Journey into watches
A question that’s asked often: how did you get into watches?
For me, I remember looking at all the shiny pretty watches behind glass at Walmart. At around 9 or 10 I had some money, can’t remember if it was birthday or what. I decided I’m going to get a watch. Unfortunately, none of those shiny ones were in my budget or could be sized small enough for me. So I settled on a Timex Ironman , unsure of the model but it was black and neon green.
From there, I drifted into other interest. Until I got my first job. I went back to Walmart and bought a gold plated Elgin. I think I spent my entire check on it. It rattled, fit terribly. I was rather disappointed. Again, I pursued other interests.
One day, I’m going through some boxes of junk and find a Rolex. I’m almost certain it’s fake, but maybe… so I start researching. Within a few minutes, I discovered my watch is powered by a Miyota. I still wore it until the hands fell off, so I chucked it in the trash. This time I missed feeling it on my wrist. So I went and bought another Walmart watch. It lacked the weight and feel of my Folex so that’s what really launched me into this chaos. Countless Seikos from far away lands that disintegrated shortly after opening the package. I’ve probably fallen for every misleading eBay ad there is.
A few years ago, my wife inherited her grandfathers seiko. It was beat to death, inoperable. I’ve always been a tinkerer at heart, so I decided I’d restore it for her. I quickly learned it was actually her uncles, through decoding the serial number. Which led to her learning the story of her aunt and uncle taking a trip to Japan, and had actually bought matching watches there. After that turned out well, I started actively looking for dead and broken watches. Every time one comes back to life, it just fuels my obsession.
I’m a watch collector turned watchsmith, watch salesman and watch appraiser. On top of the heavy weight of entrepreneurship, I work endless hours in logistics.
Great story and thanks for sharing, but where is the pic of the grandfather's Seiko?
I love this, great story!
Thank you.