My Omega Watch

Losing Time

By: Charles Giuliano - Oct 02, 2007

          Yesterday I was distraught. While swimming in the pool I leave my wallet and watch hidden in the car to avoid potential theft in the locker room. Later I found the wallet where I had left it but not the watch. Drats.

           Several months ago I spent a ton of money having several watches repaired. There was a guy in one of those multi-dealer jewelry shops on Washington Street in downtown Boston. His booth was just big enough for a small work bench and tools. But how much space do you need to work on watches. Being a one man operation, at any given time, he may or not have been in. So I would call.

                There were two Omegas and a commemorative watch from Raynham Dog Track which was given to my uncle, George Gibbs, a musician in the World War One Army Band, a drummer, over there. He was a vice president of the Musician's Union in New York who moonlighted at Raynham after he retired. It is a nifty watch. Slim, gold, with a racing greyhound as a design.

               I wore all three watches. When one broke down I strapped on another, and another, and another. Until none of them worked. I got tired of those endless trips to Cambridge and the Swiss Watchmaker in Harvard Square. So I stumbled around downtown until I found this guy.

                 His face lit up when I brought in the two Omegas. He loved them and was specially trained to work on them. So he said. But after I got them back they didn't work. He guaranteed them for a year but I was back within a week. One is impossible to wind. There is a permanent callus on my index finger as a result. I have this fantasy that if I end up as a stiff on some CSI show the person doing the autopsy will use that as a huge clue to my demise. The other Omega is self winding but doesn't. It just stops. And the Raynham watch is nifty but the glass just fell off. Too risky to wear and damage. So given the options I settled on the one that's tough to wind. But because of the pool thing I kindah stopped wearing it and started relying on other means of keeping track of time. Which is why I was fifteen minutes late for a meeting at MCLA. Hey, things happen.

               Life does not always go like clockwork. But I was wicked bummed about losing that watch. It means a lot to me. After almost losing it nearly a hundred times I finally did. Bummer.

               A few weeks ago at the theatre, during intermission, some folks visiting from Texas were chatting with us. He noticed the watch and commented that he collects them. That Omegas, particularly the vintage ones, are very collectable. He speculated that mine was worth a few thousand were I to sell it. Thanks but not really interested. Mostly I just use it to keep time and stuff. Like to get to appointments and know when to watch shows on TV. Also my watches have real sentimental value.

                We were traveling all summer in 1957. My sister Josephine, a debutante, was presented at the Palace of Versailles along with a group of other American girls. My Dad decided that the whole family would make the trip, our first to Europe, and took the summer off. It was fabulous and the kind of experience one has just once in a lifetime.

                   In Switzerland, what else, Dad bought us all watches. When customs passed through the car as we headed back to Paris we were asked what we had to declare. Watches. We held up out arms to show them to the customs official.

                     When Dad passed away I got his watch being the only male heir. Which is how I got two. His is the one that's tough to wind but has a gold case and letters. I often think of him when I look at it. In haste to rush to some appointment. I always seem to be running late and the Omegas have helped to measure out the increments of my life.

                    So yesterday I put on the backup watch. The self winding one that doesn't. Particularly at night when you lie still. When I woke up in the middle of the night I gave my wrist a few vigorous shakes just to keep it going. This morning I was pleased that it displayed accurate time that agreed with a clock in the room. Maybe it will behave and I have resigned myself to having just one Omega instead of two. That one has to be philosophical about possessing things and accepting their loss. Particularly as one gets older. There is ever more loss now and in the future. And not just things, like watches. Even though that Omega has measured out the past five decades of my life.

                      This morning I hopped into the car to run down to Cumberland Farms and buy a Globe. It is a daily ritual. There it was on the floor of the driver's side. Yesterday I seemingly checked the car thoroughly. And ransacked the house. Tried every possible location and combination. Eventually just accepting the loss and moving on to the backup watch which doesn't really work.

                 After all that agita here I am once again with my watches all intact. Even though they don't really work. But full of memories and those all important lessons about loss and gain. How timely.