Re-dial or not, the Sutton looks great.

 

Our beloved fathers...great thread!

My beloved father was a business executive and not a watch guy...but he did have three watches and I inherited them...a Maxima 1A, a Waltham Ruby and a Hamilton Ross. I distinctly remember him wearing all three of these watches in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s...particularly the Waltham and the Hamilton...





Bonus pic of the family from the early 1960s...my beloved [meddling] sisters are on the left...my beloved mother and beloved father are on the right...

 

My dad was in the RAF in WW2, Bomber Command, flew Wellingtons as a navigator/wireless op.
Shot down in 1942 and spent a year in hospital recovering from wounds to his right shoulder. Met my mom and they were married in 1944, I came along in November 1945. My mom bought my dad an Omega for a wedding anniversary, I guess in 1946. I have it now after he passed away in 1984. Happy memories every time I look at the watch in my small collection. I also have the Parker 51 mom bought dad for the tenth anniversary

 

My passion for watches developed as a youth because of a single watch my father wore for most of his life, an Anakin Skywalker Seamaster. He passed away in 2013 due to sudden illness. He was an accomplished architect and his legacy lives on around me. He had a keen eye for design, the watch defined him throughout his career and life. The watch was well recognized by close friends, relatives and even clients. It was bought new for him by my grandfather.

With age, wearing a bulky, solid heavy watch became somewhat of a burden to his wrist. To my surprise, he gifted it to me for my 40th birthday. It is by far the most influential, sentimental and prized possession in my collection. This watch is what started my journey as a collector. Occasionally, when I gather enough courage, I take it out of the safe to wear, those are quite rare moments.

The story of the Anakin in my family doesn't stop with my fathers. My grandfather, had purchased 2 in 1971, the other one belonging to my aunt's husband. The two watches were recently reunited as my aunt gifted the 2nd Anakin to my brother, see original post below.

https://omegaforums.net/threads/reunion-of-sorts-st145-23-aka-anakin.67953/

 

In my case I'm the young collector and my dad only wore a cheapo quartz. He's pretty high up in his company and does well, and yet he always spent money his children's education.
So after I started to earn some money by myself, I wanted to get something nice for him entirely from my means, and I gifted this guy to him.


At the time, I just did it because I wanted to get something nice to him.
However, I realized some time later that eventually when he's gone, this watch will outlive him, and it will be my memento of him.
I don't know how I feel about that. Both happy and very sad...

 

Excellent thread @JwRosenthal Some great stories. I have flaunted my father’s watches on several occasions but don’t believe I have ever told about him. I will also include a little bit about my grandfathers on both my mother and fathers side, since the two watches I have from my father has been worn by them as well.

My father died almost exactly three years ago after a long period with Alzheimers. I remember when he was diagnosed, how sad he was and then how he slowly began to accept it and then at one point years later completely forgot he was sick. My father was born in 1943 in a small provincial/rural town of Denmark. His father was an accountant/book keeper of various businesses in the town. In World War 2, where Denmark was occupied by Germany, he was in the Danish resistance. Up until the 1960's he still had crates full of rifles, pistols and grenades in the attic. When he remarried however his new wife wouldn't have it, as she though it was too dangerous (and pretty illegal too), so he threw it all in a remote bog somewhere in Denmark. I remember sometimes my father would pull out the box with my grandfathers resistance armband and letters from that time an he would tell about the war.

Oh well, back to my father. He was in the army in 1961-1963 as I recall and won the national military rifle marksman competition. He loved shooting and my mother has a box with prizes and stuff he won. He was approached by the special forces at the end of his service but declined going that route. Instead he began working in a bank and spent 7 years in Greenland from the mid 1960's to the early 1970's doing book keeping for a large fishing company. After that he began working for the Danish Medical Association where he worked until he retired. Even though my father never went to university or got a degree he was probably what you would call a true intellectual. He was very politically interested and kept five or six newspapers, a HUGE jazz lover with an extensive vinyl collection, a great lover of poetry and art and knew several brilliant and famous painters and had quite an extensive art collection. He was also a great writer and gave the best speeches I have ever heard and he loved books. He had thousands and thousands in their basement and he would read several hours a day. A very impressive man with so many facets whom I greatly admired and loved. A 100 percent awesome dad He would also throw some mean snow balls at winter and we would fight out on the street. It was great fun.

