Okay okay, I get it. It's weird but...

[SC1]

...anyone else here look forward to just spending time, not a minute or so - not multitasking it while doing something else or chatting with a spouse or family or significant other or watching amateur curling on ESPN 5, with your watches or your latest watch or a watch you are revisiting in your collection? Alone Time (as weird as that seems - especially now that I'm typing it out) for lack of a less creepy word?

Okay, I'll go first...

Just took delivery of the '57 Trilogy Railmaster, and it would take maybe 10 minutes for me to size the bracelet and be done with it. Hell, I'd be wearing it, enjoying it, endlessly posting and yapping about it here at OF and spreading photos of it all over my social media accounts to a bunch of absolutely non-interested in it friends who'd be suffering through the niceties of Liking the photos and saying obligatory stuff like "Wow" and "Nice" while not really giving two shits. And that's fine by me - I get that, different strokes for different folks.
But here's the thing...
I mean, for chrissakes, I have to remove two links. Two links man. Two. I know exactly how this bracelet is going to fit me because I already have it on my '57 Seamaster. But yet, no. It's been six days, maybe seven, since it arrived and I haven't done it.
Day One I took it out to inspect it, marvel at it, take some photos to share with you people here at OF and then I boxed it and haven't touched it since. WTF?

And I know why, and it's weird ~

I want to absolutely not be interrupted by anything: my wife, my daughter, my dachshund needing to go outside to poop or need a scratch, no knocks at the door from UPS delivering some ridiculous thing my wife, unbeknownst to me, ordered from ol' Jeff Bezos or some half-scared yet sanctimonious middle aged lady with a fanny pack & Keen sandals on her feet blasting the doorbell and then chirping at me about a politician I absolutely MUST vote for or barking at me about a new cause to remove non-organic apple juice juice boxes from the local school lunch program.
No, I just want a perfectly quiet, pristine and reverential moment. Maybe some Bach playing in the background or Miles' "Kind of Blue" wafting through the house that isn't interrupted with Alexa screeching out some banal shit at me. A small chunk of Me Time to just sit with my new Railmaster. Totally drinking it all in. My little assortment of mostly garbage watch tools and some purple Loctite on a piece of cardboard with a couple wooden toothpicks arranged just so on the desk... and just geek out, pretend I am some legendary watchmaker, while resizing this beautiful thing I now own.
Can't I have that? I want that.

Anyone else here even somewhat as ridiculous as me? Please tell me someone else is this way? Please?
I can't be the only one.

 

[Larry S]

My DON , Chocolate 145 22 69 came with a too short 1039 . I bought the links, sweated and expedited their journey for four months from the UK …. That was five years ago…I can’t find the lucid, quiet time to fit them, even retired.

 

[JwRosenthal]

I felt like this in my last marriage- constantly. I would wake up at 6am on a Saturday specifically so I could have 2 hours at my workbench to myself. I don’t have that problem anymore- nor that wife.

I don’t know the dynamics of your home/life, but it seems you need to express your desires/needs to your wife and see if you can come to some form of agreement on alone time. I’m betting she would like the same.

 

[Dsloan]

I definitely need more alone time. I love and like my family, but between a toddler, keeping the house in order, and avg 45-50 hours of work per week, I have very little time to myself. At the moment, I'm starting to actually look forward to chores (dishes, yard work, etc) because I get to just do something by myself. I'm hoping I can downshift in the future and carve out more alone time to relax, read a book, and goof around with one of my many hobbies.

I do have one mandatory, solitary respite though: each week, I do weight training 2-3 times alone in my basement. That's an essential 5-6 hours of alone time per week, and I'd crack from the stress if I couldn't do this.

 

[JwRosenthal]

^ this is imperative IMO to keep sanity- maintain a semblance of yourself. And it’s important for your partner/ family to understand and respect it…hell, they don’t need to understand- just respect. And the respect needs to flow both ways- let them know you are available to tend the castle while they do what they need to keep sane.

My failing in my last relationship was to assume that I was needed all the time, that I wasn’t allowed to have me time, and I never asked for it. Instead I was bitter and resentful and allowed myself to be abused. There were more issues of lacking respect and empathy in the relationship- but you get the picture.

I don’t have that problem in my current life- I express my need to do things that are on my mental health punch list and my wife knows then that it is a priority to me and encourages me to do it. She knows she can express the same to me and I will have her back in a heartbeat.

