For the last few weeks I’ve been wearing a lovely watch: a Tudor Oyster Prince from 1961 with the coveted large rose on the dial. I haven’t worn a watch since my veterinary days ended 15 or so years ago. Back then a watch was a required implement for measuring beats, drips, breaths and most importantly when I could bolt the door, run to my car and escape the circus for the day. When I shed that career, I also shed the watch, maybe symbolically but more likely because I just took it off one day and realised I had no need to put it on again.
My father bought this watch in 1961 as a young man in his hometown of Rockhampton, Queensland. He wore it through his courtship and marriage of the local ABC newsreader the next year, their move to Brisbane, birth of two sons and matriculation as adult students into Queensland University (where he won the University Medal). He wore it at the start of his career in the early 70s as one of the founding lecturers at Griffith University and through his numerous field trips into North Queensland where he conducted his seminal anthropological field work with the Aboriginal people of Cape York, living out of a swag for months on end with his trusty .303 providing for him.
At some point in the mid 90s, after 30 years of service, the watch stopped working so Dad, never one to spend on himself, put it in a drawer and made do with a cheap quartz replacement. It became one of the holy relics of our family, pulled out every few years for a viewing at the request of his children, or more lately, grandchildren, along with the framed newspaper proclaiming Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar and the piece of the Stinson aeroplane which he had filched from the crash site in the 50s.
Early last year I had the watch repaired and restored in time for his 84th birthday. He was absolutely thrilled and for the first few weeks rang me each night to tell me how few seconds it had lost that day.
Dad died in late November just a day before my own birthday. He had been in seemingly great health for someone his age, both physically and mentally, but on his routine annual blood test something was suspected, then confirmed and eight weeks later he was gone. He gave me the watch from his hospital bed a few days before he passed, so I ordered a black fabric strap to best replicate the one from my childhood memories and I’ve worn the watch every day since.
I have so many mental imprints of this watch from my childhood, strapped to his tanned, strong arm as he picked me up and carried me to bed, or drenched in sweat as he battled with the lawnmower, or engulfed in flames as he lit the BBQ in the back yard. It looks a bit out of place transplanted to my own arm (not quite as tanned, not quite as strong), but it’s very comforting nonetheless.
Just a few weeks before he was diagnosed we had taken a road trip back to Rockhampton, the first time either of us had spent much time there since the last of the grandparents died in the late 90s. I filmed him for a couple of days as we visited the locations of his past, with him delivering perfect monologues to camera as if he was back in the lecture theatre.
He showed me where he bought the watch (now a bridge pylon in the city centre) and I can see it there glinting on his arm as I edit the footage these few months later, a fine watch and a fitting reminder of a kind and wonderful father.
I have nothing of interest to say about watches so I’ll just say, lovely post, Podders.
Hear, hear.
Didn’t know you were a banana bender @Podicle.
Dad had a lovely seiko with a lovely blue metallic face. I’ve worn Seiko watches ever since.
Few people where them these days. Mrs Wells has just ordered a Fitbit. Just the thought of one, for some reason, fills me with abhorrence.
I am indeed. No straight bananas here.
That’s a lovely post. I’ve never owned a prestige watch of any kind, or had one with that sort of sentimental value, and since the battery on my cheap watch expired a few months ago I don’t know if I’ll ever wear one again.
Yes. I echo all that. I haven’t worn a watch since the strap broke on my old Swatch about 15 years ago. I’ve pretty much always got a screen in front of me with the time on and otherwise my phone will be in my pocket. It does take a while to stop looking at your wrist for the time! I’d love the functionality of a smart watch but I hated even having my small ultra lightweight swatch on my wrist!
I loved reading your post. RIP your Dad.
It’s great to read something so heartfelt and personal on the forum – a warm tribute full of compact, but well-chosen descriptions of a life well-led.
Thanks for posting. I did have thoughts of Christopher Walken at one point, but fortunately they were misplaced.
I have an Omega constellation, got it second hand & it is brilliant, very understated in appearance & keeps perfect time.
Thank you, Podicle. You warmed my heart on a chilly day, isolating and watching time tick by very, very slowly until I’m allowed to go about my business.
