When Your Watch Obsession Collides With Another
Happy New Year Everyone!
Wanted to share a purchase I made while shopping at our first flea market of 2023. Since I started collecting vintage Seiko watches, I've been paying much closer attention to vendors selling watches. Just as we were about to finish up, I came across this beauty...
A 1960's Planter's "Mr. Peanut" watch with a hand wind,Swiss movement and magnified date window. It's in minty condition, not so much as a scuff on the acrylic crystal. The case was free of scratches and the only issue was a dried out strap which I replaced with a fresh one from StrapCo.
I've always been a fan of that smartly dressed peanut as a kid. I started to collect vintage O.G. Mr. Peanut branded items as a way to keep his memory alive after he was unceremoniously killed off during a 2020 Super Bowl commercial in order to make way for a mascot that would appeal to millennials. He would have been 107 this year.
This watch sits prominently in my watch case with my Seiko's, my grandfather's vintage Rolex and is now the cherry atop of my modest Mr. Peanut paraphernalia collection. (Gotta love the gloved hour and minutes hands. Would have been a little more fun if the seconds hand was his cane, tbh.)
Sometimes searching for the next watch for the collection, turning over every stone chasing the grail, sniping that auction and the anxiety of getting a watch that meets your expectations can all be a little overwhelming at times. Maybe a road less traveled is the distraction that reminds us not to take it all too seriously.
Thanks Mr. Peanut!
Restauranteur. Home Chef. Fledgling Mixologist. Horology Student. Unapologetic Seiko Fanboy. Aspiring Bon Vivant. IG:@stangee22
Mr. Peanut was a victim of reverse classism, as the proles resented his spats, top hat, and monocle. Apparently some people inexplicably confuse him with Mr. Moneybags as well.
There seems to be a binary state to promotional items like this. They are either used and abused with abandon and beat to all hell (because hey, it's not like anyone paid much for it) or they were tucked away somewhere new in box and unintentionally preserved for decades. My Snapple watch was clearly the latter.
This is such a cheery piece, and oddly better quality than one would expect. I guess we don't see more square date magnifiers like this because the magnification is low and it's an acrylic thing?
Mr. Peanut was a victim of reverse classism, as the proles resented his spats, top hat, and monocle. Apparently some people inexplicably confuse him with Mr. Moneybags as well.
There seems to be a binary state to promotional items like this. They are either used and abused with abandon and beat to all hell (because hey, it's not like anyone paid much for it) or they were tucked away somewhere new in box and unintentionally preserved for decades. My Snapple watch was clearly the latter.
This is such a cheery piece, and oddly better quality than one would expect. I guess we don't see more square date magnifiers like this because the magnification is low and it's an acrylic thing?
I was lucky to find one not in the box that was in such good condition but would have to agree with you that it was rare to find something in between NIB and BTH (beat to hell).
Love to see your Snapple watch if you have a pic and encourage anyone else in the community to publish pics of their promotional watch if you gottem!
Does anybody know what diamond-tooled means? I assume that means the brass was cut with some cutting tool consisting of artificial diamond... but brass is soft. So confusing.
Anyway, here's the file photo of the Snapple watch, which I mainly got to make (Sn)Apple Watch gags.
The hands are so thin that the legibility suffers. The main point was to promote Snapple.