Daddy’s watch

(Pictures have no bearing on the post)

Growing up I remember when anyone asked dad the time, he reached for the chain and pulled out the old Gold Rail road watch he carried.  There was a time that not every one carried a watch so you got the time the best way you could.  Some small towns had chimes or bells attached to the town clock.  Every store had a clock prominently that was given to them by some supplier, i.e. Borden's milk or Merita bread.  With a little saying printed on the clock face, ‘Time for Borden's’.

(Life is good, a double Rainbow sent by Bonnie)

Some business knowing not everyone had a watch would put it in the window facing out. My first watch, in the 4th grade was a ‘Dollar Watch’. It was a silver pocket watch with a leather fob, or string. I believe it was a Waterbury.

There was a slogan, “The watch that made the Dollar famous”. I don’t want to get it wrong, but Waterbury, Connecticut  was the home of most American watches. Ingersoll  first sold the dollar watch but it was made by Waterbury. That was a strange business situation. Waterbury bought out Ingersoll then when Ingersoll went bankrupt, Waterbury bought the company back.

During the time Ingersoll was in charge they produced the wrist watch, it took it awhile to catch on but it soon replaced the pocket watch. But even in the late 40s early 50’s old men would ask, “son is that a Waterbury?”

The real big change in watches came with the advent of the Timex Corp. in 1969. We all know the watch, “That takes a licking and keeps on ticking.”  My nephew lost his watch in the snow one year and did not find it until the spring, and it still had the correct time. The Timex is a good watch.

That Nephew grew up and started collecting watches. Before my dad died he gave the nephew his solid gold Railroad watch.

That came to a sad end a few years ago when the house was burglarized and all the watches were stolen. Crooks and burglars do not know the history they destroy in their chase for a quick dollar.

But still  the watch is just an object. It cannot be replaced, but it cannot give love nor a smile. The watch never breathed nor bathed a new born baby. Objects do not do that.

Speaking of the babies, I loved to hold Jack or Mark after Sherry had bathed them and covered the in Johnson’s Baby powder. No watch or any object can replace that feeling.

Nite Shipslog

PS:

Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where
there is no river.
~Nikita Khrushchev~

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Quoting Khrushchev here are a couple Russian cars:

Ony 6 built in 1941

105,000+ built in early 1960s.