Through The Looking Glass - On Watches & Philosophy (The Final Episode)
Farewell, and thank you all for listening. The Aesthetic Revolution Will Be Beautiful!
Mar 28, 2024•2 hr 3 min
Beyond The Dial
A podcast about watches, how they work, and why they fascinate us.
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Episodes
Conversations - E19 - Rikki from Scottish Watches
Allen and Rikki lament and celebrate the current world of watches in equal measure, covering the rise of fashion and red-carpet nonsense to the role of modern materials in high horlogy.
Feb 01, 2024•1 hr 4 min
I Fell Into The Rolex Black Hole
Allen could no longer resist the forces of gravity at the center of the horological universe, and now he is broadcasting from the within the Rolex Black Hole. He has sold off swaths of his collection and aquired two five-digit Rollies. An unexpected turn in Allen's journey, and perhaps one from which he can never return. Has he sold out or bought in?
Nov 28, 2023•48 min
SWATCH's BIOCERAMIC - THE UNVARNISH FACTS (AND OPINIONS)
Is SWATCH's BIOCERAMIC anything more than a petroleum-based plastic? Find out in this episode as Allen shares his investigation into this divisive material, its history, its current context, its chemical makeup, and even an email about it from a SWATCH representative.
Sep 07, 2023•32 min
Insights E35 - How "In-House" Obscures The Quality of Movements (& Insults Our Intelligence)
A watch movement made to exacting standards by a robot on Mars working for a third-party alien corporation might turn out beautiful, precise, complicated and fascinating. Barring production on a more distant planet, no movement could be further from "in-house." This hypothetical Martian movement would absolutely trounce, say, a cheap Seiko movement made "in-house" by actual Japanese robots. I'd take the third-party Martian movement any day, and I bet you would too.
Mar 01, 2023•21 min
Insights E34 - For Exhibition Only - Rolex Without Watches
Has Rolex evolved into a brand that's For Exhibition Only" And what if Rolex no longer made physical watches? Could this be the future of global luxury brands in the centuries to come?
Feb 08, 2023•24 min
Field Reports E9 - Bremont's Authenticity Soars In An Old Plane
Allen went to the UK for the launch of Bremont's first serially produced watches with their in-house movement, but what Allen got was a ride in an old plane that showed him the unique authenticity at the center of the brand set on reviving British industrial watchmaking.
Jan 12, 2023•1 hr 1 min
Conversations E18 - Walt Odets On His Five Favorite Watches
Walt has some very classy timepieces, all of a type: smaller, understated, and often highly complicated. Allen and Walt talk through five of Walt's most favorite watches, plus a sixth that came to Walt as a very pleasant surprise.
Nov 08, 2022•1 hr 12 min
Insights E33- From Horological Silence Into The Noisy Watch Space - A Personal History of Watch Collecting (1990-2020)
In this essay-style episode, Allen drags the historical lens across the watch space from 1990-2020, showing how what was once a lonely nerd's hobby grew into a fashionable social activity.
Oct 05, 2022•37 min
Insights E32 - A Tentative Critique of the Post-Pandemic Watch Culture
In this insight essay, Allen admits to feeling a little disillusioned with the broader watch culture and tried to identify why it feels different to him since COVID pandemic lockdowns and the rapid expansion of interest in watches. Special interest is paid to the role of social media in hollowing out how we enthusiasts and collectors interact around watches.
Sep 22, 2022•19 min
Insights E31 - Iteration Inundation - The Endless Stream of New(s) Watches
It's gotten overwhelming, all the new releases. Allen talks about how the digital medial environment, including the socials, has put undue stress on watch brands to always be releasing something new. and he has some ideas for how to deal with it.
Sep 07, 2022•36 min
How Watches Work E6 - Understanding Complicated Chronographs
David takes Allen deeper into the world of mechanical chronographs, covering all the major complications from early flybacks to the latest in mechanical chronograph technology.
Jul 29, 2022•56 min
How Watches Work E5 - Understanding Mechanical Chronographs
David takes Allen inside the fascinating world of mechanical chronographs, and Allen finally "gets it." Vertical vs. horizontal clutches, column wheel vs. cam actuators, reset functions, and much more are covered here, leaving the listener with a foundational understanding of mechanical stop watches.
Jun 17, 2022•1 hr 5 min
Insights E30 - "In-House" - How An Overused Term Lost Its Meaning & How To Fix It
Allen expands on his written essay on this always confusing and sometimes contentious topic. "In-House" refers to a movement built....Where exactly? By whom? It's hard to know anymore because brands have use the term in marketing so loosely that no precise definition exists. Allen suggests new terms to help clarify the many modes of movement manufacturing.
May 24, 2022•44 min
Insights E29 - The Watch Collector / Enthusiast Dichotomy & Its Discontents
Allen upends our current way of diving up the watch community into collectors, enthusiasts and consumers and suggests that we'd be far better off describing different levels of horological experience. Not to be missed for the die-hards, in this episode Allen's "phenomenology of watches" finally pays some dividends.