Lovely. All the warmth of an episode of The Repair Shop and the reason why it’s such a success in these difficult times. Lovely..
It was, wasn’t it?
Really lovely post….
Beautiful and evocative writing. It reminded me of my Dad’s forearms and brought a tear to my eye.
What a wonderful post.
Many many years ago I bought myself a Tag Heuer which I loved. But about 10 to 15 years ago I stopped wearing a watch full stop. Just didn’t see the need for it (phone for time etc etc). I have always coveted an Omega or a Philippe Patek and did have the thought of getting one so I could pass down to the kids, but sense prevailed in that I wouldn’t wear and also the kids don’t wear watches,
Funny thing is though, these days I’m back to wearing a watch…. albeit an Apple one and for fitness tracking not telling the time.
What a lovely post @podicle, thank you for sharing that quiet and heartfelt memorial.
Just over – here – an arm’s reach to my left, is a little watch case with my Dad’s Tissot within. It’s not a collectors piece, it’s not a valuable heirloom, it’s much more than that. It was my Dad’s watch.
Yes! I have my Dad’s old Tissot. It no longer works but it’s precious. My Mum bought it for him for his birthday and wrapped it up out of the box . I was 4 and famously I gave him the empty box when he came in from work which rather spoilt the surprise. I have a Tissot of my own which I bought shortly after he died in 1997 in his memory and which also stopped working recently. I’ll be choosing another one once the shops open again. It’ll be a Tissot.
My Dad’s Tissot had stopped working when the main spring failed – and then I found a craftsman in Bath who repaired it for me. I’ve since used him to repair two of my Grandad’s old pocket watches; I can recommend his workmanship. I’ve never actually met him in person, as he seems never to emerge from the basement where he works his art, but he came to me by recommendation from a pal who has lived in Bath all of his life. The watchmaker’s business is called Tupra Jewellers, and is tucked away in Church Street in Bath. There’s no website, but you can find his phone number easily online. I think he may sell wands as well. You can see the basement windows in this view of his premises:
Interesting. I took my dad’s to a local watchmaker who said it’s irreparable but I am tempted to try again.
@Twang When all this shit is over and we can move about freely again, let’s meet up somewhere or other and, if you like, I’ll take the Tissot and take it to Mr. Tupra for examination. He’ll check it over for you and tell you what – if anything – he can do for it.
I didn’t hold out too much hope for my Dad’s, but he diagnosed the main spring and sourced and fitted a replacement within about a fortnight.
If you feel like a longer drive, we could even meet up in the Georgian city and I’ll buy you lunch and show you to the shop – you can’t drive to it as it’s tucked away in a side street off a side street!
Man that would be nice. Deffo.
1. Lovely post, Podicle. Superb.
2. Tudor is a sister brand to Rolex, isn’t it? Out of interest, what’s the movement in your watch – is it an ETA or one of Rolex’s own movements, or … something else?
Tudor is indeed the sister company to Rolex and yes, they employ ETA movements – one of the reasons they are the less expensive marque.
What is surprising when Rolex cannot keep up with demand Rolex will also deploy ETA movements in some models. (Guess which aspect of such Rolex models does not change!).
Lovely piece btw.
Yes, it is made by Rolex and uses a Rolex Oyster case. It was positioned at the time as a no-nonsense, less blingy Rolex, exactly the sort of thing that would have appealed to my Dad as a young man. I believe these early Oyster Princes used a Rolex movement, and I seem to recall the watch repairer saying the same.
It is similar to this watch:
https://www.ukspecialistwatches.co.uk/shop/rolex-watches/tudor-oyster-prince-1961-vintage-small-rose-7956/
Wonderful post that brought a few tears to my eye, possibly enhanced by the two phone conversations I had today with my soon to be 95 year old dad, about something that happened that made him confused, and sad and angry about being old.
Evocative and emotional post, @podicle – thanks for sharing that.
For the bulk of the last 25 years or so, I’ve worn a relatively inexpensive, military-faced, automatic Seiko every day. My dad has always had a thing for vintage Hamilton watches and, when I retired, I bought myself a Hamilton Khaki military-face mechanical – I’m looking forward to showing it to him, when I eventually get back to Glasgow…
I like Hamilton watches, too.
