365 Watch Stories

His fishing buddy doesn’t understand why, of his vast collection of watches, the fisherman has been wearing this funky, futuristic looking vintage on their fishing trips lately. Today, the fishing buddy decides to ask him.   Before the fisherman replies, he thinks for a moment, as the answer is far from straightforward.   In fishing, ‘catch and release’ is a practice intended as a method of conservation.   Often after capture, and after a fast measurement and weighing, and most importantly photo taking, the fish are unhooked and returned to the water.   A similar practice, most likely borrowed from fishing, is also practiced by most watch collectors.   However, the intention is often not the conservation of watches, but rather the conservation of financial resources.   The criteria for ‘keeper’ watches vary from collector to collector.   There are as many reasons for ‘releasing’ a watch as there are reasons for keeping them.   A collector ...

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, ...

After the young pianist dramatically plays the last bars of La Campanella, there is a brief silence which is ruptured by a thunderous applause. The pianist slowly gets up from the Steinway concert grand model D.   At 274 cm in length, the Steinway truly is a majestic musical instrument, a piano worthy of the next classical music raising star such as him.   The pianist, with his left hand still on the piano, as if the instrument was an extension of his body, bows deeply for this affectionate reception.   As he is basking in the ovation, he carefully surveys the large crowd at the Semperoper, when he notices a man getting up to leave, amidst the continuing applause. The presenter, a representative of the luxury watch chain Wempe, comes on stage to greet the pianist. The audience finally quiets down, the presenter, an attractive and stylish woman in her forties, extends him her hand.   The pianist was still following the man’s movement to the exit when the presenter...

Most people go through life second guessing their decisions. That’s why a lot of people turn to religion, astrology, or even other occult sciences for guidance in situations of doubt.   The Young Professional is no different, his luminary, since high school, has been numbers.   He’s a numerologist of sorts, although not in the extreme way that some numerologists believe in the divine relationship between numbers and coinciding event.   He’s focused on one number, his number, and its relationship with the destinies in his life. It was a really hot summer day in his last high school year, a few weeks before graduation.   The Young Professional was sitting in English class, doodling on his folder, looking forward to being away from home at university, when he looked up at the wall calendar. He doesn’t know why he’s never seen it before, now it’s dawned on him. The first letter, from the month July to November, spells out his name!   J,A,S,O,N.   He car...

The doorman opens the door for an old man in his sixties, whose clothes are not very well put together.   The old man doesn’t notice the disapproving look that the doorman gives him.   The last decades he’s been shun by his peers at the university, where he’s played the part of an absentminded professor, have made him impervious to such snobbery.   He enters the store, the best jeweler in town, a famous international chain in fact, to have his watch serviced. The almost fifty years he’s had the watch, he has always taken care of it himself. Although he knows the hand wound movement, the famed Chezard cal.7400 like the back of his hand, now that he’s getting on with age, his eyes and hands just wouldn’t allow him to continue with such detailed and delicate work with as much ease and finesse as before.   The old man patiently waits his turn at the counter, when he hears a wealthy looking and sharply dressed man, being shown a Tourbillion, exclaim, ‘that is such gen...

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, ...

The executive, a well-suited man in his early fifties, usually hates layovers.  But he deliberately chose a later return connection to Munich, so that he can spend a few more hours at the Zurich airport.   In fact, he even dressed up for it, in watch lover terms at least.  On his wrist today is one of his favorites, the Chronoswiss Kairos, which unfortunately doesn't get nearly enough wrist time.  For a watch lover, the Zurich airport is comparable to a giant candy store for children, but instead of sugary confections, it's filled with watch stores that cater to all watch collecting tastes and budgets.  That is what the executive has been looking forward to, as he rushed out of his first class seat and dashed out the plane to the shopping arcade.  His first stop, is a store called Hour Passion located on the second floor.  Hour Passion is his favorite, because it carries his favorite German brand, Glashuette Original.  He enters the store, p...