A Simple Pleasure: Rediscovering the Quiet Beauty of Mechanical Watches

It has been at least five years since I have worn a watch.

I have a collection of timepieces, none of which are exceptional but all of which had broken down and remained unloved for over five years in a drawer. Whilst I had not forgotten about them, it had not been a problem to manage without one as, like everyone else, I have a mobile phone. It was therefore not necessary to wear a watch, as the iPhone is damn good at telling the time — not only in England, but in New York, Sydney, and even Vancouver.

It was only when tidying out my chest of drawers that I came across this motley collection of timepieces and it occurred to me that it was pointless having watches that do not work. I should either repair them or get rid of them. Two of them, however, had sentimental value: my father’s Tissot watch from the 1940s and my grandfather’s gold Waltham pocket watch dating back to around 1890.

I remember my grandfather’s watch attached to a rolled gold double chain worn with his waistcoat, where the central part of the chain was attached to the waistcoat buttonhole with one part of the chain, complete with watch, looped to his left hand waistcoat pocket, whilst the other part of the chain, presumably with nothing attached to it, looped to the opposite right hand pocket. This double loop created a balanced look. I never remember seeing my grandfather without his waistcoat and of course his watch and chain.

I could not, therefore, countenance disposing of either of these watches. So I decided to see if they could be fixed.

I found a local watch and clock repairer and after waiting some seven months both items are back and in full working order.

I had, of course, forgotten that watches of these periods need daily winding, but it is in this ritual that one appreciates the design and indeed the beauty as well as the need for care when handling them. They have an elegant simplicity with clear numbers, slim hands and inset seconds dials. And then there is the ticking.

We are so used to the silence of digital clocks that we have forgotten the sound of time ticking by. There is something quite lovely about the sound of a ticking timepiece. The very ticking, like a human heart, tells you it is alive and adds a further dimension to the experience of analog time. The blandness of an iPhone with all of its cleverness cannot compete with the sophisticated yet simple pleasure of an old fashioned watch.

Now after five years without a watch not only has a ritual been restored but I am using and keeping alive memories of my father and my grandfather whilst cherishing the same watches they too had cared for so many years ago. In short, a simple pleasure.