 

[Duracuir1]

 

[Cayohuesovespa]

Boy, If I were to try to live up to the OP's dream time, I would never get anything done...
I never get a pristine moment away from my inquisitive, needy and constantly chatting 13-year-old, or my twin 8-year-old boys, who are forever entwined and battling over anything and everything, usually loudly, violently, and nearly always under my feet. The boys' live-in nanny/roomate is always there, too, chasing them, squawking loudly, in her crow-like voice, always interrupting, and asking way too many questions about things she should already know.
I never get a moment's peace for new watch tinkering, bracelet sizing, buckle adjusting, strap replacing, fawning, comparing, etc. so when I do, it is usually a brief few moments, in my dimly lit bedroom, half sitting uncomfortably on the side of my unmade bed trying my hardest not to let the springbars and bracelet pins and collars roll off of the side of the comforter, to be lost forever in the extra shaggy rugs that my kid's mom decided that she had to have...
I never know when these fleeting moments of relative solitude will end, so when the mailman delivers a new trinket, I'm usually quick to drag out the boxes and little containers of parts, using a shoebox lid to contain all of my treasures; I can't ever be bothered to waste the little time I have, to find my cheaters so I can see what I am doing, so instead, I squint at the wee little pieces and crappy kit of poorly made tools, trying not to scratch or lose anything.
It never fails, though; just as a spring bar shoots across the room and pings off of a wall, the tasmanian devil twister of 2 little boys comes rampaging through my room, jumping over me onto the bed, where all of the little priceless and unobtanium forged parts that are tossed into the air, strewn over and off of the bed, onto the floor, behind the bed, lost, forever in the shag, where I know I will likely spend the next hour of my life, on my hands and knees, searching... searching, but never finding the little pieces I need to close the gap in the bracelet or re-attach the pins in the clasp... never. ever getting a moments peace, or time... time for myself and my hobby.
good luck to you who have already parented the kids, put the significant others to bed, walked the dog, poured yourself a tall glass of whatever it is that makes you happy, to be able to sit upright, comfortably, at a desk or a well-lit table, to be able to find these moments to practice your hobby, to breathe in to cherish the new acquisition, to be able to spend a moment with it, in peace.
I may have such luck one day. until then, I take what I can get.

 

[janice&fred]

SC1

...anyone else here look forward to just spending time, not a minute or so - not multitasking it while doing something else or chatting with a spouse or family or significant other or watching amateur curling on ESPN 5, with your watches or your latest watch or a watch you are revisiting in your collection? Alone Time (as weird as that seems - especially now that I'm typing it out) for lack of a less creepy word?

Oh you're just fine. Me? Not so much. I always make for some one-on-one alone time with whatever watch happens to catch my fancy. I'll take it outside on the patio and set it on our glass table while I enjoy a cup of coffee. I'll even take it for a walk. And I don't mean strapped to my wrist. I'll carry it in my hand. This morning I took our recently acquired Aquadive watch for a ride in the car when bringing our kid to school and it doesn't have a band on it yet...head only. 😁

 

[lillatroll]

I don't have any children, nice quiet life. My wife is Finnish and does not like to talk unless she has something to say. I live in a foreign country so I don't get bothered by the natives. They don't speak my language and I don't speak theirs. Life has been good to me. Sell the kids, marry a mute and move abroad. Problem solved.😀😀😀

 

[Aroxx]

@Cayohuesovespa I’m in a similar situation and share your sentiment. Feels a bit like living in a war zone with the relentless fighting, arguing, and yelling. It’s harder on some of us than others I suppose. Hang in there brother.

 

[Trog]

The joys of living alone.

 

[janice&fred]

lillatroll

marry a mute and move abroad.

Well I almost fit that. I married abroad abroad and wish she was mute.

I'm so dead if she sees this 😁

 

[RevZMan123]

janice&fred

Well I almost fit that. I married abroad abroad and wish she was mute.

I'm so dead if she sees this 😁

You in trouuuuuuubleeeeeee

 

[lindo]

SC1

...anyone else here look forward to just spending time, not a minute or so - not multitasking it while doing something else or chatting with a spouse or family or significant other or watching amateur curling on ESPN 5, with your watches or your latest watch or a watch you are revisiting in your collection? Alone Time (as weird as that seems - especially now that I'm typing it out) for lack of a less creepy word?

Okay, I'll go first...

