The 1858 (Underground) Railroad Watch

A shameless bit of self-promotion -

For those of you who might have missed it, this is the 1858 from the Oberlin Watch Company. And to clarify things, yes, I am the owner of the Oberlin Watch Company ; )

The 1858 is a hand-wound watch. The case is stainless steel with a solid case back. 

This was originally a pre-order model, but we are now selling the final 9 available pieces. The price is $458 US.

Should it be in your wheelhouse, here are the pertinents -

The Basics:

The 1858 is a hand-winding watch. It is stainless steel, with a solid case back to allow for personalized engraving. The movement is made by Seagull, a Chinese manufacturer. The movement is the ST-3600, which is a clone of the ETA 6497.

The watches are assembled and tested in the United States. The watch comes standard with a blue and a black leather strap. The straps utilize quick spring bar attachments so they can be changed without the use of a tool using your finger and thumb!

The Particulars:

Case - stainless steel, 40 mm in diameter, solid case back with Oberlin engraving

Movement - Seagull ST-3600

Strap - black leather with quick spring attachment, stainless steel folding clasp

Warranty - 1 year

The 1858 Pulls into the Depot!

This is a bit of shameless self-promotion ; )

I am very proud to finally announce the release of the Oberlin Watch Company's 1858!

The 1858 is a hand-winding watch designed to bridge a few different ideas and stories. 

So, it is completely true that there was a pocket chronograph produced by an assembler in Besançon, France way back in the day -

But the "Oberlin" on that watch dial denoted the Oberlin Pharmaceutical Company, also French. The watches were produced to give as promotional gifts to pharmacists (that's chemists on the other side of the pond), and doctors. Today their lucky if they get post-it-note pads and disposable pens ; )

So suffice it to say, there never actually was an Oberlin Watch Company...until now.

The 1858 is not only a "chapeau!" to the original Oberlin Pharmaceutical Company, it is also a "tip of the hat" to an event that happened in (and near) my hometown of Oberlin, Ohio. The Oberlin-Wellington Rescue. 

The short part of this story is that Oberlin was one of the last depots on the Underground Railroad, and also fervently abolitionist. John Price had lived as a slave and managed to escape and made his way to Oberlin, where he had been living for (it is said) 2 years. The law in the US at that time allowed for slave owners to enlist marshals and other officers to help them recapture "fugitive" slaves. John Price was lured to the outskirts of town where he was captured. His captors realizing that they were not going to get a lot of support and understanding in Oberlin, took Mr. Price to Wellington (the next nearest town with a rail station), and hid out in a hotel there. 

And it is here where the story takes a turn that we in Oberlin have always been proud of. We proved that you very often have more friends than you realize. A not insignificant number of men made their way to Wellington where they were joined by like-minded folks in that community. They tried to reason with Price's captors to no avail, and ultimately found him hidden in the hotel's attic. They brought him back to Oberlin where he was hidden in the home of a future Oberlin College president before being taken to Canada, the final stop on the Underground Railroad.

So that's pat one - tune in tomorrow for part 2, and more details on the watch itself!

The 1858 - From a Friend For a Friend

As a matter of full-disclosure, I (James Henderson) am the owner of the Oberlin Watch Company.

Ladies and gentlemen, and children of all ages, I am very proud to introduce you to the 1858 from the Oberlin Watch Company.

When I introduced the first quartz pieces back during the pandemic, there were some who thought that I had "re-birthed" a defunct French watch brand. That notion was based on the existence of a pocket chronograph that had been produced by the Oberlin Pharmaceutical  Company, of France back in the 1900s - 

As far as anyone knows, the Oberlin pocket watches were manufactured to be given as promotional gifts to doctors and pharmacists in an effort to promote the Oberlin Pharmaceutical Company. These watches were manufactured in Besançon, France.

So in other words, there was never an Oberlin Watch Company. But there is one NOW!

Courtesy of D.N. Mason

So for those just tuning in, the 1858 is what we're calling an (Underground) Railroad Watch. The great Kipton train wreck that forced the dramatic improvements in the manufacture of pocket (railroad) watches and standardization of scheduling and timekeeping, happened within virtually walking distance of Oberlin. So there is certainly a train connection to my hometown. But dig a little deeper into Oberlin history, and you will learn about the Oberlin - Wellington Rescue -

Courtesy of Wikipedia

Long story short? John Price was an escaped slave who had found his way to Oberlin. Under the fugitive slave act, the government would assist slave owners by capturing and returning those lucky enough to escape in the first place who were unlucky enough to be discovered and identified as an escaped slave. And this is exactly the fate that befell John Price. He was spirited away by a Marshall and small group of henchmen to Wellington, the town next door where they intended to hop onto the first thing smoking the next day and forcibly take John Price back to Kentucky.

