Amongst a variety of other vintage pieces, my Dad owns a Certina Certidate, which I believe was his Father’s timepiece passed down to him. At the tender age of 4 years old, I took the watch, placed it in my mouth and bit down as hard as I could - as you do. Suffice to say, it split the plexiglass! It has since been repaired and he wears it most days. Strangely though, he doesn’t understand my obsession with watches.

My dad was a tough nut to crack. A proper bloke. Working class mechanic and not a single bit of bling in him. He wore the same old leather strap timex for years and begrudged changing a battery. Unfortunately he passed away from a mixture of cancer and septicemia years ago.

When he died, and I inevitably inherited a little bit of money, I decided to do the one thing he would have most certainly disapproved of and bought myself an expensive watch to remember him by. He would have kicked right off. "Why do you wanna waste your money on **** like that?" I can hear it now.

I bought this Tag F1 Calibre 16. It was my first toe in the water of luxury watches. I now have a collection to thank/blame him for, and I remember him every time I look at this watch. From helping him in the garage to watching Top Gear on the sofa together. The watch is priceless, like the memories. 

So I used to work with my dad and at lunchtime we’d go for a walk into town. We’d spotted in a pawnbrokers window this superb Omega Seamaster 50th anniversary GMT. It was expensive for us at the time at £750 (this was 2006) so it took ages to decide to buy it.

Me and my wife got married in 2006 and following our honeymoon where, for the second half of it, all our family joined us, we came back and he bought the watch. This was at a time I loved watches but never had anything of note. I’d always loved this Seamaster.

Fast forward to November 2024 and my dear dad passed away and following my huge increase in love of watches, it was left to me. It didn’t come with the correct bracelet so it’s currently away for a service and to have a new bracelet, the one it should have been supplied with. I suppose that’s the issue with buying preowned.

I wanted to get it serviced and the forever bracelet before my dad passed away but I ran out of time. It’s currently away and I’m missing it but can’t wait for it to return. As you can imagine, this watch will never leave my collection and will go onto my boys when the day comes.

Years ago, I used to walk past the store window and stare at this Rolex Datejust - blue dial, diamond markers, looked great. I’d always go in and ask to see it, imagining i could afford it, the staff humoring me knowing I couldn’t.

Back then, it felt out of reach, but something for me to aim for. Today, it’s more than a watch in the collection - it’s a reminder of the work, the setbacks, the late nights, and the quiet wins. 16 year old me was very happy when I was able to buy it.

It’s actually a grandfather story as he created my watch addiction. At the age of 10 he gave me his Waltham double hunter pocket watch which was given to him by his father my great grandfather. I was hypnotised by the workings visible at the rear of the watch and it all started from there. The collection grows 😜

My dad was not too enthusiastic about watches, I have provided him with quality quartz watches, but his dad, my grandfather was a railway engineer, and he was really into machines and also watches.

Got home after two and a half years as POW from the Soviet Union, he started low at the railway while finished his school and became an engineer. He bought his gold Pobeda hand winding watch then, and that was given to me. If he would have lived somewhere else, that watch could be an IWC Ingenieur, but in Hungary those days there was no chance for getting anything from the West.

Now I live in the UK, working as a Quality Engineer, and with my several Swiss and German automatics there sits an old hand wound Russian Pobeda, as a memento to show people are free to go anywhere they want, and do whatever they want, the sky is the limit. I wish that chance would have been given to my grandfather’s generation back then.

Not my father's, more my grandma's - after her funeral, I had a long way to travel back home on my own, so I went for a mooch in the local town, where I happened upon a watch shop I hadn't realised was there.

In the window was a Breitling Aerospace I'd always dreamed of, ever since taking an intensive motorcycle course where my room mate wore one. I popped in and tried it on - perfect! It was the previous version that I preferred, and as 'new old stock' carried a hefty discount... I bought it there and then.

A couple of months later my father called and told me my Grandma had left me some money in her will. The amount? Exactly what I'd paid for the watch! So now every time I wear it, I think of her and hear her lovely laugh.

“You never actually own a Patek Philippe, you merely look after it for the next generation" so the famous slogan goes.

Lucky me, then! Being the first born of three sons, my father’s 1964 Calatrava will one day grace my wrist, as it did my father and his uncle before him. Originally gifted as an anniversary of friendship present, it was then bequeathed to my father by his uncle who had no children of his own.

