Jun 22, 2012

Seiko the wonder watch, the sculptor's watch


Here’s my dear old watch, bought at a duty free shop just as I was setting off on my first Australia Council Travel Grant - to America and Europe in 1976. It’s silver face has tarnished (maybe I should say attractively patinated), its glass is scratched and chipped, the watch still runs perfectly, well nearly, day and date just decided that they’d had enough and wouldn’t let me adjust them anymore. You really can’t blame the poor old thing, I wear it right next to the hand I use to hold my chisels, grinders and all sorts of power tools so over 36 years it’s been jolted and shaken millions upon millions of times.

I've decided to let it have a quiet and well deserved retirement so I've started looking for a new watch that I can abuse and I'm beginning to find it quite frustrating. Ruggedly shockproof just isn't something that watch makers list as important qualities, it's implied somehow by associating their products with activities like Formula one racing - sitting in a car isn't exactly going to give your watch a hard time, Yachting - much the same but a bit damp sometimes and Diving - constantly damp but not rugged. I want a SCULPTORS watch guaranteed to work for 30 years, being constantly vibrated in a dusty environment - Ah! as I write this I googled "tough watches" and found a whole bunch of steam punk indestructable military monsters - but militaristic isn't a good look for an artist, so come on someone make me a new SCULPTOR'S watch.