Fascinated with Time -- Part 1

I don't know why but I have a fascination with stuff related to TIME. You know .... watches, grandfather clocks, timers, metronomes, etc. Even movies with time twists intrigue me.

Today, let's talk about watches.

I think my first watch was an analog Mickey Mouse one. If I remember correctly, that watch had to be wound every single day so that it would work. I'm not sure if Father got me this watch from a trip abroad and if SisterDeer got one too at the same time I did. All I know is that Mickey Mouse was not something easily found during that time and thus the watch was pretty special.

I think I went through a couple more 'toy' watches before I graduated to a digital watch. I remember my digital watch. It was color silver and had an adjustable latch. For sure SisterDeer and I both got watches like these. In order to change the time or the date, I had to press one of the buttons in the side of the watch. A ballpen or a safety pin would do the trick and pressing the button would make the numbers blink and cycle through options to set the time and the date, the hour and the minute, the day, month and year. It was pretty high tech as far as gadgets I was exposed to at that time were concerned.

I moved on to wearing Swatches and Citizens as I went through High School and College. My Swatches were fairly accurate time pieces but somehow weren't really made to last. On the other hand, the automatic Citizens watches I owned were fairly durable but had the tendency to lose or gain a couple of minutes after a while. That meant that I had a watch which was either late or advanced, neither of which seemed ideal considering watches are SUPPOSED to help you tell the (right) time.

Fortunately, this didn't really matter TOO much since there were usually clocks at school which provided the OFFICIAL time anyway. Those were the clocks followed regardless of the time found in your wristwatch, the ones that provided the basis of whether the teacher was 15 minutes late and the one which signaled classes were over. My watches gave me the general time, which was all I really needed.

I moved on from school to work with the same watch. As long as my watch was ticking and telling the right time (or something close to that), there was no need for a new one.

Then I got married and had GI. All of a sudden, wearing a watch became a thing of the past. I was afraid that he would get scratched by my watch so I set my watch aside in favor of a small digital clock I kept on a chain. At times I had a small watch with a key ring that I could clip onto my pant hook or onto my bag.

I'm pretty sure that I ended up wearing my watch on and off depending on whether I had a newborn baby or not. So that covered about eight to nine years between GI and MyGirl of wearing/not wearing a watch.

In comparison, MacGyver owns one or two watches but I don't think I've ever seen him wear one in all the years I've known and lived with him. Yet in spite of this, he is consistently prompt and is a real stickler for time. HE doesn't need a watch to tell time. He has his computer, his cellphone, the radio, the microwave oven, etc. to do that for him.

Anyway, since I was not really wearing a watch at some point in time, I ended up 'inheriting' a watch from my mother. This watch which is sort of the ladies version of Father's watch. She had been wearing this for year until it stopped on her. When it stopped for the second time soon after being repaired, Father got her another watch and she said to me, "Go. Have this watch repaired then it's yours to keep." Thus I became a proud owner of a new watch.

This watch has a self-winding mechanism and does not need batteries which is the way I like my watches. It winds as the wearer moves. If you take it out and the watch does not experience any movement, eventually the watch stops. Theoretically, if you wear it again and shake it a bit, it will wind itself up and start ticking. For some odd reason, Mother's watch just stopped. (A stop watch in disguise, perhaps? Just kidding you, Mother.)

When we brought it in for repair, the lady asked if Mother was sedentary. We assured her that she was far from sedentary, and that it was the watch, not our mother, that was in need of repair.

Somewhere along the way I accumulated watches that I use for different occasions. Thinking about my watches, it feels more like something old, something new, something borrowed. (Aha! I'm still missing something blue.)

I'm sure MacGyver would simply scratch his head and wonder why I would need more than one watch when there are clocks all over the house and besides, I do have a cellphone. (Oh, my Sony Ericsson Z610i, there is my something blue.) I imagine there would be some head shaking, too, as he contemplated the fact that my having several watches would not stop me from taking my sweet time doing things. Surely these thoughts have crossed his mind but he is too much of a gentleman to say anything. I suspect he has filed these head scratching thoughts along with other similar 'facts of life' he is learning to live with about me such as why I would need more than one pair of black shoes or why I don't like to drive, etc.

Going back to my watches .... I have a real nice dress watch which my sister-in-law passed on to me. She had set out several pieces of jewelry during one of our Easter gathering and the rest of the family drew lots on what we would get. I won the watch. It is a real cool one with a face that looks like Dali's depiction of Time in one of his paintings. I'm fortunate that this watch is something that needs to be wound instead of requiring a battery because most of the time it is tucked away. This is because there are only a few occasions for me to wear it since we don't really go out that much. (Hint, hint. Couldn't resist.)

For something new, I got myself a Timex Indiglo a couple of years back. Yes, a far cry from my mom's watch and my sister-in-law's watch but a functional watch nonetheless. This is the watch I wear when I know I'd have to commute. It is also the perfect watch when one goes to the movies since the Indiglo feature certainly beats the luminous hands of a regular watch, hands down, in a dark theater. I actually got this Timex as an offshoot of my 'something borrowed' watch.

My something borrowed belongs to Slash-M. It has the functionality I desire but it is so obviously a men's watch.

When we go swimming, I prefer to have an idea of the time. Checking out wrinkles or goose pumps do not quite provide accurate indications of time that has passed. To my delight, a couple of years ago I found a watch Slash-M left behind at home. It is a Swiss Army watch which is water proof up to 330 feet. (Cool! The swimming pool is 4 feet deep. Surely the watch will survive.) And though my Timex is likewise water resistant up to 30m, I still like using Slash-M's Swiss watch when we go swimming.

In summary, my mind totally agrees with MacGyver's unspoken thoughts.

a. One can survive without a watch.

b. Watches are more like jewelry when one has more than one of them.

c. A watch in your wrist does not a punctual person make.

d. A watch is a watch is a watch.

But so what? In my heart, watches are still quite fascinating. I particularly like watches where you can see the mechanism working inside. I could spend several minutes doing nothing but watch the gears go round and round. I know that would literally be a waste of time but pausing to watch these watches work can somehow show you that consistency and rhythm still exist in this world, and can possibly give you some calmness and peace when you need some.