"Time is fleeting, but all memories are bound in time"
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.
