Always looking for another What?
Watches are another thing. I don’t think of myself as a “watch collector” in the sense that I’m not constantly looking for a rare Rolex, Patek Phillipe or Audemar Piguet, but I have a number of watches that mean something to me.
My first encounter with watches came when my dad decided I needed to learn how to tell time and gave me a kid’s Timex and he would quiz me as to what time it was. I think I mistreated that first watch by over winding it and it finally stopped working.
The next watch that I remember was a chronometer that I found in my parent’s bedroom. I think it was a Universal Geneve chrono but I’m not sure. I do remember that I was fascinated by the ability to press the pusher and start the sweep second hand and stop it. My father was active in community service clubs, and I remember him receiving a Bulova watch for his service to the Kiwanis club. It was one of the first battery powered tuning fork movements. He wore that until he passed away. I still have it and had it refurbished and have worn it. The bad thing about it is the movement requires a specific mercury-based battery that is hard to find, but they can be gotten if I go to an expert watchmaker.
I don’t remember if I wore a watch through high school, but when I got to college, I had an inexpensive quartz LCD until the summer of 1972. That summer I participated in a college study abroad program that was supposed to go to Beijing, China for 6 weeks where we could see the sights and study Chinese history. This was just after then President Nixon had his overtures to open China to trade with the US. The trip was changed as we could not get permission for the group to enter China proper, so we all went to Hong Kong instead. My parents were also scheduled to go to China as part of a group of California based “overseas Chinese” that had been invited to apply for visitation visas. They came to Hong Kong with their group to wait for their entry visas. While they were there, we got to spend some time shopping in HK and I had a dream of getting a nice Nikon camera for which I had been saving my summer work money and Chinese New Year red packets. The same shop that had the camera I wanted also sold watches and jewelry. I was able to bargain with my parents and got the camera and a new Seiko automatic chronograph in stainless steel that I have to this day. I wore it through the rest of my college days and most of my years in the Navy.
On the first WestPac port call in Hong Kong, I visited the “Fair and Square Company” shop again and came away with a very nice Omega Deville dress watch. One of the thinnest mechanical handwound watches I have ever seen.
Make it stand out
While on second WestPac the ship spent a few weeks at Guam and I wanted a watch I could wear while snorkeling and got a Seiko 5 Quartz at the Navy Exchange. That one became a daily as it was much smaller and lighter on the wrist.
After leaving active duty, I got a position selling jewelry and watches at J. Herbert Hall at the University Towne Center in San Diego. I found I had an affinity for fine jewelry and selling nice watches. One month the manager told me that the Rolex representative for SoCal was coming by and wanted to talk to me. It turns out that I had sold more Rolex watches than any other salesperson in the Southern California region and that as recognition Rolex would allow me the privilege of purchasing any Rolex at “cost”. I selected the least expensive gold Rolex that I could afford, 14K Oyster Perpetual Date with 14K Oyster bracelet. I knew that I would never sell the watch, so I had the back hand engraved with my initials which is frowned upon now days, but I didn’t care then and still don’t consider it.
Make it stand out
The next few years the watch collecting was rather dormant, after all I have a gold Rolex, what more could a man want or need? How about a rare limited edition Monterey Historic Y2K Chopard in titanium? My old friend Chuck was working at Greenwich Time in Carmel at the time and after the Monterey Car Week was over, he called me up and said that the original owner had not picked it up after the race and they needed to find a buyer. I jumped at the chance and it was a great deal. I was traveling for work at the time and it’s perfect for that, being titanium I didn’t have to take it off before going through TSA screening and it was very light on the wrist.
There are more, but this is getting too long. I will post more of the new watches later.