Check your sizing, people!

Behold my new to me, original 1980's 1st gen Timex Ironman in near perfect condition.

Technically, it's an Iron(Wo)man as it's sold as a ladies watch. Take note, not Iron Lady, that's someone rather different....

Anyway, I've always liked the original Timex Ironman and this one caught my eye.

Being the modern man that I am, the technicality of it being a ladies watch didn't bother me, I like the colour and I've got a smaller wrist, so why shouldn't I?

On to the watch: this is a rare colourway in extremely good condition, most used examples have had the writing rubbed off of all the buttons and have the usual scars of scuffs and dings related to a tool watch used in athletics/exercise.

Now, when I saw the listing, the seller (another collector) had taken a few pictures, (must've been a fish-eye lens...) the description was brief, the battery was dead and the price was good, around £50 all in with postage.

There was no mention of sizing, no verniers calipers to indicate what you were buying, it was very much a IYKYK (if you know you know) situation.

I very much did not know.

Here is my thumb for scale, and I don't have massive hands.

The watch seems small even for women's sized wrists, it's probably more suitable for kids. When it arrived and I opened it (after waiting a week for delivery) my wife saw my reaction and couldn't stop laughing, she tried it on and said it was too small for her (she wears a G Shock GMA2100 daily) needless to say it's even more ridiculous on me.

If it did fit and I could 'rock it' I'd be afraid to use it as it feels incredibly fragile, and about as water resistant as a rice cake.

I guess it's the same old adage of 'watches were smaller back then' and I'm sure some people could and did wear them, but I can't see myself putting it in my regular rotation.

Lesson learnt.

However, I still like it, it's a rare piece that's only getting rarer, it makes me smile and it was inexpensive, so I'm going to keep it.

Who knows, maybe one day I'll gift it to one of my future offspring or my nephew so they can inevitably smash it to a million pieces within about 0.5 seconds of ownership!

#silverlinings

Has anyone else made a schoolboy error when purchasing watches?