Alsta Watch Shifts Gears With New Motoscaphe, A Watch Engineered For Riding

This year, we’ve seen quite a few watches playing fast and loose when it comes to their adherence to any specific genre, and that’s not such a bad thing. It’s an admission that, while we may like the stylings of our dive and pilot watches, few among us are, as a matter of fact, divers or pilots. Hyper specific watches are a niche within a niche, as more of us recognize that a great all around watch need not be pigeonholed into a single identity, and indeed, we judge watches around here for their ability to make practical companions regardless of our daily activities. 

I’ve posited, on more than one occasion, that many of the qualities that make a great dive watch also make it a great all-rounder for a wide range of other activities, and the latest watch from Alsta, the Motoscaphe, illustrates that point with aplomb.

The Motoscaphe is a “purpose built mechanical watch for motorcyclists” featuring details that tip a hat to the road rather than the sea. The watch dissociates itself from the Nautoscaph III diver from Alsta by removing those contextual clues, while at the same time leveraging the typical dive watch language for a different purpose. The prime example being nn exterior bezel features prominently, but it’s bi-directional and gets a 12 hour scale, shifting its use case from strictly timing, to include a potential second time zone.  

Elsewhere you’ll notice the crown positioned on the left side of the case to prevent it from interfering with the wrist movement required while riding, assuming you wear the watch on your left wrist, of course. The date has been removed because you certainly don’t need such stressors when you’re carving up the local canyons on a weekend ride. And finally, the bottom of the dial does away with the depth rating, instead opting to display the distance traveled at a speed of 120 miles per hour: 176 ft = 53.6 m / sec.

Joining the speed/distance conversion is the “shock resistant’ label, which, as far as I can tell, references the Seiko NH35’s built in Diashock anti-shock system.  

This may be a watch “engineered for riding”, but in reading the above you may have noticed that the features will likely appeal to even those of us bereft of a motorcycle, and none are exclusive to that segment in particular. I’d argue that’s a good thing. The watch itself is 40mm and gets the “skin diver”-esque case found on the Nautoscaphe III and looks to feature strong legibility and relatively slim wearability. So don’t let the motorcycle theme scare you away if that’s not your scene, there’s still a stylish, practical watch here with broad appeal. 

The Alsta Motoscaphe is priced at $895 and is presented on a perforated leather strap. Production is non limited and the watch is available to order now. Alsta.