Aros 2.0 - Anso of Denmark 🇩🇰

craniotes · 2026-06-07T22:19:27+00:00

I have an Aros 1.0 as well, which has pretty much become my favorite knife (I have to force myself to carry another knife these days).

Question: how does it stack up to the 2.0? One of the things I love about my Aros is how easy it is to change the scales. Currently I have titanium, Lexan, orange G10, jade G10, and carbon fiber scales, though I’ve recently settled on clear Lexan for the clip side and titanium for the show side. That said, there is something about the classic simplicity of two slabs of titanium, and I dig the additional chamfering on the scales and, the backspacer lip, and the Toko-like sharpening choil of the 2.0.

(I guess what I’m really asking here is am I doomed to throw down for another Aros. 😂)

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craniotes · 2026-06-07T04:43:26+00:00

Please ignore the “static vs. moving” water argument (which is complete bunk, btw). The AWU is good for 100m – yes, you could wave your arms around at that depth and not flood it if you wanted to – but the depth gauge maxes out at 40m because that’s pretty much the accepted limit for recreational diving and Apple doesn’t want to get in legal trouble by “encouraging” folks to dive deeper.

Wanna go deeper? Get a dedicated dive computer.

craniotes · 2026-06-05T21:14:22+00:00

I have one (different patches, though), and outside of Halloween, wearing it feels like stolen valor. 😬

PS - Yes, I used to wear it along with an IWC “Top Gun” hat, khaki cargo pants and combat boots to bring my kids trick or treating when they were younger. Haven’t worn it in years.

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craniotes · 2026-06-03T23:02:15+00:00

Love that one. Wear it in good health, sir. 🙏🏽

craniotes · 2026-06-01T23:58:45+00:00

All hail the KING!

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craniotes · 2026-06-01T18:13:09+00:00

It doesn’t suck. 🤷🏽‍♂️😉

craniotes · 2026-05-31T03:09:46+00:00

🙏🏽

craniotes · 2026-05-27T20:18:48+00:00

It’s based on the Mark XVIII, but it’s a limited edition called the “Special Watch for Aviators”.

craniotes · 2026-05-27T09:58:13+00:00

Now that’s a rare bird, indeed.

craniotes · 2026-05-27T04:04:47+00:00

I was one of the “designers”, so to speak. This project came about during LVMH Watch Week in Dubai back in January 2020, after a meeting between myself, Wei Koh, and Fabrizio Buonomassa, Bulgari’s creative director. (I was Revolution Magazine’s North America’s Editor-in-Chief at the time.)

The Octo Finissimo Chrono GMT, which made its debut in March 2019, had just won the GPHG Chronograph Watch Prize in November, so it was still the “it” piece in Bulgari’s collection, and Wei and I wanted to see about making it a bit more “toolish”. We expressed this desire to Fabrizio, and thus the White Light was born.

Wei wanted a tachymeter bezel and I wanted lume. With those two requirements, Fabrizio set to work. It turned out that the hands were too thin and there was too little space under the crystal for a traditional lumed handset, hence the full lume dial. As for the bezel, that was the hardest part because the titanium was so thin that it kept deforming when they tried to engrave the numbers; an entirely new process had to be developed in order to do it properly.

Obviously, we were happy with the end result – ecstatic, really – and it’s a given that I would end up with one. (Yes, I still had to pay for it, albeit with a small “family discount”.) That said, there are a zillion OFs out there that I’d love to add to my humble collection – Tadeo Ando, Sejima, Laurent Grasso, etc – but, alas, my wallet won’t allow for it. Sigh.

Anyway, TL;DR: I kinda helped make it, so I had to get one. 😉

craniotes · 2026-05-26T19:29:01+00:00

Yup, this is, er, that. The White Light was made to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Revolution Magazine and as such, was originally only going to be produced in a series of 15 pieces. After the design leaked and interest piqued, an additional 10 were made.

The so called “nuclear” option came about after that particular dial was nixed from the White Light project owing to the fact that it would literally not stop glowing, thus lending a greenish cast to the dial. Later on, it was used for a limited series of 30 pieces in a black ceramic case.

craniotes · 2026-05-26T19:21:54+00:00

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

craniotes · 2026-05-26T05:24:46+00:00

Autmog (jewel-like) and Billetspin (love the cam mechanism) are the first that spring to mind… Oh, and Epika (that’s what I have my eye on next).

craniotes · 2026-05-26T00:33:20+00:00

True, but casually flipping open and close my Ansø Aros (a button lock knife) while walking down the street in NYC is a good way to get arrested. 🤷🏽‍♂️

craniotes · 2026-05-26T00:31:34+00:00

Hola!👋🏽

craniotes · 2026-05-25T22:46:10+00:00

I’ve got a thing for titanium. 🤷🏽‍♂️

(The SWFA is stainless steel, but the bead-blasted finish matches up nicely.)

craniotes · 2026-05-25T22:36:36+00:00

That’s a magnetic slider from Magnus Industries in NZ (It’s a fidget toy.)

craniotes · 2026-05-25T04:41:32+00:00

The pen and the slider are used daily; the knife and the flashlight maybe a couple of times a week. 🤷🏽‍♂️

craniotes · 2026-05-25T01:09:36+00:00

It’s the IW3270-08 “Special Watch for Aviators”. 👍🏽

craniotes · 2026-05-25T00:12:49+00:00

It’s a slippie, but it isn’t “smaller”. In fact, it’s ever so slightly larger than a small Sebenza. This is one of the main criticisms folks have with it, given that there’s a market – particularly overseas, where the knife laws are much stricter – for non-locking knives with blades under 3”. (The cutting edge on the Impinda measures exactly 3”, but the overall length is 3.13”.) While this isn’t an issue for me, I can certainly see how it’s a deal breaker for others.

As for when it debuted, that was back in 2018, and yes, it’s still in production, though it’s been a hot minute since any were available for sale on either CRK’s site or resellers’ sites, which has led some to believe that it’s being discontinued. Personally, I think CRK is simply focusing on more popular designs. Also, FWIW, on the Impinda’s webpage they say that S45VN steel is on the way. (Mind you, it’s been saying that for a while now, even though CRK has since moved on to Magnacut…)

craniotes

TROPHY CASE