Just took delivery of the '57 Trilogy Railmaster, and it would take maybe 10 minutes for me to size the bracelet and be done with it. Hell, I'd be wearing it, enjoying it, endlessly posting and yapping about it here at OF and spreading photos of it all over my social media accounts to a bunch of absolutely non-interested in it friends who'd be suffering through the niceties of Liking the photos and saying obligatory stuff like "Wow" and "Nice" while not really giving two shits. And that's fine by me - I get that, different strokes for different folks.
But here's the thing...
I mean, for chrissakes, I have to remove two links. Two links man. Two. I know exactly how this bracelet is going to fit me because I already have it on my '57 Seamaster. But yet, no. It's been six days, maybe seven, since it arrived and I haven't done it.
Day One I took it out to inspect it, marvel at it, take some photos to share with you people here at OF and then I boxed it and haven't touched it since. WTF?

And I know why, and it's weird ~

I want to absolutely not be interrupted by anything: my wife, my daughter, my dachshund needing to go outside to poop or need a scratch, no knocks at the door from UPS delivering some ridiculous thing my wife, unbeknownst to me, ordered from ol' Jeff Bezos or some half-scared yet sanctimonious middle aged lady with a fanny pack & Keen sandals on her feet blasting the doorbell and then chirping at me about a politician I absolutely MUST vote for or barking at me about a new cause to remove non-organic apple juice juice boxes from the local school lunch program.
No, I just want a perfectly quiet, pristine and reverential moment. Maybe some Bach playing in the background or Miles' "Kind of Blue" wafting through the house that isn't interrupted with Alexa screeching out some banal shit at me. A small chunk of Me Time to just sit with my new Railmaster. Totally drinking it all in. My little assortment of mostly garbage watch tools and some purple Loctite on a piece of cardboard with a couple wooden toothpicks arranged just so on the desk... and just geek out, pretend I am some legendary watchmaker, while resizing this beautiful thing I now own.
Can't I have that? I want that.

Anyone else here even somewhat as ridiculous as me? Please tell me someone else is this way? Please?
I can't be the only one.

Thanks for this entertaining thread - several belly laughs made my morning read. I enjoy OF, but I can get a bit sick of the more common stuff we see every day, so your whimsical post was very welcome. Funny, but as I was writing this, my dear wife insisted on reading to me several of her friends' posts on Facebook.....

 

[bradurani]

Easy! Stay up until 3:00 a.m. every night. That's how I keep the batteries fresh in all my vintage quartz watches. My team's on Pacific time and I'm in Central, so I don't have to get up early.

Edited: Nov 7, 2022

 

[sheepdoll]

Waiting to be motivated after burying the dog. Because some days are like that ...
I have the 'Darkly looms the day as an ear worm.

So the richest and rankiest of you all
My sorrowful heart shall choose.
As none are so noble — none so rich
As this couple of lords, I'll find a niche
In my heart that's aching,
Quaking, breaking,
For one of you two — and I don't care which!

For some reason I misremember the words quaking, breaking as "Waiting, waiting..."

https://gsarchive.net/iolanthe/web_op/iol13.html

and of course the Nightmare song

 

[Archer]

I share my home with a wife (who also works from home) and two dogs. No kids, but there's plenty of distractions that could take me away from working on watches. Sometimes they do, but other times I use the most treasured device in my watchmaking shop - the door. I just close it. Might be something you want to try?

 

[janice&fred]

Archer

I share my home with a wife (who also works from home) and two dogs. No kids, but there's plenty of distractions that could take me away from working on watches. Sometimes they do, but other times I use the most treasured device in my watchmaking shop - the door. I just close it. Might be something you want to try?

And here I though the OP's intent was to amuse with a light-hearted topic. Can always depend on cheerful Al to contribute a ray of sunshine to most threads! 😁

 

[Archer]

janice&fred

And here I though the OP's intent was to amuse with a light-hearted topic. Can always depend on cheerful Al to contribute a ray of sunshine to most threads! 😁

If you don't see my post as light hearted, that's on you mate. 😁

 

[TimeODanaos]

It's interesting how many posts here are about the interruptions rather than the relationship with the watch. I have no trouble telling people I want more peace and me-time in my life, because who doesn't? But I would struggle to explain why I want a shining hour to commune with a watch, for Pete's sake. That's why I'm so glad OP outed himself, because it can feel weird, but it's definitely an experience, all too infrequent, that I too really enjoy. Of course, I totally get the OF brethren/sistren who say "watches are for wearing, I don't baby mine", but... if you have a Michelin meal, sometimes you don't want to eat it like a burger. If you own a Corvette, you don't always want to drive it. Enjoy the whole thing, everything about it. Nothing weird about that. If anything, let's ask people why they want to just grab stuff then move past it to the next thing so quickly.