Thursday, July 12, 2012

WATCHES

Who's got the time? What time is it? And whatever happened to manual wind-up watches?

I'm on the hunt. I want to get a wind-up watch. Watches with batteries are okay as long as you have extra batteries. Some of the solar watches are good -- as long as you have sunlight.

A wind-up watch will need to be wound almost every day. As I was going through some of the stuff that belonged to my dad, I came across a Timex watch. It's old. The crystal is yellowed and scratched. And it has a Twist-o-Flex band. (Remember those?) It is hard to read the face. I did wind it some. It kept time for the day and was not off by a minute.

'Course, we know that after wearing a wind-up watch it will lose a few minutes a month. But still, it has its place. I learned how to tell time on a wind-up watch. I'll bet you dollars to bullets that a lot of kids nowadays couldn't tell you the time without having a digital watch. Also, for those of us who have sight issues, a digital is easier to see. Plus, it has a nifty back light so you can see what time it is in the dark when you go to raid the fridge.

My Dad wore a wind-up watch for years until one day I showed up with my new Casio dive watch, back in 1982. He just HAD to have one like it. He gave up his wind-up and put it away. He had various watches over the years. But when one of them would quit on him,  he went right back to his old wind-up. It worked. It kept decent time. And it was tough. The watch out lasted I don't know how many bands. I can remember this watch being on his wrist the year I got my very first elk. That was in 1972.

I remember 'cause, he took it off and put it in his coat pocket while we field dressed my elk. The next day, I grabbed the wrong jacket and found his watch in the pocket. I wore his watch that day. Back in camp at the end of the hunt that day someone asked him what time it was. He about messed his drawers when he didn't have his watch. I gave it back after he about tore up camp looking for it.

Yeah, I think that a wind-up watch is in my future. Maybe even a pocket watch. If everything ever goes to crap at least I can still keep time. Who knows? It might just be the ticket!

5 comments:

  1. I agree, it's the old things we love the best, and work the best as we get older. I wear self-winding Seiko and it has served me well for many years.

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    1. Stephen, thanks for stopping by. I had a self winding watch, once. It quit working. I had it repaired, twice. After the second repair job. I was out fishing on my Dad's Bass boat. Things were fine, until, I made one cast. The wrist band broke, and the watch is now on the bottom of Table Rock lake, in Missouri. Never did replace it.

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  2. Don't tell nobody, but wind-up watches are EMP proof! If word were to get out, some huckster would sell them as "SHTF watches" or some such thing... ;)

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    1. irontomflint, that's one reason I want one. And. Mum is the word. Thanks for stopping by.

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  3. Don't tell nobody, but wind-up watches are EMP proof! If word were to get out, some huckster would sell them as "SHTF watches" or some such thing... ;)

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