4. (Reader's Watch) Seagull Open Heart | The Retiree

It is the retiree's last day at the office.  He has decided to go into early retirement at the age of sixty-two, although he would've liked to retire a decade ago.  Luckily there aren't too many people at the office where he works, a total of five, including his boss and the younger go-getters, so he didn't have to fork out that much for his farewell spread.  He didn't mind being cheap, just doing a simple Bavarian Weisswurst breakfast and non-alcoholic beers, because most likely he won't see these sorry souls again.  What he dreaded, was having to make a speech, about how he enjoyed working with everyone, and how the company had been a good workplace.  To top it off, he would have to listen to his boss, who by the way is about twenty years his junior, praise his performance and express how sad everyone will be when he's gone, when in fact everyone thinks the opposite of him.  After the toast, he was presented a watch from his boss, a brand called Sinn, with his name and a 'thank you for forty years of service' engraved on the back.  The retiree doesn't know this brand, I suppose I could try to sell it on eBay, see if it's worth anything, he thinks to himself as he gratefully and ceremoniously examines the watch in front of everyone.  He sarcastically tells everyone if they work hard like him for another twenty years they too would get such a nice watch, which depressingly fell on deaf ears.   

It is unsurprising that the retiree doesn't know one of the most famous German brands for automatic watches for he is not a watch fan.  In fact, he's only got three watches, that to him, is one too many, after all, a man has only got two wrists. His first watch, a Festina quartz, a rectangular shaped dress watch,  was given to him forty years ago by his father, when he first started with the company.  The retiree remembers how proud his old man was when he was accepted, he was so proud that his only son managed to land a job at one of the biggest and presumably most secure employers in the area.  His father made sure everyone in their little village would know about it, which as much as it was embarrassing, was understandable. What the retiree never understood, was his father's believe in the sanctity of employment, after all, didn't he get made redundant after slaving away at a company for forty years?  The second watch in his 'collection', is another dress quartz, from the fashion brand Hugo Boss, which he received from his wife for their wedding.  They met, like a lot of couples in the area, at the company, where they both worked.  It was nothing epic and whirlwind like a Hollywood romance, if anything, it was the complete opposite, their relationship had been more like a leaky faucet, slowly dripping, accumulating in a small puddle which is their love for each other.  Though, unfortunately, in the last few years that faucet had seemed to dried up, something he hopes to fix after his retirement.  That, however, is not the reason for his decision to retire, yes, it had something to do with it, as did the his inheritance of his childhood home from his father, but what really made him decide for early retirement was an old friend. The old friend was the one who gave him his third watch, an automatic dress Seagull Day Date with an open heart, onion crown, on a soft calfskin leather strap with a butterfly clasp for his fortieth birthday, when he still had aspirations for climbing the ladder.  Before his friend gave him the watch, he wasn't even aware that there are watches which didn't require batteries.  He amusingly remembers telling his friend the watch was broken when it stopped running, after he's put it down for a week.  This friend was one of the few people who didn't work at the company and was someone he could talk openly with regarding his dissatisfaction with work and his relationship with his wife.   Sadly, a few years ago, on his way to visit the retiree, the friend died quite unexpectedly of an heart attack on the highway, and was only found a day later in his car on the curb after his wife called the police.  Upon hearing the news, the retiree was devastated, needless to say for the lost of an old friend, but more so at his own mortality.  The day after the funeral, without consulting his wife, he handed in his resignation letter, ready to begin the last chapter of his life, hoping to not having to wear a business suit and any of the three dress watches he owns ever again.