In praise of old beaters...

My brother and I can't even remember which of us this belonged to. He found it in the back of his desk drawer 20 years ago. The crystal was not just cracked, but broken, with a hole in it. Water intrusion...I think so. The old gold plating has worn away. Measure 33mm with the crown...so maybe a gift when one of us graduated from the 6th grade. I gave it a new crystal and calf leather strap, wound it up, and it runs perfectly. No point in looking inside, it is what it is. It is push pinned to the wall over my desk and it enjoys its life being my office clock. And the point of all this is that even in the ugliest, beaten up, weathered and worn or Omega (or Rolex or Bulova)...there is something to be said for keeping them alive instead of looking down our noses at them. Sometimes the heart of these old watches trumps the cosmetics.