Although I don't have a large number of watches and clocks in my collection, they all work exactly to the second. But if they were a minute or an hour late, or even if they missed whole days or weeks, they wouldn't be as late as I am, for the June topic in the #hivecollectors community that @mipiano designed for us almost two months ago.
I promised to join the June thread with my story, but I didn't know my time would be this relative either. But it's not surprising that almost a month has passed in the blink of an eye. During the second half of June and the first of July, I had guests from the UK: a brother with his wife and son, my nephew, who celebrated his 18th birthday in Belgrade. The time of those days flew by in their company, and I had no time to think about the watch collection. Okay, I'm lying a little 🙂 I took the opportunity when we were together in the cottage to take some photos of a wall clock with a pendulum, which was left to our father as a memory from our grandfather. The watch that my grandfather received as a retirement gift, sometime between 1978-1980.
Now that clock, which after its springs are wound to the maximum, can work without interruption for 15 days, it rarely works non-stop, because it is located in a cottage and we don't stay there all the time.
It is only important, when winding it, not to miss the hole into which we insert the winding key. One hole is for winding the spring of the clock mechanism and the pendulum, and the other hole is for winding the bell spring.
When we wind this clock, we avoid winding the bell, because the clock is announced every half hour with one "bong", and for each full hour, as many times as the hours count down. So imagine, night, 11 pm, silence in nature and the song of night birds from the nearby forest... and 11 bells. And, no, we're not ringing the bell - except now for a short video to introduce the hive collection.
I mean, I didn't think about watches? Maybe not about my few pieces, but I certainly spent 10 days, every day, searching websites and looking for offers of automatic watches, among which I would choose one, as a birthday present for my nephew. I had a few favorites, however, the young guy's taste was a little different. Fortunately, I didn't buy him a watch without asking him which one he liked, I would have made a total mistake.
When we found a watch he liked, we went to the store and checked the price. The price of the Seiko Presage Automatic watch in Serbia is a little over €500. The young man, who was brought up to save money and not spend unnecessarily, immediately checked the price of the same watch in the UK and when we saw that he could buy it there for €250, we changed our tactics. I gave him money as a gift (much more than the watches cost) and we agreed that he should buy an automatic watch in the UK that he likes, and that it should be a gift from his uncle. When he saw the amount, he immediately included Tissot in the selection, which was also my original idea. But let him, let him choose whichever one he likes. Maybe someday in the future, he will be proud to show off that watch in his watch collection.
And speaking of the collection, what's in mine, apart from this wooden, "loud" clock with a pendulum? In the apartment where we live, in addition to several electric (digital) clocks, in the bedroom, on the stove, or the temperature gauge on the terrace, we have one retro, double-sided wall clock, like at the railway station.
It has been in the same place for over 10 years and apart from replacing the batteries, about a year ago, I replaced the mechanism on both sides.
Since then, it counts down the seconds again at a good speed and does not lag, which was the case with the old mechanisms.
As for wristwatches, when I discovered the benefits of smart watches a few years ago, I left the analog ones in the box.
First, I used the Xiaomi Smart Band, a narrow, almost children's one, which I only used as an alarm and on which I checked the time. I lost it on one of the fields and bought a Mi Xiaomi Smart watch as a replacement.
Unlike Band, I had more advanced functions with it and it was useful for reading notifications. And then last year I got a Huawei Smart GT watch for my birthday, which I still wear today.
This is a slightly more advanced watch, and in addition to the time, in synchronization with the phone, it measures my steps, heart rate, prints all notifications, and when the phone is in my backpack, I can answer the watch and make a call or reply with a short message. There were also questions this year, "do I want another, new watch?", but since this one still works perfectly for me (its battery lasts up to half a month), I just equipped it with new bracelets...
And it's part of a collection from a more recent era. And the older ones (which I didn't lose in the move, they are still there in the boxes) are waiting to be saturated with digital accessories and return to analog. I had a few watches when I was young, but they were either broken (and thrown away) or lost. The oldest from the collection that I still own today is this quarter-sized Esprit. It was bought in 2006.
I wore it for a few years and when I damaged the glass, I got a new square Esprit watch as a gift.
Unfortunately, I was left without that watch when thieves broke into the apartment and (among other things) took that watch away. All I have left is the box with the new metal replacement bracelet, which I never put on my arm.
After that situation, I bought a more massive Fossil, with an interesting leather bracelet.
Although I liked it, I only wore this watch for a very short time. The reason was a bulky leather bracelet.
She bothered me when I was working and she didn't like getting wet when washing my hands.
And then I discovered a brand, Skagen, with elegant, slim watches. I chose a slim one, with a black metal bracelet and a blue dial.
I wore it from 2018 until 2022, when I bought my first Mi Band. Although I don't wear them, I certified them and replaced their batteries (since they are all watches with quartz mechanisms), so they are waiting ready for me to take them on any occasion, when I want an analog watch on my wrist.
Bonus especially for #hivecollectors I will present here another watch, a real collector's item, which although it is not in my personal possession, and although I have never worn it, I have the opportunity to put it on my hand, when my father-in-law wants to repeat the story of how he got it. The reason for the slight delay in writing this post is to go to the bank and access the safe where this watch has been kept for decades.
Golden Marvin, an automatic mechanism, a timeless example, which my father-in-law received in 1978 as a prize for the best in a competition of craftsmen (metalworkers) in which he participated. A Swiss-made watch, from the series that Marvin produced at the request of President Tito, in order to award them for such and similar occasions.
The gold watch, with an engraving of President Tito, is a real collector's item that was once evaluated for auction, but its sale was abandoned, it remained in the possession of the person who received it as a prize. I thought it was not in such good condition, but since it has never been worn, it has no damage and has the original box as well as certificates, as well as photos from the award, which confirm the authenticity and confirmation of the story about the competition and winning the first place, which I have heard several times. A great and superb piece as the icing on the cake in this collection post.
Now I'm going for a walk, to look for a bench in the park, but not to take a break from preparing this post, but to prepare for the topic of the month of July.
Until then, greetings to all collectors!
