Skip to main content

Ober Metalworks: Strengthen Your Style with Titanium and Silver

By Marla Milling Published November 1, 2016

When Patrick Ober was 14, he started learning how to make armor.

His brother was in college at the time and learning the craft and Patrick absorbed as much as he could through that association. Little did he know that it would tie-in to his career later in life.

ober metalworks — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Last year, Patrick quit his job and applied his full-time focus to his business—Ober Metalworks. He works out of the garage in his Asheville, North Carolina home and fashions impressive bracelets, watch chains, and other items out of titanium and steel.

Recommended Videos

For some of his pieces he uses an ancient loop-in-loop technique and hand punches each ring, with 5-ton and 20-ton hand punches. The result is an intricate piece of jewelry that will last throughout the ages. He also crafts spinning tops on his lathe. They have a bronze middle and titanium on the outside. “Depending on size and weight, they can spin for a long time,” he said. “Ten minutes is average, but others spin longer.”

While he does most of his business online, he does travel each Labor Day to participate in a big knife show in Las Vegas. In addition, he does a fair amount of commissioned work and enjoys working with a customer to create special custom pieces.

g10 ring — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Two pieces of body armor hang on the walls—one is a shirt crafted from stainless steel and bronze that took him six months to complete. Customers who order these are primarily involved in Renaissance festivals and Markland events where participants engage in medieval battle with weapons and armor.

His products range in price from $15 to $3,000 so there’s definitely something for every budget. “I try to cover as many prices as possible,” Ober said. “My goal is for it to go to someone else, so price is important.”

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Marla Hardee Milling is a full-time freelance writer living in a place often called the Paris of the South, Sante Fe of the…

Fashion & Style

The 5 suit brands you need to know to build your first suit wardrobe: Including the first aspirational one

Building a suit wardrobe starts with the brands you can trust

Men's Wearhouse Custom

Look, starting a wardrobe is difficult. You have to decide what kind of man you want to be. What kind of message do you want to send? What kind of budget do you want to use? And how often you want to go back to the drawing board. What kind of man do you want to be? Sounds heavy. Sounds dramatic. Maybe because, in some ways, it is. So much of what people initially believe about you remains in their subconscious long after they get to know you. So what you wear is important. The message you want to send is one of being put together, attentive to details, or it is the opposite. Laid back and unbothered. The budget is also integral to the wardrobe you build. High quality comes with high prices. However, it comes with longevity, so it means you don't have to replace it as often, saving money in the long run. So, what kind of man do you want to be? Hopefully one that wears men's suits.

No matter what man, message, budget, or shopping frequency you choose, a good suit wardrobe will need to be a part of it. So, where do you go? How do you start? Here are the five brands to trust to get started. No Tom Ford, Brioni, giant fashion houses here. These are the five suits for the man starting out. And one for the man aspiring to the next step. The first four, you can grab your first quality suit for around the $1,000 mark. The aspirational one will be your first custom, so it will be a bit more.

Fashion & Style

Longines refreshes its cult-favorite central power reserve in light blue

The Swiss watch company is giving the Conquest Heritage Central Power Reserve some new dial and bracelet options.

Wristwatch, Arm, Dial

Longines has been around since 1832, which makes it one of the oldest continuously operating watchmakers on Earth — old enough to have spent decades strapped to the wrists of aviators and explorers before most brands existed. So when the Saint-Imier company, now part of the Swiss giant Swatch Group, revives something from its own archives, it's got real history to draw on. The Conquest Heritage Central Power Reserve is a good example.

The Conquest line dates to 1954 — the first Longines collection to have its name trademarked with the Swiss IP office. And in 1959, one Conquest model introduced the complication this watch is built around: a power reserve indicator planted dead center on the dial. For 2026, Longines has given the modern revival a light refresh: a new light-blue opaline dial and (for the first time on this model) a stainless-steel bracelet alongside the returning dark leather strap.

Fashion & Style

Shohei Ohtani’s newest Seiko is out of this world

Seiko built Shohei Ohtani a one-of-one watch that tracks a million hours across five rotating discs — and you can't buy it.

Wristwatch, Arm, Body Part

The Seiko Star Time, presented to Shohei Ohtani on July 3, marks his tenth year as a Seiko ambassador. It's not for sale, will never be for sale, and there's exactly one on Earth — currently strapped to the best baseball player alive. Oh, and also? It looks absolutely nuts. Instead of hands, the Star Time tells time with five stacked, concentric discs, each tracking a different scale of accumulated time: 24 hours, then 1,000, 10,000, 100,000, and finally a disc that runs all the way to one million hours.

That's roughly 114 years — a full human lifetime, give or take. The discs turn continuously, so slowly you can't see them move. Seiko named it "Star Time" for exactly that reason: like stars drifting across the sky, the motion is imperceptible in the moment but relentless. A little existential for a watch company, but let's go with it.