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© Copyright Allen Farmelo 2019
Description
A podcast about watches, how they work, and why they fascinate us.
77 Episodes
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Farewell, and thank you all for listening. The Aesthetic Revolution Will Be Beautiful!
1Allen 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.
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?
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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