When my dad passed away, he
left behind several pocket watches that he or my mom had bought over the
years. I asked my mother if she wanted
me to try to sell them. She wanted instead
to give each of her children the choice of a watch as a remembrance of dad at
our Christmas gathering. So I took the
watches home to clean them up, wind them, and see which ones still worked. Since I had them I decided to do a little
research on the watches so I could provide my brothers with some background.
Most of the watches came from
Colibri, a company that featured
men’s accessory in its history
but no longer makes watches. I’m
assuming the reason my dad went with that brand most is because it was the
brand on his own dad’s watch, which was part of the collection. My youngest brother took grandpa’s Colibri watch to
someday pass to his son even though it seemed to no longer work. Of course my dad often would take the watches
to a jeweler who would clean them and then they would start working for a
little while again. The watches could
get pretty dirty in the pocket of a man who was an all-in-one
welder/carpenter/farmer really fast.
One of Dad's Pocket Watches |
Dad did not have many fancy
watches since function was more important than looks. I remember that one year my mother bought him
a collector’s pocket watch from a full page magazine ad. It was his Christmas present from us kids
that year. In his collection were only 2
watches that would be considered collectables if they were working and still in
their original packaging – Flying
Tigers and Kennedy
Half Dollar (no manufacturer listed on outside). They had little monetary worth but each had a
chain so different brothers took them to use as a display in their home.
My dad also had a wrist watch after he
decided it was more acceptable for men to wear jewelry during the age of “Flower Power.” He said it was dangerous for a man who did
his kind of work to wear anything on his hands or wrist. So the wrist watch was only worn to Church on
Sunday. His wedding ring was sometimes worn on his hand
that day too. Otherwise his simple
wedding band hung on a chain around his neck that was tucked into his shirt.
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