And now, having a son of my own, the heirloom story will continue! 
Shown is a picture of my modest, yet eclectic collection - with one space remaining for the legacy piece…

Despite my dad being a really great guy, stylish and well dressed, he wasn't really into watches, so I'm really the first generation of watch lovers in our family. 

My first watch purchase was a Watches of Switzerland own brand "Jean Renet" purchased in 1980, which, was for many years my only watch so in daily use, and to be fair, took the brunt of that sad factor. I still have it and whilst it is still working, has been retained more for nostalgia, than regular use, my collection now includes many more to choose from as the occasion dictates.

Father's are special, someone you look up to, your protector...I love my dad, and he knows I love watches, I always have and always will.

This watch is extra special and to me it's priceless, it was purchased by my father nearly 54 years ago to celebrate my birth, and on my 50th birthday he gifted it to me...near 54 years of memories encapsulated in a time piece...the 6105 is the heart of my collection, I cherish it as much as I do my old fella...thanks dad...love you so much mate.

Grew up astounded and in love with the Rolex 1016 I saw everyday on Dad's wrist.  
It was powered by his wrist? It used springs and gears to make it work? No battery? Everything about it was awesome.  

Not sure if was destined to be a watch collector or frequent borrowing of Dad's 1016 made it happen. He bought it new in 1967 as a working beach lifeguard, while he was a student at UBC.

His first luxe watch was a Omega Seamaster - but it was stolen while he was at a swim practice. Several months later he bought his lifelong watch, that Rolex Explorer. It stayed with him as a tugboat mate, a ski instructor in Kitzbuhel, and professional diver (he didn't take it deep), among many other jobs. Dad was also a gymnast, and loved to do handstands in dangerous places 😂

So this isn’t the typical watch story you’re looking to hear. When my grandfather died, he left me the gold Rolex you see below.

When my parents got married, they went to Thailand for their honeymoon. To pay for the honeymoon, my dad brought back a ton of bootleg items like Nike t-shirts, sunglasses and watches. He sold and gave away these items when he got back to the UK.

Turns out, the gold Rolex is a fake that my dad brought back from Thailand that he gifted my grandfather/ his father in law… sadly, my dad has never understood or appreciated the value of a decent timepiece so I always ended up with fakes or watches he was given.

This is a new tradition I’m trying to start so that I can hand down an actual decent set of watches to my son one day.

I would like my children to have a story to tell about my watches as I don’t have a story to tell about my dad’s watch. I love watches and everything about them. My little girl likes already talking about the watches in the watch winder. They are a timepiece that incorporates memories and places in time. For example the watch I bought for my wedding day.

When I was about 11 years old, my father was promoted onto the board of directors of a large British company, and then awarded a gold Omega Deville for 25 years service. 
 
That watch remained with him throughout until his final years where he ended up in a care-home.

Being promised to me once he passed, I was dismayed to find that the home had washed his clothes without checking the pockets, the watch was never built to survive a boil-wash and as parts no longer being available, now sits forlornly in my Barrington 2 watch winder as if reminiscing of days gone by…

I don't remember what kind of watch it was, but it had a gold band. You never saw him without it. It was a windup watch. When he died, we buried him with that watch on.

My father’s watch story is not remarkable in any stretch of the imagination. He has owned the same watches most if not all of my life except the U-boat 42 which is his youngest watch at 16years old (he does not wear this much as he says it is too heavy now. 

But the watches that stick out our the two he wears the most. The Casio digital from 1979 which he got from making us (5 children) eat lots of kellogg’s cornflakes till he had amassed the tokens required plus the £2.99 postage (a lot back then) for this masterpiece. And lastly an old automatic watch from Honk Kong with a picture on the face of the harbour with an aeroplane flying around the dial as the second hand. 

As I have stated unremarkable watches but in fact these are the watches I remember in my heart and why I now regard watches as not just something to tell the time but things, “that are of their time”. 

Even today I still see Casio watches with just the time, date and seconds (only acceptable with a push of a button that will eventually fail to work). The days out with my father, with me asking if I can please wear it and play with the button so I can see the second hand and see how long I can hold my breath for.  I can only feel a warmth for these watches and not scathing revulsion, which is what My Son sees in them. 