He wasn't into watches as such but often wore his father's old Omega from 1950 or 1951, which my grandfather bought back then. My grandfather loved the watch and I remember my father telling me about it at one point and how it had been very expensive. My fathers inherited it about 1980, when my grandfather died.

Here is the Omega along with my father's old military papers and dogtags


And here I am wearing it. I also have some great photos of him where you can clearly see him wearing it. Love looking at them.


Besides his father's Omega he also wore a Nivada, which he inherited from his father in law (my grandfather on my mother's side), when he passed in 2007. My grandfather on my mother's side worked in a bank his entire life and was a very traditional man, where there was to be silence when eating dinner and when he was watching the news He got the Nivada in 25th anniversary present at his bank sometime in the 1960's. When my father inherited it in 2007 my father would switch between the Nivada and the Omega and a Braun Bauhaus'ish quartz, which is now broken. Here is the Nivada on my wrist



Here is a photo from around 2010, when I was with my girlfriend, mother and father on holiday to the US. Here he is in Utah wearing his father-in-law's Nivada. It looks so small on him. He had MASSIVE hands



Looking forward to more stories about dads!

 

My dad, luckily still with us in good health, was born in the 1950s, which was a time of post-war re-development in Western-Europe. Men of his generation were raised to work hard and provide for their families—even at their own expense. This ethos sums up my dad. He busted his ass all his life: first for his mom, brothers and sisters in a dysfunctional home, later for his own family. Dads from that generation did not afford themselves any luxuries, and neither did my dad. He's wear the cheapest clothes for the longest time, refusing to spend any serious money on himself.

Rather, he enjoyed luxury objects vicariously. He loved sports cars, but would never spend his money on a flashy car. He'd drive a solid, boring car for 20 years straight instead. Same with watches. My dad has always been a watch guy, and for the longest time was quite knowledgable on the subject without himself actually owning a mechanical watch. He'd explain arcane Patek complications to me, while owning one quartz watch at a time—and then wearing the hell out of it for years on end. I remember a Seiko Kinetic, and a 1990s two-tone Longines Conquest. He'd just always have it on.

Now, all this changed after both his parents, my grandparents, had died in the early 2000s. My dad inherited a solid gold and enamel pocket watch, which didn't carry any sentimental value for him. It had sat in a drawer for decades as a full set (box, papers, receipts, tags, the works) after my grandmother had inherited it herself. He decided to have it auctioned by Christies in London, and was astonished by the figure for which it sold.

All of a sudden my father had a significant amount of money on his hands, while his family needed little providing for anymore: he and my mom were comfortably retired, their mortgage was paid off, their kids through college and in well-paid jobs now. So, completely out of character, my dad decided to spend the money on himself, and on watches. First a Rolex Submariner 14060, then an Omega Speedmaster FOIS, and finally a Tudor Black Bay because he felt like he needed a daily beater, too.

To me, it was beautiful to witness my dad's sense of accomplishment. All he had worked for so hard had been achieved, so that he could finally live a little. Seeing him enjoy his watches fills my heart with joy. I will always remember the cheap quartz watches he used to wear, though, because of the selfless work ethic that they represent.

 

I loved reading this story. So great that he has finally been able to indulge his passion for watches.

 

While unfortunately both my grandad and dad's watches were lost to a break-in quite some time ago, I remember both often and fondly. Granddad's was a hunter-cased silver pocket watch with no name but with a unique (I've never come across another like it) red rosebud painted delicately on the dial, just below the twelve o'clock position.