From a Friend For a Friend -

In his short time in Oberlin, John Price had made some friends. More than he probably knew. Because as word spread of his abduction, the townspeople of Oberlin got together, met with like-minded folks in Wellington, and when negotiations for Price's release failed? They forced their way into the hotel that Mr. Price's abductors had been holed-up in, and found him in the attic. They took him back to Oberlin, where he was hidden in the basement of future Oberlin College president James Harris Fairchild. Shortly thereafter he was taken to Canada, the last stop on the Underground Railroad. 

The Oberlin Watch Company was born out of a request from a friend - could you make a watch for us? The first series sold out before it was even produced. It would seem that the Oberlin Watch Company had more friends than we realized ; )

The pre-sale of the 1858 sold out, but we will have a handful of pieces available for those who joined us late.   

Stay tuned!

Less Than A Week To Preorder!

We're coming down to the wire, with seven days left to preorder the Oberlin Watch Company's (Underground) Railroad Watch - the 1858.

Here is a quick rundown -

The preorder deposit is $58 US dollars and is non-refundable. The total price for those who do preorder will be $285 US. The watches are projected to ship in April. Keep in mind, that is a projection, not a guaranteed delivery date.

Once the preorder period is over, the price will be $385. The preorder will run until December 15.

Artistic Interpretation courtesy of D.N. Mason

The specifics:

The 1858 is a hand-winding watch. It is stainless steel, with a solid case back to allow for personalized engraving. The movement is made by Seagull, a Chinese manufacturer. The movement is the ST-3600, which is a clone of the ETA 6497.

The watches will be assembled and tested in the United States. The strap that the watches will ship with will be black. The blue strap in the image is strictly for rendering purposes.

The initial production will be for a minimum of 25 pieces with the potential for a larger series, up to 100 pieces. This will be dependent upon the number of preorders received.

Specs:

Case - stainless steel, 40 mm in diameter, solid case back

Movement - Seagull ST-3600

Strap - black leather with stainless steel folding clasp

Warranty - 1 year

Artistic Interpretation courtesy of D.N. Mason

You can preorder here -

https://oberlinwatch.com/products/1858-preorder-deposit

Announcing the 1858 from the Oberlin Watch Company!

A bit of shameless self-promotion, but here goes -

We are very excited to announce that our newest watch from the Oberlin Watch Company, tentatively named the Montre 1858 will be available for pre-order shortly.

Pre-orders will be available for a non-refundable deposit of $58 (US dollars). We anticipate delivery next April / May, in time for graduation and class reunions.

And we are very pleased to announce that these will all be assembled in the US.

The pre-order price is tentatively set at $358.

Stay tuned!

Watch Brand Creation Myths - This One's A True Story!

By now you've no doubt noticed the Oberlin Watch Company advertisement at the right of the main article section -

In the summer of of 2020, as we were all getting "comfy" as lockdown was progressing, I had 2 seemingly unrelated conversations. One from a friend in my hometown saying something along the lines of - "Hey, you should make an Oberlin watch!". I put that one in my back pocket for the time being. The thought had crossed my mind on more than one occasion, but as my childhood friends may or may not have realized, it is not a simple thing to do. It takes time and money. Thanks (just kidding) to COVID, I certainly had some time. And this brought me back to an email exchange that I had recently had with another Northern Youth on the same topic. Courtesy of the OBIE Blog from 2022 -

About 2 years ago I got an email from an old friend:

"I bought an (insert the name of a very popular, very hyped on social media watch) 2 months ago and it died on me! What watch should I get?"

Okay, in fairness there was more to this story. My friend works in marketing. He is fairly senior. He has not owned a watch since the turn of the century (2002 to be exact). His rationale was:

"I don't need a watch. My computer has the time, my cell phone has the time, the time is LITERALLY EVERYWHERE!"

Well, fair enough. Until...

My friend was in the middle of a pitch - yes gentle reader, there was a time before COVID where people were expected to show up to work, in person, FIVE days a week! The pitch meeting was for a fairly large client with very deep pockets. (editors note, that company has since gone out of business). He was sitting towards the rear of the room. His job was to give hand signals to his boss (who was giving the pitch to the potential client) to let him know how much time was left. Not having a watch, my friend was occasionally looking at his phone to check the time. At one moment the potential client looked over and saw this, and came to the reasonable conclusion that my friend was goofing off with instagram, or some other time killing activity. My friend's boss clocked this activity and (once the client had left) exploded:

"What were you doing playing with your f'ing phone?!?"

My friend informed his boss that he was checking the time to signal to him when to wrap up. His boss was not soothed:

"Go get a damn watch! Not tomorrow, not after work, not even after lunch! Go get a damn watch right now!!!"

So needless to say, my friend exited the office and turned left into a boutique that sold (insert the name of an over-hyped, very popular quartz watch here) watches, and put just over $200 (with tax) on his credit card and wore the watch back to the office. His boss was appeased. And everything was fine... for the next 2 months. And then the watch stopped working. Not sure if it was a battery or simply defective, he went back to the boutique, and was given an address to send his watch in for warranty service (they insisted that they could not do this for him). So on Saturday he packed up the watch and shipped it back to the address he was provided. And...

