MY 20 YEAR OLD BAUME & MERCIER HAMPTON CITY CHRONOGRAPH WATCH

My deeply sentimental post is about a watch that was gifted to me by my perfect wife and two imperfect but dazzling daughters a long time ago. It is about my watch but perhaps more accurately about time. I have now offered a respectful warning, this might be boring, no doubt will be.

I attended a remarkable public high school in Toronto where the brainiacs were equal in every way to the jocks, the rest of us studied Latin to appear a tier above the mob. Tempus fugit, time flies was a personal favourite phrase that I used a lot. A few Saturdays ago, my extended family gathered together to celebrate my younger daughter’s birthday but also to meet as a tribe before she and her husband move to a community that will make these happy crazy get togethers more challenging, not impossible, but will cease to be spontaneous, carefree! She and her husband are also expecting a first grandkid, tempus fugit! We were being treated to a wonderful family style Italian dinner by my son in law who is a great fella despite his predilection for quartz Shinola watches but he also has amassed a stash of G-Shocks which represents balance. This is merely a personal observation but there is always some dude server who waits tables as an affectation before finally allowing his frustrated parents to lure him away from his greasy daily grind back to his privileged upbringing. A telltale sign might be a well worn steel Rolex Sub that has been on the young guy’s wrist since he dropped out of law, or medicine or some other swell calling to see the world before he grows too jaded. He will make a remark about the timepiece that I am wearing to establish a fraternity that does not exist. My older daughter who travels comfortably, exclusively via the high roads of her life will forcefully interrupt before the old man answers, shouting “Don’t get him started.” The moment is saved there will be no 30 minute comversation about watches while diners are waiting to dig in. However I also know what is happening next, there will be the bogus outraged accusations that I never ever wear the watch that their mom and they gifted to me almost 20 years ago this coming October, my BAUME & MERCIER is not current enough to wear yada, yada. I ignore the taunts, continue sneaking more of the grilled lamp chops than is my allotted portion onto my dinner plate. The restaurant is slammed, the tattooed bartender is working his martini shaker like some genius musician waiting to be discovered, I must be the only senior in the restaurant, it is loud, rock concert, small venue loud but my mind drifts back to a chilly October late afternoon when my wife pays for a Chronograph watch that I have admired countless times in the show window of a fsvourite watch shop that was just Cool! It was also a period in my personal history when watches were not merely a superfluity but an impossibility, even dangerous financially to think about. My brilliant wife waited until our two teenage daughters working as lifeguards, swim instructors could assist in a present for me. It was serendipitous since the B&M Hampton City Chrono took off like a lead balloon after its optimistic launch a few years before the Richemond Group overseers ordered ads to sell off the watches at 50% off the MSRP. I wore my special Chronograph watch every day until one day I fell very badly tripping at a construction site over some coiled wires, the watch was badly scarred but was rescued by my ad sending very detailed instructions to the service centre. I sometimes slip on my talisman watch at home when I am hiding in my small study, there is no need to risk a repeat incident, I own other watches again that I can wear with less regard.

The original watch and jewelry boutique was shuttered yesrs and years in the past already. There is a Dairy Queen ice cream shop in its place, clean and shiny in the beginning but looking worn and in desperate need for sanitation lately. I like ice cream not as much as watches but enjoy a portion when the wife and kids are not looking but maybe not from there!

Some friends who remember the original boutique that sold Rolex, Cartier, Omega and of course Baume & Mercier believe it was the escalating rents, prime retail stores were priced at, that caused the closure of a well established business. I have better insight, near the end of each year a thoughtful greeting card in English and Chinese would come through my front door mail slot until one year it was just the Mrs’ name on the card until 365 days later no card arrived except a gracious message thanking customers for the years of support, the business was closing. There were rumours of an inappropriate relationship between the husband owner and the comely store manager, watch guys don’t care about events not related to horology. My new regular ad sells B&M watches was surprised that the much maligned manufacture is experiencing positive reactions lately with their Riviera line of watches, I have expressed interest in a limited edition or limited production run iteration of the Riviera with a perpetual calendar movement. It is not likely that any will arrive for sale in Canada but he will remain vigilant. We chatted about the watch when there was still traces of snow on the ground outside his tony boutique, any launch he believed would be at least months away, I am in no hurry, after all time flies, tempus fugit.

This post is certainly not only about a 46mm watch with a nicely finished shiny rectangular case, silvered vintage inspired dial that sold poorly for whatever reasons, it did not connect with a fickled marketplace. Truthfully, I cannot recall a single timepiece that was not always much more about my fragile relationship with time. My unborn grand kid is expected to make her grand entrance sometime in October in this year of the rabbit in the Chinese Lunar Calendar. I am a rabbit also, my 20 year old watch in all likelihood will be oversized for her even when she is 20 but my family agrees that it is an appropriate object for a grand daughter, daughter and niece to receive from a watch obsessed family. 40 years is a long time but after all time flies, TEMPUS FUGIT!