My Watch Obsession
Why am I Obsessed with Watches?
I think everyone remembers their first watch. Obviously I am assuming that people obsess over esoteric things like watches and time pieces the way I do. It doesn’t matter if your first watch was a Casio, Timex, Mickey Mouse, or a watch that came out of a machine for a quarter in an arcade or a supermarket. Once you get a watch or a time piece you become a part of a tradition that goes back to Cronus himself!! Maybe thats a little too intense, however it is an important memory that people don’t tend to recognize the significance of any more. The tradition and history of being able to keep time on the go, really is a great rabbit hole to go down.
The first watch I ever wore regularly was given to me by grand father. Its a Victorinox Swiss Army Original with a date complication and I still wear it to this day. He gave it to me when I was around ten and it has a Marlboro logo on the case back. For all you kids who don’t remember, if you saved up enough tax labels from your cigarette boxes you could send them into Marlboro and they would send you cool stuff. Well my grandfather wasn’t a heavy smoker, but not too many people knew about this cancer incentive program. So he would collect other peoples tax labels. Needless to say in my grandparents apartment there were Marlboro blankets, soda koozies, dufflebags, and wind breakers everywhere. My grandfather saved up enough labels to get TWO of these (in my opinion) beautiful watches. He kept one and gave one to me. I was the only 10 year old at St. Fidelis with a Marlboro Swiss Army Watch. It was such a memorable experience. The first time you get a watch that doesn’t have a Disney character on its face is one of those little steps on the childhood ladder that leads to adulthood.
Beyond all that, its the fact that my grandfather gave it me. My grandfather passed away almost four years ago now, and I can tell you I don’t care how much the watch is worth now or how it was acquired. All I care about is that my grandfather gave it to me. For many people it doesn’t matter that the brand says Rolex, Patek Phillipe, Casio, Seiko, Omega, or even Swiss Army. To a lot of people, I would even venture to say most people, who are serious about watches look at them as a tradition. If you see someone wearing a Rolex maybe it wasn’t given to them by a parent, grandparent, or any family member. Maybe they worked hard for 10 years and bought it for a salary milestone, wedding, birth of a child, etc. Unless you are extremely affluent and wealthy and take these items for granted they don’t just tell time, they mark time. I’ve met a few people who have nice watches, and an overwhelming amount of them, when asked about the watch the first thing they will say is “Thanks this was my fathers watch.” “This was my grandfathers watch.” If they don’t say that and they purchased it themselves they will say “This will be my kids watch someday.” Let me be clear it doesn’t have to be a “luxury” watch, like I said when it comes to timepieces, for quite a lot of people the brand does not matter. Thats why I don’t look at watches as an unnecessary accessory in the age of cell phones. When I see a watch, any watch I see history, tradition, utility, craftsmanship. If I see a construction worker wearing a Casio G-Shock that has paint and dry wall on it, I see someone that NEEDS to know what time it is anytime, reliably. Thats what that particular watch is made to do.
This week will obviously be about watches . How watches went from the pocket, to the wrist, and possibly now back to the pocket, the fascinating history of Rolex, how the railroads changed telling time, and my favorite watch/brand.
