François Moreau has always had a fascination with gauges. Something that becomes abundantly clear at our first meeting in Mexico City during the 2019 El Salón Internacional Alta Relojería (SIAR) — an event that now seems like it took place a lifetime ago considering the seismic changes of the last seven months. Immediately, we begin to discuss the beautiful pragmatism of gauges like the Smith speedometer and tachymeter mounted to my 1972 Norton Commando as well as the VDO gauges that had presided over the stripped-out Spartan cabin of my 1979 Porsche 930 Turbo, a car that used to try to kill me on a daily basis as a young man living in Los Angeles. We joke, in particular, about the Turbo boost gauge that remained motionless even when you had slammed the accelerator to the floor for several seconds — thanks to the model’s notorious turbo lag — before skyrocketing beyond one bar once the turbo finally spooled up and shot you forward toward what seemed like certain death.
Moreau laughs and says, “Well, anyway, this is a clear demonstration that for the majority of the 20th century, all forms of exploration, conquest of the air and the sea, and even competitive racing on land, could not
