Tempus Fugit - There and Back

As you are cruising through life, you have to take a moment every now and then and reflect on not only where you're trying to go, but where you've been.

A little over twenty five years ago Wendy and I were living and working in Helsinki, Finland. We had met in Japan as foreign English teachers, and living and working overseas for nearly 10 years. We were teaching English at the time, and I had unwittingly started a second career in the watch business. It was a seed that was planted and would germinate for 3 years, coming to bloom when I started at Tourneau in San Francisco.

Although I taught, I was also responsible for recruiting, hiring, and managing English teachers to come to Finland to work. This required a fair bit of travel, so to some extent Tintin, that globe-trotting journalist became my "guardo camino". And that travel took me through Heathrow's international terminal more times than I can count. One of the things that caught my eye on my last trip through on my way to San Francisco was a display featuring Alain Silberstein's watches. It was January, 2000 and that image stayed with me. It's important to note, while the internet certainly existed, it was nowhere near the evolved communication tool it has become. So I filed the image away. 

So a bit about this picture -

On my last official business trip to San Francisco, I was referred to a job that seemed to fit my skill set & experience. It was Martin Luther King Jr. day, and the day after I went to a small mom & pop copy shop on Market Street that opened early - I was there at 6:15 AM. I  rented some computer time (remember, it was 2000), typed up a resume, printed two copies and faxed one to the hiring manager. I had one interview the next day (Wednesday), and a follow-up interview with one of the owners that Friday.

I returned to Finland, and waited for what seemed to be an interminable amount time (in hindsight I think it was about 10 days), and got the call. I had been offered the job, and the owners wanted to fly Wendy and I to San Francisco for a week for a bit of a "getting to know you" visit. On our last day in San Francisco, we visited Globe-Trotter (a wonderful store on Sutter street that sold Tintin goods among other things). Sadly the store has long since closed, but 25 years ago they had a booming business and wonderful selection - including the tie you see in the photo above. Wendy got it for me as a Valentine's Day gift that year.

As for the watch? Pretty fitting that 25 years later, I was able to finally become the steward of one of Mr. Silberstein's signature pieces. It has clearly been worn and loved by at least two previous care givers, but for me that just adds to the charm. 25 years is a long time, more than a quarter of a life for most, but in many ways it passed in an instant. 

I leave you with a quote from that other great commentator on watches (and life) Matthew Broderick as Ferris Bueller -

"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it".

Enjoy your watches!

Sundays - 90 Day Essay Continues

Sundays. Every culture views Sundays differently. When I lived in Japan back in the early 90s, you could shop on Sundays, but you could not take money out of a bank ATM. When Wendy and I moved to Portugal you could do very little except go to church, or a restaurant. Once the "Hyper-Mercado" opened, then suddenly you could not only shop, but see a movie on Sunday as well. When we moved to Finland, Sunday was still very much a day for doing pretty much nothing. The only store that might be open was the Kioski (literally, kiosk). You could get some soft drinks, newspapers, magazines, some snacks, etc. Things began to change, and I seem to recall that by the time we moved to Helsinki you could actually shop at Stockman's (big, fancy department store) on a Sunday.

This Sunday morning we discovered that one of our dressers had given up the ghost and it was time to saddle up and look for a replacement. The US does not tend to have the same sort of "Sunday Hours" that a lot of other countries have. And truth be told, I am not 100% sure how I feel about it. There is something to be said for a day that NOBODY works, but in this day and age, I am afraid those days might be long gone.

Our luck was in as Manzel was open, and we found just the piece for us. Manzel offers furniture ethically sourced and crafted from reclaimed teak. And as anyone who has seen my rather bright and electric collection of watches (and blazers, ties and trousers) will affirm - Wendy and I walk to our beat in terms of aesthetics. 

Now ordinarily, you go to buy some furniture somewhere off the highway, some big box in a strip mall with bad lighting and a sales force trapped in ill-fitting polyester "team member" outfits, slogging it out under flickering florescent lighting, telling small children to get their dirty shoes off of the sofa/chair/mattress. This is made more awkward when the children in are in their 30s and refuse to put their face masks on, but I digress.

While we were wandering the floor, something odd caught my eye -

Yes, gentle reader.  This is a Peugeot automobile that is probably older than most of you reading this. While I would not call it mint, I would say it was in gently used condition.

A few rows of furniture down the way, there was a Mercedes convertible which was certainly nice enough, but didn't really catch my attention beyond passing.

But then, I saw something that stopped me dead in my tracks.

What is in hazy focus (like many of my memories of 1985) is the Corona name plate.  Yes, a 1977 Toyota Corona.

It as June, 1985 and my father and his new wife had just moved to Jackson, TN. Jackson is not exactly what would have been termed a "public transit friendly" city back then. So whether I liked it or not, I was required to purchase a used car. In fairness, my father provided $100 towards the car, and co-signed a $1,500 loan. My stay in Jackson lasted all of about 2 weeks when it became abundantly clear to one and all that this was not going to work out, so I packed all of my belongings into that 1977 silver (truthfully, faded stainless steel hued) Toyota Corona, and pointed it's snout north towards Oberlin, Ohio. 

That car was well-loved and enjoyed for our short term together. Until one fateful December evening when my recurring roommate, Vince HAD to borrow it to drive about 30 miles to Cleveland to watch the Mr. Olympia contest in a movie theatre/convention center.  It was a snowy, icy night, and I should have said no, but I figured as he was older, he knew what he was doing. Long story short? He made it to the Mr. Olympia showing, and he made it back. My Toyota Corona was, sadly, forfeit to his overwhelming desire to see grown men in posing pouches all oiled up. He managed to rack it up on an overpass when he braked too sharply and first ran into another car, then acquainted the rear end of my Corona with the front end of a pick up truck. So if any students at Tiffin University are reading this, do NOT let Professor Moore borrow your car for any reason!  It will only come to grief.

Seeing this sun-shiny yellow goodness really brought a smile to my face. And truth be told? I am not really much of a car guy, so this is saying something.

And after a fun day of shopping and reconnecting with your (somewhat) misspent youth?

TACOS!

Because let's be honest, NOBODY hates tacos!

To quote that other great commentator on the watch business Feris Bueller who opined in 1985 -

'Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.'

Don't just enjoy your watches, enjoy your time!