Beyond The Dial

Latest Episodes:

Insights E28 - Falling Back In Love With Vacheron Constantin Nov 10, 2021

Show notes

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.

Insights E27 - Why I Sold My 50th Birthday Grand Seiko At Age 51 Oct 18, 2021

Show notes

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.

Field Reports E8 - The Alsta x BTD Motoscaphe 120 Aug 03, 2021

Show notes

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.

Insights E26 - Eccentricity, Ostentation, Wealth & Watches Jul 30, 2021

Show notes

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.

Conversations E16 - Walt Odets, The Original Watch Blogger Jul 20, 2021

Show notes

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.

Insights E25 - Horological Hedonism & The Aesthetic Revolution May 12, 2021

Show notes

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.

Insights E24 - Large Watches - A Case Study Featuring the Moser Pioneer Centre Seconds Limited Edition in Mad Red Apr 30, 2021

Show notes

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.

Insights E23 - Rolex vs. Gen X Apr 23, 2021

Show notes

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.

Insights E22 - The Enduring Allure of Luminescence Apr 16, 2021

Show notes

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.

Conversations E15 - From Singapore to Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taiwan, New York, London & Beyond (w LungLung & Dainel of The Waiting List) Apr 05, 2021

Show notes

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.

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