These are the  watches started my journey into horology and the more expensive watches that need a watch winder, like the U-Boat 42 that I now wear, watches are not just for telling the time they are objects we interact with and imprint memories of our fathers no longer here or of ones we do not see enough of. 

They say time is fleeting, but all memories are bound in time, a time governed by the time pieces we wore on that day. These memories are not fleeting when you can still hold them in your hands and more importantly on your wrists. 

Thank you for allowing me time write this and remember these great days (now long in the past) and why I still hate to eat Kellogg’s cornflakes.

My dad’s watch was never about fashion - it was about time. A simple mechanical piece with a quiet tick, purchased for him when my old brother was born. He polished it every Sunday, not just to care for the metal, but to honor the moments it marked.

Growing up, time with Dad felt brief - long hours at work, short weekends. But when he was with us, he was present. Washing the family car together, fixing bikes, taking family trips to the beach. The watch was always there, quietly ticking through those memories.

When I became a father, he gave it to me. Inside the case, he’d written: “Time doesn’t wait - but love remembers.” This was especially impactful as my older brother passed away just a few years earlier in a car accident and never had the joy of fatherhood.

Now I wear it every day. It reminds me that while time moves fast, the bond between fathers and sons - like a well-crafted timepiece - is built to last generations and when my son becomes a father, this watch will in turn become his!

For his 50th Birthday my Mum bought my Dad his favourite watch, a Paneria Luminor 8 Days. He loves it and will tell you, if he corners you, that had he been as talented and famous as Sylvester Stallone then it would have been him that helped get Paneria back on the map.

My Dad also thinks that it shouldn’t just be him that makes memories with his watch and so my Brother and I have worn it at memorable events the highlight being our Weddings. He hopes there will be many more occasions that he gets to enjoy watching his watch participate in but we do have to tell him that his Grandchildren are probably still a bit young.

I have inherited my father’s Rolex when he passed away six years ago. Since it is a watch that is two decades old, it needs some maintenance to keep it running smoothly. I took it the the local Rolex jeweler to get it lubricated and polished. It looks amazing!

The next step is to find a watch winder to keep it winded up daily so I don’t have to visit the Rolex jeweler again for maintenance. It’s time consuming and costly. I have tried multiple watch winders that have excellent reviews on Amazon; however, none of them keep the Rolex ticking constantly! I have tried the horizontal ones, the angled ones, the clockwise and anti clockwise movements ones. None of them worked perfectly for a Rolex watch! I was frustrated and exhausted trying to find a winder that will work for my father’s Rolex.

I finally did some research online and read some discussions on Rolex owners forums and came across the brand Barrington. I quickly went on Barrington’s website and browsed through their wide selection of watch winders. I noticed that they all have a vertical watch placement which is unique to other winders in the market. Since I have tried all the other placement positions with no success, I was willing to give Barrington watch winder a try.

I picked the 2 Watch Winder which has piano black finish and a carbon fiber background and the digital display below showing the movements and the speeds through the showcasing door. It also have a built-in storage drawer and it comes with a remote control! I was totally sold on the appearance and style as well as the functionality of the  Barrington’s Watch Winder.

I have have been using the winder for a few years now; my father’s watch has never failed ticking, it is working smoothly every time I get to wear it occasionally. The Barrington’s Watch Winder is definitely the “Rolls Royce” of watch winders especially for Rolex watches. Thank you for Barrington Watch Winders Company that makes such amazing products. I will be a loyal customer for life!

It’s a Cristophe Claret tourbillion called Unique Piece and features a beautiful movement. The back side has a detailed dragon… there are 2 bands black or blue leather…

Cristophe Claret is the Swiss watch maker behind the best designs of Harry Winston Ulysses Nardin and many other high end brands… this is in his own name so it truly is a unique piece! 

Growing up, it was hard to picture my Dad not wearing his Submariner. He took immense pride in it and was very careful with making sure it showed the correct time. He would wear it all the time and it was even the watch he wore when I was born. Despite this, once the original bracelet broke he failed to replace it and it was left in a drawer for some time.

