8. Mühle Sport | The Canadian


As The Canadian opens the securely wrapped package, she sees a hand written note.  ‘Please enjoy wearing your Mühle watch and feel free to contact us if you ever have any questions.  Best regards from Glashütte.’

Just a few months ago, as she was making her way to the Dresden Central Station on the tram, The Canadian admired the magnificent architecture and took in the everyday city scenes one last time.  Although her backpacking adventures were coming to an end, the two months she’s spent in Germany had been rewarding.  She needed that, to clear her head, as she was going through a difficult period in her life.  She deliberately planned to make Dresden her last stop and that turned out to be a lucky choice.  She wouldn’t have found the watch at the flea market yesterday otherwise. 

The Canadian had always wanted to visit Dresden, even though she’s from Dresden herself.  As a child she spent a lot of time with her grandparents, who although never spoke German with her, reminded her of her German heritage.  Her great-grandparents had moved from Germany to settle in Canada and had established an agricultural community in southwestern Ontario, which is now municipality of Chatham-Kent.  Even though neither her grandparents nor her parents had been to Dresden, Germany, she had always wanted to see her ancestral town on the River Elbe. She had been told many times about the majestic river by her grandparents and how that was one of the reasons why her great-grandparents chose to settle along the Sydenham River, because it was a small reminder of home.  It was also through her Oma, who passed away recently, that she learned of the Anglicization of their name from Mühle to Mill. 

On her last day in the city, The Canadian came across a flea market on an early Saturday morning.  As she was slowly strolling through the makeshift alleys formed by what seemed to be hundreds of booths and stalls, she came across a seller which had only a small selection of watches. A watch with a black dial caught her attention. The watch must have seen better days, the black leather straps are showing their age, the case and crystal were fairly scratched too, but the simplicity and functionality of the watch below this used surface still shone through. But of the small selection of watches on display, it stood out to her because on the patina free black dial it said Mühle.  ‘Does it work?’ she ased the seller. He took the watch and gave it a quick shake and the second hand came to life immediately.  ‘It’s a man’s watch’, said the seller matter-of-factly.  But at 36mm, it doesn’t seem large for her wrist at all.   With her Canadian charm and a bit of haggling, she was able to get the price down.

Upon her return to Dresden, Canada, she immediately started to find out more about her souvenir.  It turned out that the model was the Sport Automatic, and when it was new, was quite a looker.  Wanting to restore it to its well-deserved former glory, she sent the watch to Mühle in Germany for service, and after some friendly correspondence and a 3-month wait, it was finally back.

The Canadian runs her fingers over the engraving on the case back, which says Mill.  And as she examines the immaculate job Mühle has done in refurbishing the watch, The Canadian is reminded more than just her time in Dresden, Germany, but more importantly, her heritage, and her ancestor’s spirit of adventure and pioneership, which propelled them across the Atlantic almost two hundred years ago. 

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