The Watches That Do More Than Tell Time

Like the iconic Rolex commercial proclaims, my collection of watches don’t tell time, they tell history.

In my peripheral vision, the dancing woman captures my attention. She twirls outside my office window with no regard for time or things happening around her. Mesmerized, I watch as she spins and sways amid the whispering leaves of the apple tree.

The dancing woman is a weathervane of sorts. A gift for my mom, purchased in an artsy mountain town I visited more than a decade ago. Her hammered copper body graced my mother’s deck holding a perfect pirouette as she hung in front of the family room window, twirling unfettered in the salty breath of Commencement Bay.

Following my mom’s death in 2019, I found the dancing woman displaced and lying on the grey, weathered wood of the deck. Her lifeless shape mimicked how I felt, and I wanted to rescue her. I was desperate for her copper beauty to be twirling free, but in retrospect, I think it was I who wished to be free.

Packing my mother’s house, I looked through her large jewelry box and discovered a drawer devoted to watches. Some broken, some working, and some carrying long-ago memories. It made me smile because it was evidence of a connection we shared. Like my mother, I too love watches.

At some point in my adulthood, watches became more than timepieces. They turned into markers of events. Like the Rolex commercial that plays yearly at Wimbledon, my watches don’t tell time, they tell history. Every year that commercial captivates me.

I Am Capable

After an unexpected divorce followed by a work promotion, I bought myself a celebratory gift when I received my first bonus check. I wanted a tangible reminder that I was resilient and capable of success. The Victorinox Swiss Army watch was a limited edition offering from the Sundance catalog.

It is a rugged and capable stainless-steel beauty with a blue face and a reminder of all I endured to get to this point in my career and in my life. It remains one of my favorites though it is the least expensive in my collection. When I look at it, I know I can do hard things. It reminds me that I will do more than survive. I will thrive.

I Am Fluid

Birthdays were never times of celebration growing up. My mother wasn’t one to lavish attention on her children, and there were years when birthdays were all but forgotten.

As an adult, I’m often overcome by depression as my birthday draws near.

When my 60th birthday approached, I wanted to create something different. I wanted to break free from the negativity surrounding birthdays that I carried like a ball and chain around my ankle. I wanted to learn to celebrate.

With the help of my wife, we conceived an epic three-part trip like newlyweds conceive a baby. We planned, prepared, and made arrangements, and all the while, I prayed I wouldn’t fall prey to my usual melancholy.

We started our trip with some beach time in Florida. In the words of the Beatles, it had been a long, cold, lonely winter, and we needed some sun. We worked at relaxing, which seems odd but is also more common than you might think. Next, we were on to the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas because an epic celebration isn’t complete without the bright lights of The Strip.

On the day of my birthday, I spent several hours driving a Porsche 911 GT3 around the track at Exotics Racing. I’ve had the opportunity to drive several race cars over the years, including a Ferrari, a Lamborghini, and a McLaren, and it is a rush like no other.

I am proud to say I had the fastest lap time at Exotics that day and my instructor was stunned that an old lady could drive so well.

After my day at the track, we cleaned up and enjoyed a lovely dinner on The Strip, followed by a trip to the Tag Heuer store. I was excited to mark my 60th with a watch synonymous with racing and settled on a Ladies Tag Heuer Link with a limited-edition pink pearl face. It is stunning.

I experience immense joy when I wear this watch. It is a piece of jewelry that tells time in a glorious yet understated fashion. When I wear it, I am reminded that I can choose to change. I am not stagnant and am not forced to repeat past patterns from a place of hurt and trauma. This watch symbolizes that I am beautifully fluid.

I Am Healed

It was about six months after my birthday that my mother suffered a stroke and passed away two days later, in November 2019. Due to Covid, I couldn’t sell her house and settle her estate until late the following summer, which made that year, and the entire process drag on.

I felt an immense loss when my mother died but not in the way you might expect. The realization that no apologies would be given felt devastating. I wondered how I would heal and move on.

As my mother departed this world, so did my hope for healing my past. I had somehow forgotten I alone had the power to heal myself.

In the spirit of the dancing woman, I wanted to find my freedom and twirl unfettered. Consciously, I began to let go of the resentment I felt and chose forgiveness and healing.

With this choice, I began to sense release. It felt like the fracture in my heart was squeezing closed like shifting tectonic plates deep under the earth. I was now able to be at peace with my mother’s death. I realized she had done her best, even though her best was not what I needed as her daughter.

My mother had dreamed of owning a Cartier Tank Watch. It was something she mentioned on several occasions and the reason I decided to celebrate the closing of her estate with a watch that would honor her desire as well as give witness to my healing.

On difficult days, I choose to wear that watch. I let my fingers glide across the date of my mother’s death, engraved on the back, and I breathe deeply as I slide it onto my wrist. This watch symbolizes that my healing isn’t dependent upon anyone else because I am enough.

The dancing woman outside my window is a reminder that I am free. As she twirls and spins, the sun glinting off her copper body, I take a moment to breathe and to check in with my heart, grounding myself in the reality that I am capable, fluid, and healed. And, if there is any doubt, I have a case full of watches to remind me.