The ONE that started it all...

Wryfox

My starting point...1967 Universal Geneve 14k...found in a parking lot when I was 11 yrs old back in the 70s. It was run over by a car...band was destroyed so I threw it away(cue pain sounds of throwing away 14k band).

Wore it for three years on a wide(and very hip) leather band til high school, then got a Casio calculator watch(way cooler, ya know). It went into a storage box for 35years(high school, college, grad school, career and 6 house moves and attics) until just 2 yrs ago finding it again. Leather band had disintegrated but a quick shake and off it ran to tune of 4secs/day. Put on a new band given to me by a watchmaker who loved the story.

Imagine this on the wrist of a child from 11yrs old til 14, with all the adventures of an impetuous youth. It was an incredible rush of emotion and memories finding this again. I very much enjoy it.

kkt

Wow! You must have been a very responsible boy. I would never give a gold watch to an 11yo.

Wryfox

I found it myself in the parking lot of a supermarket (on my way home from school from 6th grade). The crack in the crystal is original from when I found it. To say this watch is tough is an understatement. I remember digging holes and swinging on trees, building a fort and playing sheriff and army commander with my friends...all the wonderful foolishness young boys did in the 1970s. When I found it again after 35 yrs, I actually had to clean dirt off the band and watch to clean it up.

kkt

That's a good counterpoint to people who think their gold watches should be reserved for nice, clean office environments.

ahsposo

I've related this story before but I'll always do it again:

My late mother found this watch, head only - was probably carried in and lost from the pocket of running shorts, at a running track back in the 1970's. After a fruitless attempt to locate the owner it was forgotten in a drawer and eventually given to me. At the time I had quartz and digital watches and found this too big and heavy and relegated it again to a junk drawer. Never threw it away and it came with me through many household moves. Finally one cleaning day I decided to pitch it out but thought I should check eBay to see if such a thing had any value.

Imagine my surprise when I found they were worth between $2,000 and $10,000 US! I started to research what I had, co-incidentally finding this EXCELLENT fora, and in the process fell in love and lust with mechanical time pieces.

145.022-68

Taddyangle

About 10-11 years ago picked this up from the shopping mall at a huge discount. I figured this would be a decent watch. I think I spent $79, but retail was something like $299. I then started researching watches on the internet. Prior to this, the last watch I owned was a Swatch back in high school (80s).

The Invicta led me down the watch rabbit hole, and now I'm hooked on Speed.

The Speedmaster Decades Collection (SDC). A speedy from each decade I have lived. Need to start thinking about 2020-2030 releases.