Just under a year ago (26 Jun 14) I smashed my left leg playing Rugby League. Tib and fib both completely snapped, and splintered into about 7 pieces. I had to have an external metal frame fitted to my leg, with steel wires going through the bones to hold everything in place. For 3 months. I had always been interested in watches. I remember staring through the jewellers window in my town as a kid, looking at the Omegas in particular and thinking "I'll never be able to afford one of them". I'd bought what I thought at the time as 'expensive' watches - some nicely made Quartz pieces up to about £400. While laid up, I couldn't really do much, but I started researching mechanical watches properly. The history of the brands and models (focusing on the Speedy Pro), the movements, the intricacies involved etc, spending hours reading articles, looking at pictures, trawling forums such as this wonderful resource. I made a list of things I wanted to achieve when I finally got the metal out of my leg and could resume life 'as normal'. The first was getting back to work. Not easy considering my job in military aviation. I was back 10 days after the frame came off. I wanted to get that Speedmaster Pro I'd spent hours lusting after - it was to be a life companion, the one constant (other than my family, of course) that would be with me forever, and have a story to tell when I pass to my children. That arrived on my 30th in November. I set a couple of other challenges. I wanted to complete a 10k charity mud run/obstacle course, and fulfil another ambition - a skydive! Last weekend I completed the run (a wonder considering the state my leg was in a few months ago) and today I completed a 15,000ft skydive. Below are a couple of pics (not of my broken leg, don't worry). You'll notice the Speedy on my wrist! When I told my wife I'd be wearing the Speedy for the skydive, she said "but will it be ok? What if you bang it, and won't the altitude affect it?" "It's been to the moon", I replied, "it'll be fine". Anyway, quite a long, rambling post - I hope I haven't bored anyone too much!
What a wonderful story, Max! Very inspirational. Glad to hear that you're now able to do all the cool things you enjoy doing
A question on your Speedy: did you go totally old-school with the hesalite crystal variation, or did you get some modern refinements?
Thanks guys! Although I initially tried on the hesalite, and agree with the consensus that it does look better, I went with the sapphire sandwich. Scratches on the hesalite would really bug me, regardless of how easy it is to buff them out, or how sheep the crystal is to replace. The sapphire is tough enough for my daily wear with zero maintenance. And being able to view that movement is an extra bonus!
Congratulations on your recovery, kudos too for achieving your goals especially managing the skydive, I would poo my pants jumping out of a plane, this is largely because I once tried paragliding, and before we jumped the parachute twisted and we fell 60ft down a mountain. I am not big on jumping off things anymore.
Nice one Max. Fair play to you, although it does show that the Devil makes work for idle hands - time off work being laid up led to the downhill spiral that is the watch scene. Next time you do something daft, do it for a charity such as Help for Heroes and post a link to your Just Giving page.
Continued success with the recovery and zest for life. You may have contracted the WIS watch bug though, no cure for that
Big BZ Max, glad to see you on the mend and back into it. And well done on your Speedie, surely the best Omega to start a collection with PS: RAF or Contractor?
Inspirational, Max. As someone who is one month out of spinal fusion surgery ( and a few months from being able to return to work), as well as just having received notification of the acceptance of my PhD, I've similarly been thinking about recovery goals. I might have to gently suggest to the family that a 'reward' watch is in order.
Great story! Well done with the recovery. My first tandem jump was from about 10,000 feet onto the beach in from of the Florabama bar on the Florida/Alabama border. Major rush! Disregard the sunburn face and lack of on my head!