Which Way Watch Collector?

We are cursed to live in interesting times. We imagine that we have unusually bad luck in this regard, and that sometime in the recent or distant past things were better. The sun shone more brightly, gentle breezes kept us cool, and the food tasted better.

A few years ago, back when I could call my father for wisdom, I called to lament the current state of affairs in the United States. Was it uniquely bad? My father just said, “I lived through 1968, this is no 1968.” And he was right. I lived through 1968: riots, wars, assassinations, Nixon, but I had no memory of it. My real consciousness came watching Willie Mays misplaying a fly ball while a member of the Mets. “Don’t remember him that way, he was the best who ever played. And he was a Giant,” said my father.

Our hobbies can help distract us from the rest of the world. Gardening used to do that for me. A day in the yard and all that mattered was the cleaning and pruning and planting. I slept a dreamless sleep.  I always fancied myself more of a plant collector than a gardener. I had plants from the big box stores, but I also had exotic rarities from botanical garden plant sales. My yards had plants from every continent except Antarctica. One plant that I planted in all of my yards was the American Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) shown above. It takes shade (prefers shade) and is really not much to look at until late summer when the berries turn purple or white (I have grown both). The birds generally leave them alone until they have ripened to nothingness. The only thing that I know that likes to eat them are migrating Cedar Waxwings. I caught this one on my walk. They always surprise me. They stay in the background waiting for their turn amidst the yellow late summer flowers.

Watches perform that function now. What haven’t I worn in a while? What should I buy next? Do I have goals for a collection or for an individual watch? I don’t really have grails, more like temporary infatuations, so I will never be saving up for “the watch.” In the past few years and months, I have acquired watches that I always wanted: a 1940’s Gruen Pan American, a Vacuum (not under the Glycine badge, but it is clearly a Glycine). I have also been prattling on here about chronographs.

I have had chronographs in the past. They always had quartz movements. I have moved on from most, the 1990’s Pulsar and Swiss Army chronographs with jangly bracelets. I have one quartz chronograph now, a Pook with a 1970’s look. It tests the limits of what I can wear. My wrist is round, not flat, and larger watches balance like a quarter on an egg. Which is to say, not well.

I really wanted something smaller with a vintage feel. The Dan Henry 1937 fit the bill. But I dithered, and dithered. I have visited the website so often that Dan Henry now populates all of my placed ads on the internet beating out Nezumi and Hemel. Something held me back. I have the money for an Excelsior Park, but I will be damned if I am going to part with an extra tariff just to enjoy it. It was overpriced to begin with (just so pretty).

I looked and looked for vintage chronographs that were both affordable and not a “basket of snakes” as Chris would say. I have vintage watches that have been with watchmakers for months and months. I just got a watch back after six months and it had to go back the next day. It just couldn’t keep time. Chronographs are next level when it comes to sourcing parts and putting right. I don’t want to buy some cool old Wakmann and then have it cost twice as much to repair as purchase and also be with a watchmaker for an indeterminate time. I have a bad habit of buying watches while I wait for other watches to be fixed.

My first draft of this post included more about crime, the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the St. George’s Cross, free speech, and where we are as a culture. I have thoughts. But part of the problem is that we get each other’s thoughts though the algorithm of social media. Our inner, often ugly and uninformed opinions and reactions are on our X, Facebook, or Instagram feeds. I have no interest in violence porn, but I have seen it a lot in the last week. I see enough in my day job. Rather than discuss it here, it may be better to just stick to watches. This week made me sad, for the United States, for Britain, for the West. But we have survived real Nazis, the Cold War, and even the Golden Horde. We just need to be reminded what it takes to maintain a liberal (in the classical liberal sense) democracy. We need less 1968.

Back to watches, it will soon be 1963. I bought the most basic of manual chronographs. We will see if it scratches the itch when it arrives. (Don’t look too closely at the events of 1963. It was a bad year: coups, presidential assassinations, Popes dying, and fairgrounds exploding. Good year for watches.)