Shortly after we began what has become now seven weeks of home lock-down (with no end in sight yet), I determined that I would make a single wristwatch my Pandemic Watch, and wear it exclusively...for the duration. Why? My thought was that this is such an extraordinary, (hopefully) once-in-a-lifetime tribulation, that I should want to remember it afterward by associating the experience with memories of a single, special wristwatch. I chose my beloved hesalite crystal Speedmaster as The Watch. Why the Speedmaster? Probably because it is a serious watch, and this is a serious time. And I simply love it more than any other. I announced my vow to my wife. She chuckled softly upon hearing it, no doubt accepting it as just another bizarre symptom of my long-running watch sickness. Not surprisingly, my vow was broken less than twenty-four hours after making it. When I saw my other watches through the glass on the lid of the display box, it was like looking at my own children -- my watch babies, if you will. How could I ignore and neglect them for weeks, possibly even months, or years? So I was back to the regular watch rotation, posting regularly to WRUW, sometimes changing watches two or three times a day. And then, like thousands, or hundreds of thousands, or maybe even millions of people all around the world, I began baking bread for the first time. For a first-timer, it can be challenging and certainly frustrating, but rewarding as well. And there are so many steps in the bread-making process that require waiting, for specific periods of time. And guess what? Watches are really handy for timing specific, prescribed events. It turns out that baking is one of the things that tool watches are perfectly made for! I soon discovered that because some of the waiting periods extended beyond an hour, a count-up bezel on a dive watch was not the best tool for the job. This is where a multi-register chronograph really shines. So I began timing baking procedures with my trusty Navitimer; I chose the Navitimer because it has a rubber strap and is thus not affected by splashes of water or gooey dough. But eventually I found that specks of dough got trapped in the deep, narrow grooves that are a feature of this particular strap. I thought about switching to my Speedmaster -- I wear it on a NATO strap or original OEM bracelet, but I was concerned about dough getting stuck in the fabric of the strap, or between links in the bracelet. So I started using my Pilot chronograph. In retrospect, I should have chosen this as my pandemic baking watch from the beginning. Why? Allow me to enumerate: 1) It's super-easy to read the totalizer registers, even without reading glasses (which normally I must wear, in most circumstances); 2) It has a smooth strap that sheds water, flour, and dough most of the time, and is easy to clean when something does stick; 3) It has a screw-down crown, adding yet another level of water, flour, and dough resistance; and, 4) It shows the day of the week. I have found that since I both live and work in my home (a new experience for me), the difference between weekday and weekend begins to blur -- every day is just another living and/or work day. Being able to see quickly which day of the week it is, has been surprisingly useful. So, what about you? Have you identified your pandemic watch?