My Dad sadly passed away very suddenly and unexpectedly a few weeks after I got married in 2021. It was an incredibly emotionally charged period of time, having experienced such intense joy followed by total grief. While we were sorting through his belongings, my Mum found his Submariner and made a throwaway comment about me having it. I didn’t really give it much thought at the time. The following year I turned 30 and my Mum presented me with the Submariner, serviced, repaired and with a new bracelet. I was totally floored and whenever I wear it I think of him and the time we spent together, father and son.

Last year my daughter was born. When she was put on my wife’s lap, I reached out to place my hand on her. I looked down and there was the watch, present for her birth as it had been for mine. A real full circle moment.

My dad’s first watch is a Tag Heuer Link (2010) and his second is a Tag Monaco (2023).

One is classic for business, and one is casual for the weekends. He says I’ll inherit them someday, so I think he could really use a Barrington Watch Winder to keep them in great shape.

My dads watch was actually one i purchased - but with him in mind. See, dad is a retired US Navy salvage diver, one of the highest risk jobs in the military. He completed a career diving for 20 years and retired after teaching the next generation of divers. 

I came across a watch and had to purchase it - a Ball Engineer Hydrocarbon NEDU, which stands for the Naval Experimental Dive Unit. This is the group that manages the health physics of diving, and created the dive tables by which military divers work. 

I showed it to him soon after i got it, and he was elated. He knew some of the guys in that unit and shared some stories about them. Dad's health is declining, with strokes and dementia taking their toll. To bring him some happiness was worth it. 

If i ever had to give up my watch collection, this would be the last to go. 

In 1999, for my parents’ 30th wedding anniversary, my mother gave my father a Rolex, engraved with “Love on our 30th”. He wore it religiously as a sign of their beautiful marriage.

After quintuple bypass surgery and multiple stents later, he only wears an Apple Watch so as to be able to monitor his heart at all times. This year, the year of my 50th birthday, my dad gifted this watch to me so that this beautiful timepiece, a gift of love, can be kept in the family and worn as an exhibit of the love with which it was given. 

In a modest room in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, during the days of the Soviet Union, a father extended his hand to his teenage son. In it was a watch, ordinary to some, but unforgettable to the 13-year-old boy who received it. That boy was Jacob Arabo, and the man who gave it to him, his father Nison, unknowingly ignited a spark that would burn for many decades.

That simple act wasn’t about luxury or timekeeping; it was about belief. Nison handed over more than just a timepiece; he passed on a message: You have my trust, and the world is open to you. In a time and place where dreaming beyond your borders was nearly impossible, this was an act of quiet rebellion, deep love, and unwavering hope.

From Tashkent to New York: The Journey Begins

Born in 1965 in Tashkent, then part of the Soviet Union, Jacob Arabo (born Yakov Arabov) grew up in a Bukharian Jewish family. At 13, the gift of a world time watch from his father sparked a fascination with horology. A year later, he secured a part-time job assisting a watchmaker, captivated by the intricate gears and mechanisms.

In 1979, at the age of 14, Jacob and his family immigrated to New York City, settling in Forest Hills, Queens. Facing financial hardships, Jacob left high school at 16 to enroll in a six-month jewelry-making course, which he completed in four months. He began working in a local jewelry factory, earning $125 a week, while designing his own pieces at night.

Building Jacob & Co.: A Dream Realized

By 21, Jacob had opened his own booth in New York City's Diamond District, initially operating under the name "Diamond Quasar" before establishing Jacob & Co. in 1986 . His innovative designs quickly attracted a celebrity clientele, including hip-hop artists and athletes, earning him the moniker "Jacob the Jeweler".

Jacob's creations, such as the Five Time Zone watch introduced in 2002, combined bold aesthetics with technical prowess, solidifying his reputation in the luxury watch industry.

A Legacy Continued: Father to Son

The legacy of Jacob & Co. continues through Jacob's son, Benjamin Arabov, who took over as CEO in 2021. Under Benjamin's leadership, the company has embraced digital transformation and expanded its global presence.

In a tribute to the family's journey, Jacob & Co. launched "The World Is Yours Dual Time Zone" watch, inspired by the original timepiece Nison had given to Jacob. This creation symbolises the enduring bond between father and son, and the belief that with love and support, the world is indeed yours to conquer .

From a simple gift in Tashkent to a global luxury brand, the story of Jacob & Co. is a testament to the power of familial love, ambition, and the belief that dreams, no matter how distant, are within reach.