Beyond The Dial

Latest Episodes:

Conversations E14 - Ducatis, Watches & Espresso Machines (with Jon Ferrer of Brew Watches) Mar 03, 2021

Show notes

Allen and Jon both ride Ducati Panigale V2s, and therefore have much to talk about. But they don't talk all that much about motorcycles, instead focusing on Jon's family's history at Cartier and Tiffany, Italian espresso machines, and the indie watch scene.

How Watches Work E1 - The History of Mechanical Escapements Feb 09, 2021

Show notes

Welcome to "How Watches Work," a series of episodes dedicated to understanding the devices behind the dial. In this introductory episode, David Flett walks Allen through a history of mechanical timekeeping going back over 5000 years and sweeping up to modern times.

Conversations E13 - Defending NASA & The Omega Speedmaster (w Greg Bedrosian) Feb 02, 2021

Show notes

Greg knows his Star Wars, Speedmasters and NASA history inside out. Greg's rebuttal to Allen's deconstruction of "Grand American Space Narratives" via the Swiss watch industry opens up new ways of thinking about the Omega Speedmaster, humanity's role in space, and much more.

Insights E21 - Rethinking The Space Race & The Omega Speedmaster Jan 16, 2021

Show notes

Allen finally takes on this horological masterpiece, which he's never really felt anything for at all - perhaps until now. From musicological analysis of Phillip Glass's minimalist music to deconstructing nationalist narratives, this episode doesn't critique Omega's branding of the Speedmaster as much as it critiques modern branding entirely.

Field Reports E7 - The Rolex Explorer II at Vail Colorado Dec 22, 2020

Show notes

Allen takes us on a downhill journey back to his days as a ski-punk while rocking an Explorer II Polar White in Vail, CO. It's a tale of personal rediscovery aided by a badass tool watch.

Insights E20 - The Quartz Crisis & The Future of the 20th Century Dec 17, 2020

Show notes

Following up on Episode 51, Allen turns a cultural-history lens onto the Quartz Crisis for a look at how quartz watches fit into the broader context of the 20th Century. Using his formal essay format, Allen contextualizes The Quartz Crisis as just one of many technological disruptions that ultimately culminated in the so-called Digital Revolution of the 21st Century.

Conversations E12 - The Quartz "Disruption" of the 1970s (w Pedro Mendes) Dec 09, 2020

Show notes

Pedro comes on to discuss his new-found acceptance of some quartz watches, and he and Allen end up discussing the Quartz Crisis from many different angles. Notably not reaching consensus on key topics, this conversation leads to some rather interesting questions about how and why electronic watches disrupted the watch industry in the 1970s. The Quartz Crisis Part 2 will be a formal essay by Allen inspired by this discussion.

Insights E19 - Wrist-Presence & The Inelegance of Tool Watches Nov 11, 2020

Show notes

Evolutionary theory suggests that we are drawn to certain people and not others based on hardwired aesthetic judgements wrought over some five-million years. Allen suggests that similar hardwired aesthetics are at play when we judge "wrist presence," and goes on to suggest that tool watches categorically fail to achieve this elusive quality. A deep dive into Cartier and Rolex in the early 20th Century shows how very different impulses in creating the wrist watch, the former elegant, the latter not so much.

Conversations E11 - Is Your Pilot's Watch a Nazi Watch? (with Oren Hartov) Oct 23, 2020

Show notes

We see so many recreations of vintage watches issued to commemorate moments in history, people, wars, accomplishments, and so on. A certain line of WWII pilot's watch recreations present difficult questions about memorializing the Hitler's Nazi regime. Israeli paratrooper and military watch expert Oren Hartov joins Allen in an open dialogue which explores numerous angles on what will always be a tricky subject.

Conversations E10 - The Oris Calibre 400 Movement (with VJ Geronimo) Oct 15, 2020

Show notes

The Calibre 400 is not the first of Oris' in-house modern movements, but it is their first work-horse automatic winding movement of the modern era. Designed from the ground-up according to Oris' value-focused ethos, this movement is highly efficient, packs a 5-day power reserve, is robustly anti-magnetic, and happens to look a bit like the Oris Bear. VJ gives us an in-depth consideration of this innovation.

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