In a drawer, lays a piece, a time piece I received while I was in the military. It’s not sexy or dares to draw a wondering eye while rubbing shoulders with watch people. It serves a purpose. It’s a back up watch. It was my primary for a long time. A time when Fossil Watches were much more common place. My problem was that I could destroy a Fossil Watch with ease due to my rough & tumble lifestyle in my younger years.
ROOTS
In comes Dad to save the day. Being a broke Senior Airmen, who spent the majority of his pay check on booze & other vices, I always like the idea of a dive watch. I did not like the idea of spending thousands of dollars on something really nice, to destroy it during a pub or bar punch up.
It was Christmas (this story is fitting as Christmas is coming up) , I had flown home from a foreign land, and was spending time in my home town of Akron, Ohio. I saw a present under the tree. I had spent many of holiday’s gone. It is the nature of military work to be gone a lot, especially during the GWOT.
A watch box is a unique size, for people who understand what’s inside, a sense of joy erupts. Think of it as going back to memories of being a very young child, when Christmas would roll around. The unknown of what is inside. You open the package, a time piece, sometime that will be attached to you for what ever journey your about to embark on. In the pub, at work, walking around, people will notice what is on your wrist. My fathers keen eye for a good watch, still lives on to this day.
This Seiko fit the bill of what I needed. Rugged, well built, but the orange ascetic is where it earns it money. There is something about an orange dive watch that I love. While a bright orange tee shirt might gain a few looks, an orange watch can define you. Adding a splash of color, a distinct one I may add, it could also be a conversation piece amongst strangers.
Orange is refined. Thick steel, and orange go together in my brain. Those two items put together, make a damn good combo. Many companies replicate this success scheme to produce a watch that is most comfortable at depths that no human can withstand. While this Seiko is only rated for 200 meters, other orange & steel watches I have seen can be rated to thousands of meters.
All my time pieces have been roughly worn like my mind, body, & spirit. They show their bumps & bruises very well. I have treated this tool watch as such. The bands
have white sweat stains permanently pressed into the threads. The glass is scratched, the dial is worn, and it still works. The rough outside of the body, while damaged, keeps ticking. Stay dangerous.
SHOUT OUT
When I discovered a fellow watch enthusiast whom I attend a gym with, he is a photographer. For this purpose we will call him Baba Yaga, he also lives up to the name. Not only does he have a liking to time pieces, he is an excellent photographer.
I released the first time piece that survived my young lifestyle to Baba Yaga, and excellence ensued. The most lovely photos have been sharply & crisply produced.
My battering ram, that I strapped to my wrist, looks like a Picasso painting with his eye & lens. This article would be nothing without his help. Baba Yaga’s photos will be included in future articles for your viewing pleasure.
