Where my memories of time began and how I have interacted with watches throughout my life.
One of my first memories of time was of it’s infinite expanse. Namely, I was bored in the back seat of my dads car while we were on a road trip. I was at points bored and at other points nauseous. Bored if my father was driving, nauseous if my uncle was driving since he had a habit of both a heavy foot and not all together great perception of distance.
Then of course, once I was old enough and tall enough, it became my job to wind the old grandfather clock we had in my childhood home. Wind it enough times and it would not need to be wound for another 30 days, my father said. I realized that having something like this was a rare luxury, for my friends homes mostly had digital clocks. I only realize as I got older, just how valuable something like this item can be. It gonged, perhaps at midnight, perhaps on the hour. I don’t remember how often but I remember the noise of the gears as I wound it, the feeling of my hands around the winding key as I twisted to reach it through the stairway banister.
Next, was McDonalds watches. Those little plastic ones you get in the happy meal that you and your friends fight over. Jurassic park might have been a theme, in keeping with the movie release, or any number of other styles. The watches invariable got dirty, misplaced and left at friends houses. Still, it was an exciting digital piece to have and was very different from my family’s antique wall clock.
Then there was my leather Guess watch, which I’ve no idea who bought for me but I remember being upset that I’d gotten the leather wet and ruined while washing my hands and so this interaction has affected every watch I’ve ever bought since then. Currently I have one or two leather strap watches but by and large, my entire collection of watches are affordable stainless steel watches, some two tone but still steel and two in Titanium. One or two exceptions aside, I’ve learned that watches should be tough rather than delicate for what I need to do with them on a day to day basis. One of the few leather strap watches I had was a gift from my father which sadly, I’ve lost to the sands of time and moving homes every so often. These days, a Tank style dress watch suits me fine on the rare occasion I need to be in formal attire.
Around then, it was also time to receive a cellphone and that told me the time plenty. Nokia’s, Nextels, Sony’s, they ran the gamut of electronic candy bar cellphones used to communicate with friends and eventually, stream movies and TV shows. Nowadays, it’s cellphones and fitness trackers on everyone’s wrist but I adamantly refuse to go the route of Apple’s line of electronics. I’ll take one for work but my heart remains tied to the freedom of Android.
Into my adult years, it became necessary to get a watch for keeping tracking of both college classes as well as social engagements. It had to be at least somewhat business oriented or flashy so I went to Century 21 and found a two tone Bulova with a champagne dial. It’s since been beaten up, now needs a new battery, and has a ton of scratches but I still have it to this day and have no plans to get rid of it. It, along with a Hamilton Ventura, were the first two watches I bought as an adult that started the hobby of watch collecting.
There’s of course, growing up with computer clocks. First with a black and green screen computer, then the first color computers and the arrival of the internet. Setting your computers date and time automatically based on it’s time zone. Splitting computer time with your siblings until you could afford a second computer from your first job. Life wasn’t always easy and you realized time costs you money too, if you really think about it. Or is it that money can cost you time too? It’s both and yet neither, depending on how you looked at it.
Then it was GPS timing, from a phone or from a cars navigation, that took on a new meaning. Road trips, jobs that required driving, time spent with family and friends in the car getting from point A to point B. Like many drivers, we may like to see our ETA so we can plan around that while some of us like to exceed that ETA. Some of us even take that ETA as a dare or a challenge to beat so be careful because time does catch up to you in unexpected ways, especially when you’re driving.
These days, I’m wearing a Vintage Cartier Galbee, a Quartz model and thus affordable, but with great style and heritage. This singular purchase, more than any other watch purchased, has massively helped to curtail any need for additional watches. To me, this is one of the ultimate watches, combing excellence in design, simplicity of movement, elegant in abundance, relative affordability, and a great companion in day to day life. I have a small collection of other watches, an Oris diver, a Citizen Eco-Drive dress watch, and a positively ancient Omega Constellation but they rarely get any real wrist time.
I’m sure there are plenty of watches out there deserving of attention. I’ve seen them through social media or advertised in TV and movies but since that Cartier has landed on my wrist, it’s had the most wrist time and that doesn’t seem to change. Even as I submit the watch for maintenance and cleaning, I eager await it’s return and have no idea what I’ll do in the meantime.
In the end, time is relative, just like the cost of watches is relative and just like what watch you wear is relative. Time is a companion and how you choose to see and experience it is what matters.
Sincerely,
The PNH
The Patently Nerdy Human 