Category: Explainers

Last Tuesday, I was hunched over my workbench, squinting through a jeweler’s loupe at the guts of a vintage chronometer, when I realized how much the marketing departments of today…

I was sitting at my workbench last Tuesday, squinting through a jeweler’s loupe at the escapement of a 19th-century French carriage clock, when my granddaughter asked me if my phone…

I was hunched over my workbench last Tuesday, squinting through a jeweler’s loupe at the guts of a 1950s Westclox, when my grandson asked why his tablet was “thinking” so…

Last Tuesday, I sat at my workbench with a disassembled vintage pendulum clock, feeling that familiar, comforting resistance of brass gears against my tweezers. It’s a far cry from the…

Last Tuesday, I sat at my workbench with a gutted smartphone, the smell of scorched solder and old lithium still clinging to my apron. Most people look at a drawer…

Last Tuesday, I was hunched over my workbench, squinting through my jeweler’s loupe at a modern cordless drill that had decided to retire prematurely. It wasn’t a mechanical failure—the gears…

I spent thirty-four years in a physics classroom, and if there is one thing I learned, it’s that people love to dress up simple mechanics in expensive, intimidating language. When…

I remember sitting at my workbench last Tuesday, squinting through a jeweler’s loupe at the delicate escapement of a 19th-century carriage clock, when my grandson called me in a panic…

I remember sitting at my workbench last Tuesday, squinting through a jeweler’s loupe at the tiny, stubborn gears of a 1950s pocket watch, when it hit me how much modern…

Last Tuesday, I was hunched over my workbench, squinting through a jeweler’s loupe at the escapement of a 19th-century carriage clock, when I realized how much the tech industry reminds…