And of course Elvis Presley famously wore the strangely triangular Hamilton Ventura, as seen in this photo:
https://www.firstclasswatches.co.uk/blog/2019/01/the-hamilton-ventura-collection/
One can buy it now with either an automatic or a quartz movement.
As others have said, lovely post Pod.
Wonderful post.
I’ve always liked watches but have never had the wherewithal to lay out for a luxury item. I have a number of interesting Swatch watches ( not the plastic ones ) that my wife has bought for me over the past 15 years or so. She wanted to buy me another for Christmas and was looking at the usual suspects when I decided I’d like an automatic mechanical piece rather than another quartz movement. So dove into the internet to find one at a sensible price.
I now have on my wrist an absolutely beautiful Seiko 5 snkl23. ‘A 75$ watch that looks like a million bucks’.
A good watch is a wonderful thing.
https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/a-seventy-five-dollar-watch-that-looks-like-a-million-bucks
My 15yo son is now fascinated by all things watch after watching (ta dum!) a few Youtube clips with me. They appeal to his fastidious, mechanical mind. His generation don’t use watches, so, and he had never owned one before. In fact, I don’t think he had ever realised that mechanical watches were tiny microcosms of cogs and crystals.
Anyway, after much research and with a chunk of saved cash, he has just bought himself a Seiko (a Presage Zen Garden), and it looks lovely. I must say that if I were buying myself an automatic watch it would be a Seiko rather than Rolex/Tudor.
Marvellous! I had a look at those Seiko Presages myself. The lad has taste.
I’m taken with the display back on mine. All that delicate coggery (?) keeping steady time is quite an achievement.
I want another automatic one. Obviously . Because I’m a big kid with a new interest. I have my eye on Orient Ray II Diver for the birthday this year.
I got some very cool ones in Paris with guitars for hands and a little gold quaver on the second hand and various other themes – an acoustic guitar, a dobro etc. Cheap and fun.
Class! I recall having one for years where the second hand was a spider circling the watch.
I’m wearing my Dads 1965 Seiko Sea Lion right now. I remember him bringing it home the day he bought it and how chuffed he was with it. I thought it was the coolest thing that 4 year old me had ever seen. It still keeps good time (Give or take a minute or two) and it still looks cool. It became my day-to-day watch when I had to put my Rolex (Plain steel 1966 Oyster Datejust. 38 mm champagne face. Milled Bezel. Sword hands.) in for servicing. I thought it would do ’till my ‘proper’ watch came back but haven’t felt any reason to take it off yet. The Rolex is in the drawer, pretty much relegated to waiting to be inherited.
A really lovely post @podicle. I dont know much about valuable watches but I do know about memories of dads. Your post stirred some memories of my dad. Before reading this I was over at my mums today and we took a wooden box out of my dads garage that my wife is going to renovate. When we opened it to empty the contents there were lots of old clamps, gaskets, rubber hose and other things replaced in car repairs but never disposed of. Happy and sad at the same time.
I enjoyed reading the OP and I wish I had kept my dad’s watch but I have a large family and someone somewhere will have it I’m sure.
I was interested in a consumer TV show recently where someone had spent many thousands on a high-end, long-coveted analogue watch with some of his retirement savings. It looks very stylish indeed but found after a while that it was gaining time and was not as accurate as you’d expect.
Through the barricades, it turns out that this is fine. The watch is accurate enough as far as the manufacturer is concerned and if you want accuracy, there are plenty of other watches out there.
https://www.google.co.nz/amp/s/amp.tvnz.co.nz/news/story/JTJGY29udGVudCUyRnR2bnolMkZvbmVuZXdzJTJGc3RvcnklMkYyMDIwJTJGMDklMkYwMSUyRmZhaXItZ28tc291dGgtY2FudGVyYnVyeS13aWRvd2VyLWZlZC11cC1hZnRlci1yZWFsaXNpbmctNDMwMC1s
If you want accuracy, a $100 quartz watch will beat a $100,000 mechanical watch very day. I think they can gain/lose 4 or 5 seconds per day and still get the top certification.
