Tick Tock
I’ve never really worn a watch. I’ve owned a few unremarkable ones but never quite got to grips with them.
My partner Ian is obsessed with them. He collects them and is very knowledgable about them.
He’s even got me wearing one on loan from him, in fact it is the first watch he bought. A very retro Tag Heuer first generation F1 watch from approx 1987 which I think his watch man at C S Bedford Jewellers in Ruislip has his eye on as he always comments on it. Says it’s the coolest watch in the shop right now! It’s not particularly girly, or pretty, certainly no bling! but it was special to him and so it’s special to me.
We were there today for several reasons. Firstly because Ian managed to wash one of his very expensive watches in his jeans pocket! As he said “ suitable for diving to 300m but not so good on a spin cycle in Watford. “ Secondly because we were interested in getting my dear departed Dads old watch serviced as Seiko had said they couldn’t get the parts for it. But of course Ian knows a man that can.
Now, with a little research from Ian we discovered that it was a watch with a story, as many of them have. Due to its rather striking colours it is known as a ‘Pepsi ‘ but it’s correct tittle is The ‘Colonel
Pogue’ seiko 6139. Ironicaly my Dads nickname at when he worked at Sky Sports was ‘The Colonel’
Most watches have Motor Racing or Nautical histories but there are also watches with connection to Aviation and in this case Space Exploration, The watch is named, so the story goes after said Colonel Pogue who bought the watch in 1973 and took it aboard the Skylab mission 4 which was the final manned mission to the United States first space station. He took it aboard as part of his personal belongings and was never formally approved for mission. The NASA approved watch was a Speedmaster, but it was never the less to become the first chronograph watch ever taken into space.
As soon as I set eyes on this watch it is like instant time travel. Dad wore little jewellery but this watch is iconic of him and I can’t see it without immediate flashbacks.
So, I’m discovering that watches have both historical and emotional connections but one thing is for certain, even though it’s nice to look back, time keeps marching us forward, to the future, to make new stories.