Dad's, which though less unique I miss equally if not more, was a 1960s Seiko dive model he bought not long after completing his final exit from Vietnam. It was much worn both ashore and while diving and well-scuffed to boot; a 6215 I believe. Every time I see the Seiko name I think of him fondly, and if I ever find a good solid example I'll have to hope my checking account can take the hit.

Thanks to all for the great stories!

 

Thank you for your kind words! I was hoping this story would resonate here on OF—great thread to be reading, such wonderful and heartfelt stories!

 

My dad is still around, in his mid-70s now. He's a child of children of the Depression (aka Boomer) so spending money on himself is not something that comes easily to him. These days, he'd rather spend money on his grandchildren, except that I don't have any kids. I think he's got an entry level G-Shock, probably a knock-off "Gee-Shock." I'm the spitting image of him, otherwise we don't have a lot in common.

 

After getting shot up in WWII my Dad found work as a junior clerk at a steel works and progressed to become the steel works purchasing manager before he retired on 25 November, 1977.

On that momentous day (or rather, that evening), the company presented him with an engraved solid gold Omega Genève Automatic.

In his retirement (which was spent playing golf, fishing, swimming etc.) he would have worn the watch on a semi-regular basis for 24 years until he passed away from renal failure in 2002.

I haven't polished the tarnish off for a few years as I only wear it on his birthdays.



It still has the original box and "papers" .

I wish the service costs were still the same.



Here's a note he wrote to my Sister when it had to be sent back to the Big Smoke for repair (he lived in a country town with no watchmaker).



And a final close-up.

 

My father’s old watch, so very rightfully, is an Omega Seamaster. When I was given the watch the crystal was very scratched and had a crack or two in it, the crown was missing and the dial had lots of patina. Acquired by my father probably in 1962 and marked by many years’ service at sea. For years the watch was worn on a nylon Perlon strap, the strap (probably many of them over the time) had etched into the back of the monocoque case leaving clearly visible imprints from the woven nylon pattern.

My father had been a sailor, starting back in WWII at the age of 14, on a local Norwegian North Sea fishing boat. In 1944 he got a job on a “fjordabåt”, a combined cargo and passenger boat sailing on the Norwegian west coast. After the war he spent 2 years in the navy and finally, in 1949 he took off from Oslo, Norway on a merchant ship, bound for the Far East. He literally sailed across the globe, having visited hundreds of ports in all the continents. He became a ships master in 1961, I have been wondering if he bought the Omega Seamaster to commemorate his new position? Regrettably I never came around to ask him, shortly after I received the watch he came down with Alzheimer and his condition quickly worsened. But before he became ill, he had already spent a lot of time to write down his life on the seas, based on old notes, letters and recollection. So I am able to recapitulate every sea voyage his Seamaster has been on, and it is a lot. During that period he sailed on tankers, on fruit carriers, bulkers and the last four years on north sea supply vessels, AHTS and PSV’s His seafarers life ended 30 years later when in 1979 he begun working ashore, for the same ship owning company he had sailed the seven seas for during so many years. In 1976 he received his second Omega, an all gold Geneva, as a token of appreciation for his 25 years’ service for the shipping company. He had started to use this as his daily wearer, probably due to the crown had fallen of the Seamaster. When Alzheimer struck, I sadly enough had to buy him a quartz watch as life became very quiet and still, not enough moving around to the automatic movement going. I inherited the gold watch too, that one has been passed down to my son. The Seamaster I had serviced, a full overhaul of the calibre 552 movement, a new plexi crystal but no work done on the dial patina or the case. When ever I take out this watch, I fondly remember my father. There are some pictures of him wearing it, some taken onboard ships and some at home. And knowing that he wore this particular watch when circumnavigating the world makes it very special for me. During those years when I was a boy I welcomed my father home from the sea, and had to see him leave again, happy times – sad times. So there are a lot of memories and feelings that are brought back when looking at the watch. My youngest daughter likes it, she respects its story and loved her passed away granddad, it will probably be passed on to her.

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