Interesting how watches are such a great father-son thing. I wear a Mondaine swiss railway watch – my second. The first I bought from a Guardian offer fifteen years ago, on the recommendation of my dad who has always loved Switzerland – he met his best friend on a school exchange and they had a lifelong friendship until Hans (the friend’s name) died a few years ago. The famously reliable Swiss railways and their iconic clock was something he completely loved, so when you could get a watch he got one straight away. My original Mondaine fell apart after a decade, and for a few years I didn’t have a watch. Then three years ago my dad and partner got me a new one for my birthday. Safe to say they have risen above inflation. In my parents very small hideyhole of valuables is my dad’s forties Omega automatic which he was bought by my grandfather, and my grandfather’s Rolex (possibly). Like lots here the Mondaine is safe in my man drawer for normal outisde life to resume – though I do wear it on cycle rides as looking at the phone mid-ride is pretty impossible. Nice thread.
I should now add that I have my dad’s Mondaine in an envelope in several pieces waiting for me to take it to a watch repair shop to see if it can be reassembled.
Lovely story Podicle! Thanks for that. Made me remember my dad and watch story.
I haven’t worn a watch since my mid twenties(a Seiko, that I probably still have somewhere).
When my dad passed, my mum asked if I wanted his watch, but I didn’t wear one so my brother happily took it. (No idea what kind it was).
One day, my dad came in from work, and he proudly showed us this silver bracelet thing, with a black square on it. None of us were impressed. Then, he pressed a button on the side of it, and 17.34 in bright red numbers appeared! It was like magic!
I remember those! My maths teacher had one in primary school, and the whole class lined up to look at it. It was the first digital watch I ever saw.
Perhaps you would be interested in this? A €300,000 watch with no visible indication of the time. You hit the button and it chimes the time at you.
https://www.celebremagazine.world/watches-jewels/300-000-h-moser-cie-swiss-alp-watch-concept-black/
Thanks all for the response. This is still very raw for me, as he only died six weeks ago. Over these past 20 years we had become best friends more-so than father/son, and we spoke or saw each other pretty much every day.
One detail to add: on our trip to Rockhampton we had visited the site of the corner store that his parents owned and where he lived as a child. His father had been unwell for most of Dad’s life, and so with an eye on securing the future, they had bought the shop. This was towards the end of the war, and times were tough. Dad spent his mornings and afternoons as a child working in the shop and cycling orders to the surrounding suburbs. His father died in the shop one night when Dad was 14.
Dad had never been back to the location, so we visited it, now the carpark of a carpet store. I then filmed Dad as he took me on a virtual tour of the shop, pacing out the counters and shelves, the closed in veranda where he had a bunk bed he shared with his brother, and finally his parents’ small bedroom. He described how his father had died in the middle of the night and his last glimpse of a grey face as his father was carried out on a stretcher. The shop was closed the next morning then open for business the next afternoon.
It was obvious as we drove back to the beach shack where we were staying that the day had taken a lot out of Dad, both physically and emotionally. At one point he said “Can you see properly? Everything has become white”. I put it down to tiredness and told him to have a nap. He almost instantly fell asleep. It was, of course, the first and only premonition of the diagnosis he was to receive a few weeks later.
That’s lovely Pod. What I have learned over 20 years after my Dad passing is they talk a lot about Dads and daughters and boys and Mums, but blokes and dads is just as complex. Whatever you do, long after they’ve moved on, the old bugger is in there talking to you, dispensing wisdom, frowning when you’re an idiot and being there when you really fuck up.
Dads, eh.
Rockhampton, Queensland …. hmmm …. I’ve heard of that town, as one of my great musical heroes was from there: Grant McLennan (1958-2006).
I know this would be an extremely unwise decision considering who is wearing it, but wouldn’t you feel a near irresistible urge to grab that hideous lump of tackiness off his wrist and stamp it into atoms?
Considering who is wearing it, a passing desire would be as close I’d get to that urge.
Fast forward ten years, *former world champion boxer auctions million dollar watch for 10 grand*.
I was going to say, who is this dickhead? But it seems he’s a boxer.
Thank you, Podicle. What a warm sentiment this is. I lost my father last may and it touches deeply indeed.
