Today was the day

Most or many of us afflicted by this obsession that we call watch collecting have what they consider either the or a grail watch. I know that some people share (at least partially) a similar ethos with me...that being.. the watches they collect “mark time first and tell time second”. I have a convergence of events coming up in the next two months that are very significant in my life:

I will turn 60 years old. I will celebrate my 20 year wedding anniversary and I will celebrate a significant promotion.. likely the last before I call it a career (hopefully..lol).

I thought this was a time period to mark. I never thought I would make it to 50, much less 60. I am eternally grateful and blessed to still be here. My wife and I chuckle (now) as we have been together 29 years. Drove her insane that we..(I) waited almost 9 years before we finally got married.. I use to say to her if we wait until we are both sure..we will still be around and grow old together..there were many times when she thought I just didn’t want to settle in.. just under three decades later and here we are

I inherited what I always considered one of the watch world’s grails when we lost my father-in law 13 years ago. I am the caretaker of his 1601 Rolex Datejust and it is just stunning as everyone knows.. but one thing I always knew and felt..it was and always would be HIS watch. I am honored to have it, will keep it and it will never be sold.

One rule I adhered to over all of these years of buying watches is that I would never purchase anything over $2000.00. no matter how much I liked or wanted it. Know It’s just an arbitrary number but for some reason, I told myself that I would self check at that number. This morning I got up and was watching the Hodinkee episode with Mayer and Sheeran and all of a sudden I just stood up and said.. todays the day. I called my wife and told her and headed to Omega . I have been admiring the Speedmaster for the last 15 years..from a distance..safe behind my self imposed wall. It was time to break the wall down.. grace and hard work have allowed me and us to get to this point.

Time for a stripe..THE Stripe..a big boy stripe (in my eyes anyway). The Rolex/Tudor shop was right across the isle, IWC and Breitling on the opposite corners. Budget was not an issue at this stage in my and our lives..the choice was mine.. but I knew if I was going to mark this time in my life and step this far out to do it.. there was only one watch..Today was the day..what a feeling!