I was thinking about the history of my watches and thought this would be fun. Before my Omega collection, I only had one watch. It has seen a lot! It has seen many ships in its day. It has seen the holds of places men would not go. It has seen the inside of a divorce court room..... It has seen 143 + mph and a very forgiving GA. State Trouper and County Judge. (for the last time on all) It has not seen war, but it has seen death twice on the waterfront and hope to never see again. It has seen the underside of a 1966 Chevy II built that ran 11 sec. 1/4 mile. It has seen the build of many bikes. It has been submerged in motor oil, water, cooling fluid, Trans fluid, and .......... This watch. What is your watch story?
my old Seiko automatic was given to me by my folks for Christmas about 1977, I was a kid of 16 so: It liked motocross! (and still ran!) It has seen the inside of a very large, very old hydraulic oil tank, which was still full. (it took weeks until the black grunge stopped oozing out of the band, but it still ran.) It has been along for a high speed pursuit involving four police cruisers and my buddy's 900F Honda. (We both ran! No they didn't catch me, but they hung around the park we were camping in for the rest of the afternoon waiting for something.....) Its been crushed against the firewall of a '68 Mustang GT while we coaxed a 289 "Hypo" out of the engine bay. (it was later found to be full of Ford factory racing goodies which explained why it went like hell in spite of being totally worn out and burning as much oil as gas) Its been in a Sherman tank, ridden on Triumph motorcycles from World War one and the Korean war, flown in a Stearman biplane, sailed on the Bluenose, motocrossed a '62 BMW and drag raced a Jawa 350 against a '67 Honda, a '50 Indian and '45 Harley through a long tunnel (several times 'cause it sounded so good!) It was my faithful timepiece through the tough years of poverty while raising a young family, paying both a mortgage and my dues while working my way up in the automotive industry. The nice people at Seiko serviced it several times over the years and replaced the crystal more then once. The last time they sent it back with a note stating that I should take good care of it, because "they don't make them like that anymore". I'll bet that no matter what each of us wears now, or what our favorites are...... there's a lot of Seikos in our collective pasts! And, likely a lot of respect for these tough old lumps! SO, now that I've dragged it out to take a photo of it and noted that it still runs the question arises....... Will Al service a Seiko?
Sailed on the Bluenose, eh? Well that's pretty cool as I've only ever seen it on the back of the dime. That reminds me I have to take that long postponed trip out East sometime soon... I'll be honest, I don't service a lot of Seikos. The conversation with Seiko owners tends to be short: Email from Seiko owner: "How much to service my Seiko watch?" My email back: "$XXX" End of conversation. I don't think my prices are particularly high, but most of the Seikos I get asked about are not worth repairing in the eyes of the owners, at least not for what I charge. Add to that the parts situation (Japanese makers are terrible for discontinuing parts quickly after a model ends production) and it makes it tough to service some of them. If the watch has a movement that is currently in production, I recommend buying an ugly version brand new and swapping out the movement - far cheaper than servicing what is inside a lot of the time. But yes I'll certainly service them. Cheers, Al
I bet there are a lot of us who have Seiko beaters. Most of my other watches are babied to some extent as I work indoors and wear dress clothes. I take off my watch if I have to assemble a display. However, my former Orange Monster and current Pepsi 009 do all the cool stuff on the boat, beach, and everywhere else around salt water. Both have been engulfed by striped bass while surf fishing.
Was my everyday all-day and night watch for 15 years before the bug got me. It cost more than several cars and boats i have owned It has been around the world several times It has told me the time i caught hundreds of fish It has competed in the Bridge to Bridge ski race many times (came second once) It has been on hundreds of ships,planes and yachts It has been helicoptered onto oil rigs in the middle of the ocean Its been diving on the Great Barrier Reef and its done heaps more that i cant say due to job Its been serviced once, stolen twice ( got it back both times due to easy to identify) and it still gets plenty of wrist time
I should in all honesty say that this is the history of what was my watch ! more later Birthday boy aged sixteen on a Spanish holiday with parents and a cal. 552 Seamaster as a birthday gift. Nice but i'm sixteen and it is a watch, no big deal. Worn twenty four seven with no regard to its' safety. Manual worker with hammer and chisel being the main tools of destruction so it got knocked around plenty. Car nut but never considered removing it when working away on some heap of scrap that was my pride and joy. Rugby Union player, removed for games but again once back on the wrist who knows what it went through. If any have ever been on a rugby tour you will understand The years passed by with ski-ing, swimming etc. and it survived it all with as far as I can remember two services from a grumpy old watchmaker who always complained about "these self winding things" After so many years I am glad that I now properly appreciate that birthday gift - At least the watch is still in the family, well and truly claimed by my wife. So that is the history of my wife's watch. Not so long ago at a concert.
Nice stories. I am afraid I had no watch with that level of history yet. Or the one with history has been all but gone ( A digital citizen and a quartz chrono banana republic). Most of my watches now have history of getting packaged by their previous owner, mishandled in distribution center, hiding in dark and cold in the belly of airlines, harassed by custom officers, and of course coming into the joy of their new proud owner.