If I could go back in time?

There was a shop on my way to work that I passed most days in the 70s, it’s this shop I would like to go back in time to.

It sold a lot of used or surplus military uniforms belts gas mask’s and all other bits and bobs that came under the militaria umbrella and lots and lots of other interesting stuff, including bullets big knives and other stuff you couldn’t sell nowadays.

All were displayed in the windows of two very rundown shops just outside Wigan town centre.

They were known as Kay’s, I think they were a family run shop.

In the main window was the good stuff, jewellery medal's and yes, watches.

I always asked the lady who ran it for the prices of those military watches that were lounging in the window, the ones with the crow’s foot on the dial, it was these I found most interesting of all. ( If memory serves there were at least a dozen watches, some were Omega’s )

But for me a junior salesman in a furniture shop they were always beyond my reach, my wage when I started at that my first job was.... wait for it.... £5.43 a week and 50p if I did Saturday mornings.

Now I realise I should at that time have been buying all of those watches that she had for sale.

I suppose at that time for my ageing memory fails me they were only let’s say a fiver a watch, which for me at that time was my whole wage and I had to give my Dad my keep out of it and buy lunch and get to work each day!

Kids nowadays with their big wages don’t know how good they’ve got it do they.

So my next question would be if you could go back in time where would you go?

And of course when.

And what if anything would you be buying?


See you in the future.

Joe.
Sorry about the photo but that's what life was like back then ( photo is Kay's shop ).

 

I can think of lots of places to go but none have anything to do with watches....

 

The picture and the building both look old, but the vehicle in the picture looks much more recent. Odd! This must have been photographed long after your time at the furniture store.

 

Antique store on Fleet Street in Baltimore, summer 2001. I had been in my first real job for 2 years (earning $21k/yr which I thought was great), saddled with crushing student debt, and maxed out on my salary and credit cards. The display case across from the cash wrap was full brick-a-brac, lighters, razors, coins and medals, and a few watches. What caught my eye was a fairly beaten up Rolex Submariner. I knew nothing about them at the time other than it was a Rolex and I obviously knew the brand name and has seen the new ones in print ads. I asked to see it, and remember it vividly in my hand- the dial had gold lettering (not bright white like the new ones), and the lume plots were fairly darker yellow (not white with gold rings like the new ones), and it felt smallish and didn't have a crown guard (not big and fat like the new ones). The bezel was awkwardly large in comparison to the high dome bubble crystal (not like the new ones) and the bracelet felt thin and light weight with rivets on the sides (not big and hefty like the new ones). The thing was really ratty with a scratched up crystal but was running. I really wanted it, but it was $400, and to me that was a months rent and I was feeling pangs of responsibility and guilt....and I left it there. Two days later I couldn't take the nagging in my head so went back, and of course it was gone.

Obviously I know what it was now, and that watch could have paid off my student loans in one shot. Painful to think about.

 

It was just like that when I walked past it most mornings.
But not too long after Wigan council compulsory purchased the buildings and they were pulled down, the van was probably newish at the time the photo was taken.

 

The "van" looks like a Ford Anglia Estate to me, mid-late '60s. The newer building far-right is very '60s early '70s.

 

Cool post, especially the location! I grew up in Standish, just outside of Wigan. Live in NYC now but still go back there often. If I could go back in time I'd like to revisit the old Central Park stadium in Wigan to see the cherry and whites, as I did countless times with my Dad and brother as a kid. As you'll know, the stadium is gone and it's a Tesco store now - been to that Tesco a few times, definitely not as good as watching a game of Rugby League!

 

Yeah same. I better stop thinking.

 

I would go back to this room sometime around 1969 to 1970???, put my arm around my Father and say:

"Dad can you please go carefully with that 105.012-65. Dont let the 1970's 'service tech' change the bracelet, hands or crown.. Wrap the watch in cotton wool and put it away safely for 50 years so that it stays like NOS.... and for 'fakks sake' don't leave the box and papers in the bed side table!... because you know, at some point in the 1980's, Mum will throw them in the bin!"

 

It’s a small world!
I am also from Standish, born there in 1967 and moved out in 1994, my dad still lives there. It’s changed beyond recognition recently and resembles a small town now rather than a village. I am not a big Rugby fan but I wouldn’t mind going back and reliving a few nights in the Riverside club.

 

So many places, but let’s start with March 13, 1986 when Microsoft went public at an opening price of $21 per share. Today it traded at $137.

 

Made me think about stocks and bitcoins

 

And that's after many splits.

But if you're going for investments, bringing the lottery numbers back would get an even higher payout.

 

If I could go back, when my father's father died he left a watch. It was nonfunctional, I think a Seamaster. (Ford awarded them as a retirement gift.) Anyway, my aunt the executrix said I could have it if I wanted, but it would require a service that would cost more than the watch was worth. I was about 12, had no job and the amount she said a service would cost was completely unattainable to me, so I didn't take it. I wish I'd tucked it away until I was introducted to good watches and could afford that service.

 

And that is with a lot of splits on the way.

 

Back in 1991 I saw on a Portobello market stall a Rolex “turn-o-graph” that looked like a baby Submariner..It was way out my price range at £250..

 

Biggest regret for me was that quartz Rolex I recently sold/traded. I had bought my wife’s ring and at that time I was a watch lover just didn’t have knowledge other than I like watches. I was in the diamond district in the city I really didn’t look around enough but I saw this Cellini that really struck me. It was a nice gold watch but of course it was quartz. The same guy had some Cartier santos and some other nice ones but I was just so caught up in Cellini I impulse purchased. My boss at the time had a Cellini and I was always caught buy how nice it looked. I have no qualms with quartz, I haven’t bought one in years but I wish I knew back then about which watches are desirable and maintain or increase in value. I wore that Cellini at my wedding and a handful of other times.

I’m not even thinking of watches as investments but if I had the proper knowledge I could have shopped around more and found a watch that would have allowed me better trade in the future in case I wanted to do that. I guess it comes down to knowledge right, I wish I had more knowledge on watches back then. If I had that knowledge and still went with the Cellini fine but today I know I wouldn’t have. And I wish I bought a bunch of Apple stock at 2 bucks a share when Steve Jobs was just coming back.

 

You and I both seem to have spent some time in the Riverside club, I would head there most weekends and watch the girls dancing around their handbags..
Joe.