TheBigYin
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Some Watches are more about the Sentiment than the Monetary Value...
Back at the age of 14 I wanted to buy my Dad a "proper present" to mark his 40th Birthday. We weren't exactly a "well off" family - solid working class, always a roof over out head and good food on the table, enough money for my parents to go out for a couple of drinks on a weekend, and to make sure I had all I needed for all the schools extra-curriculars - you get the picture, not hurting, not skint, but not a lot of cash around for luxuries.
My Dad worked as a Coal Miner, a hard, horrible, filthy job, and never complained - I thought he deserved a treat, as he'd reached the (then unimaginably old to a 14y.o. lad) milestone birthday of 40. So, I went out and got myself a "summer holiday" job helping out at a farm near home.
Helping with haymaking, throwing bales around, loading trailers, driving tractors, hard work, but fun, and really good for me health and fitness wise if I'm honest - certainly made me a lot stronger for the next Rugby season - but I digress... I'd told my Dad I was working to raise money for a new pushbike - I'd just got into cycling, and joined the local Cycling Club, so it was believable. Bless him, he said that for every £ I earned, he'd match it 1-for-1... Oops - that's a bit of a dilemma.
Anyhow - I'd stashed away a fair bit of cash and went to the local Jewellers in the town where I went to School (a family concern, not some chain like most nowadays) - told him of my plans, and I think the story got to the owner... He sat me down and discussed what my Dad's habits were - I explained what he did for a living, and that he only really wore a watch to go out on a weekend - he was "old school" and still wore a suit and tie when he went out - I guess working down that filthy hole in the ground meant he wanted to "dress up" and put work as far out of his mind as possible. The Jeweller then basically gave me "a deal" on the watch in the photo.
It cost me nearly everything I'd earned on the farm for the 6 weeks of my school holiday but it was worth every penny. When I gave my dad the present and explained i'd kind of lied to him about putting money away for the bike - and that this was why i'd worked all summer, I swear he cried for only the second time i'd seen - the first being when my Grandma had passed.
He wore that watch every weekend - my Mother said putting it on was the second thing he did when he came in on a Friday from work (the first thing being asking what was for dinner...) and the last thing he did on a Sunday evening before going to sleep was to remove the watch and put it on his bedside table for the following Friday.
I'm pretty sure it's fair to say he loved that watch.
Fast forward nearly 26 years. My dad had some issues with his eyes, cataracts, macular degenration, and basically he'd gone blind. One thing he said to my Mother was that what he really missed was his old watch - the "talking watch" i'd found for him not being the same. Then, on my 40th Birthday, I visited my parents and my dad handed me a suspiciously familiar sized/shaped box, birthday wrapped.
In there was a card and "his" watch. Basically - he gave me the watch on MY 40th birthday and told me to go out and wear it, love it and keep making memories wearing it - because it seemed somehow right to give it to me on MY 40th rather than it sit in a watch box until he passed.
So, that's my "sentimental attachment" story. Sorry if I've rambled on too long - but it basically represents my memory of 1977 (along with The Sex Pistols and being late for the Streetparty for the silver Jubilee because I was still chucking bales around on the farm) - It is not, and never will be for sale. It's Value however is beyond comparison. 1977 (year of purchase) Chateau handwind. Restoration extends to having replaced the strap maybe 5 times over the years, and a touch of polywatch on the "crystal" a few months ago (because I had it to hand, and just wanted to spruce it up a little for the photo below)
Back at the age of 14 I wanted to buy my Dad a "proper present" to mark his 40th Birthday. We weren't exactly a "well off" family - solid working class, always a roof over out head and good food on the table, enough money for my parents to go out for a couple of drinks on a weekend, and to make sure I had all I needed for all the schools extra-curriculars - you get the picture, not hurting, not skint, but not a lot of cash around for luxuries.
My Dad worked as a Coal Miner, a hard, horrible, filthy job, and never complained - I thought he deserved a treat, as he'd reached the (then unimaginably old to a 14y.o. lad) milestone birthday of 40. So, I went out and got myself a "summer holiday" job helping out at a farm near home.
Helping with haymaking, throwing bales around, loading trailers, driving tractors, hard work, but fun, and really good for me health and fitness wise if I'm honest - certainly made me a lot stronger for the next Rugby season - but I digress... I'd told my Dad I was working to raise money for a new pushbike - I'd just got into cycling, and joined the local Cycling Club, so it was believable. Bless him, he said that for every £ I earned, he'd match it 1-for-1... Oops - that's a bit of a dilemma.
Anyhow - I'd stashed away a fair bit of cash and went to the local Jewellers in the town where I went to School (a family concern, not some chain like most nowadays) - told him of my plans, and I think the story got to the owner... He sat me down and discussed what my Dad's habits were - I explained what he did for a living, and that he only really wore a watch to go out on a weekend - he was "old school" and still wore a suit and tie when he went out - I guess working down that filthy hole in the ground meant he wanted to "dress up" and put work as far out of his mind as possible. The Jeweller then basically gave me "a deal" on the watch in the photo.
It cost me nearly everything I'd earned on the farm for the 6 weeks of my school holiday but it was worth every penny. When I gave my dad the present and explained i'd kind of lied to him about putting money away for the bike - and that this was why i'd worked all summer, I swear he cried for only the second time i'd seen - the first being when my Grandma had passed.
He wore that watch every weekend - my Mother said putting it on was the second thing he did when he came in on a Friday from work (the first thing being asking what was for dinner...) and the last thing he did on a Sunday evening before going to sleep was to remove the watch and put it on his bedside table for the following Friday.
I'm pretty sure it's fair to say he loved that watch.
Fast forward nearly 26 years. My dad had some issues with his eyes, cataracts, macular degenration, and basically he'd gone blind. One thing he said to my Mother was that what he really missed was his old watch - the "talking watch" i'd found for him not being the same. Then, on my 40th Birthday, I visited my parents and my dad handed me a suspiciously familiar sized/shaped box, birthday wrapped.
In there was a card and "his" watch. Basically - he gave me the watch on MY 40th birthday and told me to go out and wear it, love it and keep making memories wearing it - because it seemed somehow right to give it to me on MY 40th rather than it sit in a watch box until he passed.
So, that's my "sentimental attachment" story. Sorry if I've rambled on too long - but it basically represents my memory of 1977 (along with The Sex Pistols and being late for the Streetparty for the silver Jubilee because I was still chucking bales around on the farm) - It is not, and never will be for sale. It's Value however is beyond comparison. 1977 (year of purchase) Chateau handwind. Restoration extends to having replaced the strap maybe 5 times over the years, and a touch of polywatch on the "crystal" a few months ago (because I had it to hand, and just wanted to spruce it up a little for the photo below)
