010). Sales opened Thursday, November 12 in two waves — priority access at 11 a.m. EST, the global release at 3 p.m. EST — through Time+Tide and TAG Heuer only. The first Sundowner, a 40 mm solar watch limited to 250 pieces in 2024, sold out inside 24 hours; the sequel moves the inspiration from the outback to Sellicks Beach, south of Adelaide, and the wave dial is that move, stamped into brass.
The Pinstripe read: this is the luxury end of the dive-watch ladder doing something genuinely new with finish rather than size. A dial you have to tilt to read properly is the opposite of a spec sheet — it rewards the man wearing it, in person, which is exactly where a watch should perform. For the divers most men will actually buy this winter, start with our guide to the best everyday watches under $500. Read the full dial breakdown at The Gadgeteer.
2. Panerai Submersible Marina Militare Destro — the diver with its crown on the left
Panerai marked its long history with Italy's Marina Militare this week with a pair of Submersibles built as tools first. The lead piece is the Destro, PAM01757: a purpose-built diver with its crown on the left side of the case — the destro layout, made for the right wrist or over a wetsuit sleeve — rated to 500 metres, with a clean no-date dial and vintage-inspired lume. Its partner, the Submersible Marina Militare GMT, PAM01758, adds a GMT function to the same formula, with vintage lume, a specially engraved caseback and the same 500-metre rating. Gear Patrol's report, published November 12, quotes no prices, so none are quoted here.
The Pinstripe read: two weeks running, the strongest watch stories have been about restraint — ceramic instead of polish last week, and here a working layout, a deep rating and nothing on the dial that does not earn its place. A left-crown diver is also a quiet signal: it only makes sense to a man who knows why it is built that way, which is the best kind of signal there is. It pairs naturally with the vintage end of this weekend's other watch story — the Coconut Grove Jewelry & Watch Show, still running in Miami through Sunday, November 15. Read the launch roundup at Gear Patrol.
3. Kith for the New York Knicks 2026-27 — a championship collection led by leather
Kith's latest collection for the reigning NBA champion New York Knicks released Friday, November 13 at 11 a.m. EST, at select Kith stores and online — and the headline is not a hoodie. Outerwear anchors the range: a Kith and AVIREX leather bomber dedicated to Walt "Clyde" Frazier, a vintage-inspired shearling-collar aviator jacket carrying Michael Doret artwork, an embroidered wool varsity bomber, a genuine lambskin shearling bomber, and a Madison Square Garden-inspired NYC Basketball Moto Jacket. Tailoring follows with a Herringbone Suit Set in a premium wool blend, cut after the herringbone suits NBA coaches wore in the 1980s and 1990s.
The other first is on the tops: Kith's inaugural partnership with NBPA lifestyle label PLYRS UNTD brings the collection's first player name-and-number pieces, for Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby and Karl-Anthony Towns. Around the edges sit '47 and Ronnie Fieg headwear in flannel, velour, denim and tailoring fabrics, a Wilson Mini Hoop, a Forever Collectibles Walt Frazier bobblehead, and kids, baby, homeware and pet lines. Hypebeast's closer look quotes no prices, so none are quoted here.
The Pinstripe read: team apparel usually stops at fandom; this collection treats a championship as a tailoring brief — leather, shearling and a herringbone suit a man could wear with no logo loyalty at all. That is the standard worth copying in your own wardrobe, and it is the same occasion-by-occasion thinking behind our khakis guide, refreshed this week. Read the full collection breakdown at Hypebeast.
4. The MA-1, rebuilt in Harajuku — V.A., Tsuyoshi Noguchi and Alpha Industries
The MA-1 needs no introduction: developed by Alpha Industries in the 1950s as the successor to the B-15, supplied to the U.S. military, and adopted by street culture in the 1980s and 1990s until it became one of the most copied jackets on earth. This week, V.A. — the Harajuku concept store directed by Hiroshi Fujiwara — released its version, made with Alpha Industries under the product direction of stylist Tsuyoshi Noguchi. The original design and details stay; what changes is the tuning: revised coloring, reduced weight, and an adjusted silhouette, so the jacket keeps its military appeal and sits more easily in a modern wardrobe. It went on sale Friday, November 13 at V.A. and its official online store, priced at ¥82,500 including tax, in sizes M, L and XL.
The Pinstripe read: the right way to redo an icon is exactly this — no redesign, no nostalgia graphics, just a lighter cloth, a cleaner color and a cut adjusted by a stylist who understands why the original worked. A flight jacket earns its place the same way everything in our everyday carry guide does: by being the version you reach for without thinking. Read the release details at Hypebeast.
5. Flint and Tinder x MeatEater — the waxed trucker goes to the timber
Flint and Tinder's Waxed Trucker is the brand's best-selling silhouette — the one television made famous on Pedro Pascal in The Last of Us — and this week it got a limited-edition rework with MeatEater. The shell is waxed Halley Stevensons canvas, the heritage British waxed-cloth maker, printed in First Lite's Darkwater close-range timber camouflage. Inside, a full blanket-flannel lining does the warming. The jacket is cut and sewn in Los Angeles and finished with a co-branded leather patch and custom metal buttons. Gear Patrol's November 13 roundup quotes no price, so none is quoted here.
The Pinstripe read: a waxed trucker is already the hardest-working jacket a man can own — it sheds weather, takes scars gracefully and outlasts trend cycles. Putting a hunting label's timber camo on the outside and blanket flannel on the inside does not change the formula; it aims it. It belongs in the same conversation as the home-side kit in the wellness standard at home: gear chosen once, properly, for the life it will actually live. Read the launch roundup at Gear Patrol.
That is the week: waves sealed under lacquer, a crown moved to the left for a reason, a championship tailored in herringbone, a flight jacket lightened rather than redesigned, and a trucker lined for the woods. Next Saturday, the roundup returns — and Sunday's Pinstripe Letter draws on this week's best, alongside this week's refreshed luxury gifts guide.
Sources & further reading
These summaries were written in Pinstripe's own words from the reporting linked below. Follow the links for the full stories, specifications and photographs.
- The Gadgeteer, "The wave dial is stamped, flooded and polished flat, and the whole run is 500 watches" (November 11, 2026). https://the-gadgeteer.com/2026/11/11/tag-heuer-sundowner-ii-wave-dial/
- Gear Patrol, "Today in Gear: 17 Cool New Releases from Carhartt WIP, Panerai, Adidas and More" (November 12, 2026). https://www.gearpatrol.com/briefings/today-in-gear/today-in-gear-november-12-2026/
- Gear Patrol, "Today in Gear: 22 Cool New Releases from Casio, CRKT, Converse and More" (November 13, 2026). https://www.gearpatrol.com/briefings/today-in-gear/today-in-gear-november-13-2026/
- Hypebeast, "Kith Reigning NBA Champions New York Knicks Collection" (November 2026; collection released November 13, 2026). https://hypebeast.com/2026/11/kith-new-york-knicks-2026-27-collection-closer-look-release-info
- Hypebeast, "Tsuyoshi Noguchi and V.A. Reconstruct ALPHA INDUSTRIES' Classic MA-1 for the Modern Era" (November 13, 2026). https://hypebeast.com/2026/11/v-a-alpha-industries-ma-1-tsuyoshi-noguchi-collaboration-info
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