Beyond The Dial

On the surface, owning a watch isn't a complex thing. Dig a little deeper into our motives for owning any given watch, and things get complicated fast. Allen explores the mental gymnastics involved in picking out your next watch, and he explores everything from the study of human motives, to why so many watch nerds hate on Invictas, and more.

It's Episode #30, and Allen takes you through 30 incredible watches that constitute some of his Holy Grail Watches, of which he seems to have an endless supply built up from years of adoring incredible timepieces he can't afford. The five categories include: time-only watches, travel watches, dive watches, complicated watches, and vintage watches.

Why do watch aficionados hate on refinished dials so vehemently? How can these otherwise astute folks miss the incredible artistry involved in refinishing dials, and the layered narratives (or mysteries!) that so often accompany a refinished dial. Allen takes listeners into the future, when the refinished dials of the 20th Century become museum pieces in their own right, and he examines why it is refinished dials tend to degrade a watch both socially and in monetary value today.

Allen takes you on a meditation into your watch, accompanied by a remix of the Graph Rabbit song "Only Fields" from their album Snowblind. This is an opportunity to seek solace and peace in your watch's benign and reliable nature.

Allen falls into the bizarre and powerful orbit of beautifully aged vintage Rolex steel sport watches, those nearly unobtainable, very expensive timepieces that form an elite class of collectibles. From within this orbit, our host attempts to decode what's happening beyond the event horizon of Rolex by focusing his cultural studies and anthropological lenses at the center of the horological galaxy. Here lies a long and ponderous episode that uses warp drive to travel far into the watch space, boldly going where very few ever get to go.

Allen delivers his longest written piece about a watch here on the podcast. The watch is the Rolex Sea-Dweller DEEPSEA, and the story is part memoir, part explorer's diary, and part contemplation on the state of the world. A special thanks to Bob's Watches for providing the Rolex DEEPSEA for Allen's use on his strange mission.

Allen sits down with vintage Seiko expert David Flett for a highly informative dive into this snarly, but wonderful, collecting category. Whether you're looking to build a massive collection of old Seikos or want to snatch up your first vintage Japanese piece, this is the episode for you. And if you're not into Seiko, David's advice on vetting watches and their sellers is golden for those interested in any brand's vintage pieces.

Allen sits down with Edouard Maylan, CEO of H. Moser Watches for a candid conversation about how this historically significant Swiss watch brand has become one of the most pioneering watch houses operating today. The watches are avant-garde, but they get there by employing traditional watchmaking techniques (fume dials, in-house movements, traditional cases) in new ways. Being edgy and traditional simultaneously, Moser has captured the watch collecting community's hearts under Maylan's leadership.

Allen takes a deep dive into the phenomenological perspective and clarifies how it can actually operate as a way to examine watches by performing subjective reports on four watches, a Nomos Club, a vintage Seiko Weekdater, an Aquadive Bathescaphe, and a Moser Streamliner. By looking at how quantum gravitational theorists have shown that time doesn't exist, but is instead a subjective phenomenon - that is: a product of our minds - Allen then explores the fluid ways we perceive time, and how watches affect that perception.

Allen sits down with Longines' CEO Walter von Känel for a candid interview about the struggle against counterfeiters, dealing with the gray market, closing the in-house manufacture and adopting ETA, as well as Mr. von Känel's personal journey from being the son of poor dairy farmers in exile during WWII to the head of one of Switzerland's largest watch houses.