I'm old now, but I used to be young. This is my story

[MrTwi]

I was born in the light, but spent much of my early days in the dark, or being wet. My owner picked me out of a brochure more than three decades ago from “The Rolex Oyster”. I’m the “cheap one”, I am steel, #16000, a DateJust. I knew my new owner would pick me. He wanted a dress type watch and many of my brothers cost so much more. Some were so much bigger than me too, with fancy names like Cosmograph and Explorer. Some had precious metals. Not me, I was just the common steel.

Why pick me? I was a tool, a watch to tell time, except I was special. I was waterproof to some ridiculously deep depth. You see, back then, most watches were hand wound and were “water resistant”. For the common man, the idea of a watch water proof to over 300 feet was, well it was a bit insane, and a dress watch at that? Who makes watches like that? So what was one of the first things my owner did with me? Oh yeah, right into the Ocean. Why not? That was what I was built for. I spent a LOT of time in salt water.

I cost a LOT of money for my owner. It was a fortune, far, far more than should be paid by a common guy for a watch, but he also knew I would serve him faithfully and reliably for all his life. I’m like that you know, reliable. But I could be “dressy” or I could go in the ocean, the best of both worlds. And I knew, my owner would never need to look at watches again. A wrist watch was something a man used until it broke, and then replaced. But not me. I was worthy of a lifetime. Back then, a man needed a watch. Although digital watches and radios were starting to appear, they were not yet standard or common, even in cars. How was a man supposed to know what time it was without a wrist watch? It’s not like everyone had a smartphone in their pocket. No, a man needed a watch to get by the day, and I was the ticket to lifetime ownership, a fine timepiece.

And all these things about accurate to plus of minus so many seconds. Who cares? If you wanted total accuracy, you could find a quartz watch. Then you could go to the moon and have a LCD dial and be accurate to tenths of a second. But me? What did it matter if I was accurate to 4 seconds/day? I mean if you have a doctor’s appointment at 1PM, and get their at 1 PM and 15 seconds, what was the probabity you had to had to wait longer anyway? Nah, close enough was good enough. And I was very, very good with that.

[mjclark32]

Different approach for creativity
How old are "you"?

[anakyn101]

Awesome post, thank you!!!

[Alex Ks]

sheesh... makes you sad almost.
very cool!

[sco]

Great post. Now we need some pictures

[JnmEaton]

I'm proud my "old" watch is serving the next generation.

[Tmac478]

Nicely done!

[AK797]

I am not a number, I am a free watch!

[haven_seeker]

I'm happy Rolex made a quartz watch for the quirky few of us who don't want to wind our watch every other day it sits in the box.

My OQ, pick up and go!

But aside from that little niggle, I wholeheartedly love this post.

[MrTwi]

Originally Posted by haven_seeker

I wholeheartedly love this post.

Thank you, but more to come. Just typing it up.

[StevieWatch]

Great story my friend

[Thuilln]

I truly enjoy this, wearing my circa 1970 Datejust 1603. So true. It could be someone's only watch for a lifetime.

[Louis (Toronto)]

Great story ! Thanks !

[cdmorenot]

Watch, I love you!

Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk

[watchwatcher]

I always wondered what was going on in my watch's brain...now I know.

[the_natural]

This is a refreshing post. And as a once-watch man, doubly appealing.

[KBM]

Great post!Now let's see a picture of the "author"

[The Libertine]

Brilliant post in every respect!

[brandrea]

My watches and I need to have a chat

[captain_NEMO]

Pics or you're nothing but a figment of my fruitful imagination!!

[BNA/LION]

Great Post!

Welcome to TRF! I hope you post more as I really enjoyed that.

[Canefan1]

Superb. Thank you,

[MrTwi]

Continued, Part II ...

When I was young, my owner didn’t wear me much. The first few years I spent in a dark drawer. My dial shone bright but no one saw it. I think I scared him. I cost SO much money. What if I got lost or stolen? How could I get replaced? And I was heavy compared to other watches of the day, really heavy. I guess my gold brothers weighed a LOT more, and my big brothers too, but even so, I know I felt like a brick on my owner’s wrist.

When I was born, there were no digital cameras and no one took “selfies” of watches. When was that invented? So forgive the quality of some pictures of me. They are old, I look small, and scanned from prints. No one gave a thought to actually taking a picture of me. I was a watch, a timepiece that rested on the wrist of owner. My owner never even knew my brothers and sisters were “collected”. He just wanted a reliable, waterproof watch that he could keep until the end of his days.

A few years later, I came into the light.

We started to travel, and we went EVERY WHERE together. No, I’m not a famous wrist watch. I’ve never been to the top of Mount Everest nor to the bottom of the ocean in search of Titanic. I’ve not been to war. But I’ve been from sea to shining sea, from the Grey Atlantic to the Blue Pacific, and the Aquamarine Caribbean too. Johnny Cash has nothing on me, with all due respect, I’ve been everywhere from Reno to Chicago to Fargo, or well it seems that way. Enough places to make a watch happy. I’d clap my hands and dance if I could.

I’ve seen wildlife I thought I’d never see from Pronghorn Antelope to Grizzly Bears to Bald Eagles. And to think, I was just once sitting in a catalog waiting to be picked out. I’ve seen births and deaths, weddings and funerals, laughing and crying, the entire gamut of human emotion. I’ve seen a lifetime of adventure. Enough places to make a man, or a watch, happy.

And in all that time, I never complained, never said a word, and never went to the shop for repair other than for a crystal. I just ran and ran and ran. That was my job, to tell time. All the marks, and scratches, and bumps, are from real life, not a video, not a movie, but reality. My owner didn’t even know you could send me to the watch hospital to be made looking like new. I lived with that. Scars are signs of a good life. I ended up scratched and scarred but I led a good life. I can’t complain. I can’t possibly tell you about all the places I’ve seen, but you will see more of me real soon. Here is a preview. Yup, this is me, up in the purple mountain’s majesty. Look close, bottom left. I tried to smile but it was getting hard to breath.

[MrTwi]

Originally Posted by sco

Great post. Now we need some pictures

Thank you all who responded. More pictures are coming as fast I can get the story out.

[aes7.5x55]

Fun thread, thanks!

[Ticknaway]

These two posts are awesome!!!

[MrTwi]

Continued, Part III

The early days were dark days. I spent a lot of time in dark rooms. I must have glowed strong when I was young but eventually I saw the light.

We traveled together everywhere and the world was my oyster.

I’ve spent a LOT of time on the road. This was the my usual mode of my travel



I spent a LOT of time just hanging out of a window. That’s OK, I got to see a lot of other cars and trucks. Of course, all those dashed white lines got boring but I didn’t mind.

I put my best face forward.

We traveled on and on and on. Sometimes we flew but I didn’t mind just hanging out with my face in the wind either. Well OK, except for this place. This had to be the most boring place ever. Mile after mile of just salt. At least he could have took me to the beach, but NO, it had be some desert

[116500LN]

seems like a meme project for an English class

[stillsane]

Great post!!!

[Vishy26]

Great work and thank you