I still remember receiving my very first watch from my parent. I was just a small kid back then, but I was thrilled to get a super cool watch. Sadly, I don’t have any pictures of it anymore, but just visualize a green, army-like watch with a T-Rex on the dial. I was ecstatic!
At least, for an hour or so. After that, I proceeded to never really wear it.
And that trend continued for a long time. When I turned 18, my parents gave it a second try. They wanted to gift me a watch for my 18th birthday. But before actually buying one this time, they asked me if I would ever wear it.
I told them I probably wouldn’t. So, we started looking for something else.
Fast forward four months and my grandparents came up with the idea to take me watch shopping!
My grandpa is a huge watch fan with a seriously impressive collection. They didn’t know I didn’t really have an interest, but to be nice, I didn’t say anything either.
Best decision yet.
We went watch shopping, and I found a beautiful Seiko:
For whatever reason, I actually started to wear this watch. A lot. Basically, every day.
While I still wasn’t obsessed with watches in general, I loved this particular piece.
With my newfound interest in watches, my mum asked me if I wanted to fix up an old piece of my dad. It was another Seiko, but a much smaller one. The band was broken, but the dial was gorgeous. She told me if I would get it fixed, I could have it.
So I set out to fix it. First, I changed the batteries so the watch would work again. After that, I went strap shopping. The original watch had a metal bracelet, but since I already owned a Seiko with a metal bracelet, I wanted to go for a leather one.
I loved the end result, and restoring this piece really sparked my overall interest in watches.
I remember my mum saying it used to be my dad’s. So I thought, let’s find out the history behind this piece.
After running the serial numbers, I discovered that this particular watch was produced in November 1993. That’s a long time ago.
And that was what finally pushed me into the ‘watch freak’ territory.