My dad drowned a couple of years ago. It took three days to find the body. My brother and I were in the search parties, hoping we wouldn’t be the ones to spot the corpse, and we weren’t. The police gave me his watch, which was still going. He’d have liked that; an engineer himself, he’d have chosen it carefully. I put it in a box and I guess it’s still there. I suppose I associate it more with his death than with his life. It’s not something I think about very often.
Sheesh, that’s a tough tale @chiz
Luckily for me I’ve never had to go through that sort of thing. My condolences.
Thanks Vulpes. It’s okay though, it was horrible for a bit and then it started to get better.
Anyway. Worse things happen at sea.
I’m very sad to hear that, Chiz. My condolences.
Thank you, and thank you for your lovely piece above. Like I say, it does get better
@chiz – it’s hard enough losing a parent without having to deal with these tough circumstances. Please accept my sincere condolences.
Blimey@chiz didn’t see that coming. That’s awful. I know time passes but I also know from personal experience that you never get over it, you just start to get used to it. Very slowly.
Lovely post @podicle.
I’ve had an “entry level” Tag for years, but the date has stopped advancing from the 7th to the 8th, so I have to manually do it. Just the 7th to the 8th, no others…
I thus recently bought a Christopher Ward Trident 600 (before they were on the telly). I love it.
My fingers are crossed for you. I have several Christoper Ward watches and all bar one have been back under the “60|60 Guarantee”.
To be fair, most of mine were bought at lower price points than your Trident 600.
However my C8 Regulator wasn’t one of those and had to have its guarantee exercised within eighteen months.
That watch isn’t marketed at the moment but for anybody that’s interested this is the owner’s manual:
https://www.christopherward.com/on/demandware.static/-/Library-Sites-cw-library/default/dwc06a3ef1/pdfs/Aviation/c8regulator_manual.pdf
Despite the various disappointments I still like my CW watches.
I also have my father’s 1957 Omega (as far as I know, a fairly basic one) and my maternal grandfather’s 1948 Rolex Oyster. Both still working.
@aardvarknever
Gulp.
It’s been lovely so far, is all I can say.
I (well, my stepmum (bless her) treated me from beyond the grave) also bought a Liv GX-divers watch not long back, but don’t like it quite as much as the CW.
How do you cope with having so many watches “on the go” as it were, if they are all automatic?
@bobness
Sorry – I do have the impression that CW have upped their game in the last few years.
Only three of mine are automatic and those three can be wound manually.
My bedtime routine includes winding them all with the exception of the one I’ve been wearing, if it’s an automatic.
I don’t want to spoil anyone’s fun, but I just remembered another watch story.
I asked Derek, my workmate, what he got from his wife for Xmas(about 10 years ago). He said he got an automatic winder for his watch. “What the heck is an automatic winder for a watch?” I asked.
The year before had been their 25th anniversary, and they both felt they had to give each other a special gift. She gave him a 2 grand watch. He never wore it because they never ever went out apart from special occasions. We worked in heavy industry, so he couldn’t wear it at work. Checking it one day, he realised that it wasn’t working. Off to the jeweller, who fixed it for £50 and told him if he didn’t wear it, it would stop again.
So, his wife spent £200 on an automatic watch winder, for a watch that he never wears. Some Xmas
present! Un(fuckin’)believable!
Some folks just got too much money.
There was a Rolex Submariner from the 50s I think on the Antiques Roadshow last night. It was a bit special due to something about the luminous paint used on the face, and it had the original strap.
£50-60k.
Goodness me.
My dad died about 10 years ago and there were some particular bits and pieces which my brothers and I duly divvied up.
More recently my kids have unbeknown to me..had conversations about some of my odds and sods, including watches, etc which came from my dad. Some were even buying things which closely resemble these items
Now, I probably don’t need to outline too carefully the circumstances in which these would ordinarily move down a generation ..
What I’ve decided to do is to hand them on now ….two have been given watches, both old Seiko, one now owns a 65 year old Parker pen and signet ring now has a new proud owner.
They’re all genuinely pleased to have these things and I’m more or less sufficiently lucid to see and enjoy their, erm enjoyment.
( However, as one of them helpfully pointed out …I might have preferred the house dad ! )
Bastards !
Kids, eh? The gift that keeps on taking… 🙂
Good on you for having the foresight.