May 02, 2022•44 min
Conversations E17 - Bulova's 20th Century Mechanical Prowess (w Michael Benavente and Colin de Tonnac)
Allen speaks with Michael Benavente of Bulova and Colin de Tonnac of Semper & Adhuc about the history of Bulova as a mechanical watchmaker. There's a lot to learn here. For example, did you know that Bulova once employed more Swiss mechanical watchmakers than any other brand, including the Swiss ones? Michael provides historical perspective and Colin provides mechanical insight. Good stuff.
Apr 11, 2022•1 hr 2 min
How Watches Work E4 - Servicing Mechanical Movements
David and Allen walk through the sometimes dubious topic of having your mechanical watch serviced. David explains how it all has to happen as Allen warns of scammers and how to beat them. You'll learn about timegrapher results, especially amplitude, as well as old and modern lubrications, why parts wear out, and even when service should be avoided.
Feb 22, 2022•57 min
How Watches Work E3 - Movements As Torque Managers
David Flett schools Allen about what torque is and how it operates and is managed within a watch movement. Philosophical ponderance eventually finds its way, of course, but applied physics to horology remains the main story here.
Feb 02, 2022•1 hr 11 min
How Watches Work E2 - Gears & The Going Train
In this second installment of the How They Work series, David Flett joins Allen and leads him through the gears that make your mechanical watches work, generally known as "the going train." By the end they've imagined complications that track time on Mercury, Jupiter and Mars.
Dec 09, 2021•1 hr 3 min
Insights E28 - Quantum Leaps in Collecting Watches
Allen explores his new directions for his own budding collection of Vacheron Constantin watches, centering on a near disaster of a purchase due to his unbridled impetuousness. Two friends saved him from repeating past mistakes.
Nov 30, 2021•43 min
Insights E28 - Falling Back In Love With Vacheron Constantin
Allen sold his 50th Birthday Grand Seiko, and now he's run out and bought a sweet 33mm platinum 1984 Vacheron Constantin Historique and a Unimatic U4, which he feels embodies Milanese Brutalism. Find out why he's in The Horological Flow State.
Nov 10, 2021•53 min
Insights E27 - Why I Sold My 50th Birthday Grand Seiko At Age 51
Allen explores his decision to sell his BIG 50th BIRTHDAY WATCH just one year later. This one is all about aligning one's true passion with one's budget, or lack thereof. And Allen explores how modern watch marketing can come between an owner and his watch.
Oct 18, 2021•1 hr 3 min
Field Reports E8 - The Alsta x BTD Motoscaphe 120
Allen goes into the ideas behind the Alsta Motoscaphe 120, one of a very few purpose built motorcycling watches. Not branded to match this or that bike, nor just a clever facelift, the Motoscaphe 120 is the culmination of Allen spending the last 30 years or so riding motorcycles with mechanical watches.
Aug 03, 2021•1 hr 3 min
Insights E26 - Eccentricity, Ostentation, Wealth & Watches
Why do the rich get away with all kinds of bizarre quirky behavior while the rest of us are made to look silly when we express our little kinks? The answer is complicated, and when we bring watches into the picture, it only gets more complicated.
Jul 30, 2021•42 min
Conversations E16 - Walt Odets, The Original Watch Blogger
Walt Odets is, by most accounts, the first person to blog about watches, thus creating a template for how watch journalism evolved over the past 20 years. His work, however, never resembled modern watch journalism; his was critical, mechanically minded, and decidedly unconcerned with fashion and trends. Allen and Walt discuss his journey in watches and much more.
Jul 20, 2021•1 hr 46 min
Insights E25 - Horological Hedonism & The Aesthetic Revolution
Horology Inc. provides us with a vast array of dial colors able to splash dopamine onto our opiate receptors. We often dismiss new colors as a superficial trend lacking horological innovation, but Allen argues that - because splashy dials spontaneously inspire joy, beauty, and emotions that, science has shown, replicate our experience of Love - great dials may be closer to the center of The Aesthetic Revolution than we ever imagined.
May 12, 2021•43 min
Insights E24 - Large Watches - A Case Study Featuring the Moser Pioneer Centre Seconds Limited Edition in Mad Red
Allen breaks form on his approach to the hands-on review while exploring how Moser creates what is, in his opinion, one of the most beautiful watches currently being produced.
Apr 30, 2021•33 min
Insights E23 - Rolex vs. Gen X
Can irony reconcile the cynical Gen X world view with a luxury hobby? Does the Swiss watch industry sell us "Vintage Nationalism" along with our watches? Did Jean-Claude Biver leverage anti-establishment tendencies with his anti-electronic rhetoric of the 1980s and 1990s? Allen takes a stab at these topics and more in this essay episode.
Apr 23, 2021•45 min
Insights E22 - The Enduring Allure of Luminescence
In this essay-style episode, Allen takes a journey through the history of glow-in-the-dark materials, drawing a personal narrative spanning five decades alongside a technological and psycho-evolutionary analysis of luminescence.
Apr 16, 2021•1 hr 4 min
Conversations E15 - From Singapore to Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taiwan, New York, London & Beyond (w LungLung & Dainel of The Waiting List)
Daniel and Lung Lung from The Waiting List podcast join Allen and James for a 2-hour conversation about how unique regional cultural experiences shape our attitudes toward watches and each other. Expect a lot of laughter and surprises as cross-cultural discoveries emerge in this lively conversation.
Apr 05, 2021•2 hr 15 min
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