He waited, and waited, and waited....

After several unanswered emails, phone calls and carrier pigeon notes it became clear to him that while he might get the watch repaired and returned, it was not likely to happen prior to his retirement or employment termination, whichever came first.

And this brings us back to my friend's email to me. What watch should he get? I suggested an inexpensive Seiko, a Timex, Casio, or even a Swatch.

"You work in the watch business. Can't you make me one?" 

This led to a 15 day back and forth explaining that, in fact, while I did sales, marketing and other things, making a watch was not something for us to discuss because unlike the salt and pepper, it was not on the table. But he kept pushing.

So I reached out to my friends at Swiss Made  Consulting LLC and asked, crazy as it sounded, if they could make a small run of 100 or so watches. They said yes, and that is what led to the OBIE1.

But it wasn't quite as simple as that. Truth be told? I didn't have a lot of ideas as to what it could/should look like. Fortunately I know a guy who is pretty good at design -

Courtesy of Sartory Billard

Armand Billard kindly stepped up and quickly came up with a design, logo, pretty much everything needed.

Courtesy of Oberlin Watch Company

Courtesy of Oberlin Watch Company

Courtesy of Oberlin Watch Company

So part one was taken care of, now all I needed was a watch ; )

So I reached out to my friends Rod Hess and Stephen Roemer. Rod is known by industry insiders as "The most important person in the watch business that you maybe never heard of". Stephen is his brother-in-law and the primary owner of Swiss Watch Company.

And based on Armand's design, utilizing some extra kits that he had on hand, he was able to produce the first OBIE -

Courtesy of Oberlin Watch Company

Now at about this time, I also realized that it was not an inexpensive option to make a watch for 2 high school friends who wanted a $100 -$150 quartz watch. So I started posting some renderings on social media groups for Oberlin Ohio and Oberlin High School. The feedback was pretty good and I felt that I could roll the dice on an initial order of up-to 100 pieces (as that was the minimum). Unbeknownst to me, a reporter from the regional newspaper - The Chronicle Telegram, had been following the Facebook group discussions. He reached out, and a day later my email in-box exploded with messages from people wanting to buy my new "OBIE" watch. That article can be read here -

https://chroniclet.com/news/256866/about-time-oberlin-high-school-alumnus-crafts-timepiece-as-tribute-to-his-hometown/

The only problem was that the watches were in production, and I didn't have any packaging. In the beginning of this project I didn't plan to have any, but there were several customers buying watches for their friends, several of them buying 5 or more!

Stephen of Swiss Watch Company said he had some "left-over" packaging that I could buy at a discounted price. So I invested in some read and blue Krylon spray paint and got to work in the backyard.

In May 2021 the watches arrived, and the first 100 OBIE watches were dispatched. Now another funny part of the story - I thought that the majority of watches would be sold to Oberlin residents past and present. Not so! 

Courtesy of Oberlin Watch Company

Of that first 100 OBIE watches, the new owners were located across the US, Canada, Belgium, France, Switzerland (5 customers!), South Africa, Finland, Croatia and beyond!

Courtesy of Oberlin Watch Company

Fast forward to 2023 and the Oberlin Watch Company is alive and well with zero debt, and four retail partners -

Willow Jewelers in Oberlin, Ohio

Maryland Watch Works in Hagerstown, MD

Swiss Watch Maker in Cambridge, MA

Windy City Watch Collector -https://windycitywatchcollector.com

So, no crash landed biplanes in the French countryside, no mysterious British traveller met while backpacking through Asia. As creation stories go, it's pretty tame. The Oberlin Watch Company OBIE is simply a watch that was initially conceived as something fun for my childhood friends. And like everything positive I've experienced in the watch business, it was realized with the help of my Watch Town friends.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it ; )

And if you are so inclined, you can buy an OBIE at one of our retail partners, or direct from yours' truly at the Oberlin Watch Company -

https://oberlinwatch.com/

Henki

Introducing the OBIE2, the OBIE3...

And reintroducing the OBIE1 -

It would seem that the Oberlin Watch Company is now, well, an actual watch company! And important piece of disclosure, I am the owner. 

I grew up in Oberlin, a town of under 10,000 (as of the 2010 census) located in Northern Ohio.  Almost a year ago, as we were all getting good and melancholy during lockdown, a friend reached out and asked if I could make a watch for Oberlin. At the time, I figured it would be one of those ideas that would get talked about, I would explain why it probably wasn't such a hot idea, and that would be the end of it.  

As regular readers, by now it is clear that you are the opposite of the Playboy subscriber - you actually do come here for the writing ; ) Put another way, as poor as my photography is, my design skills are even more shambolic. Luckily, I reached out to my friend Armand Billard and he was kind enough to help -

And based on this rendering, and this caseback -

We had a concept.  My assemblers gave me a great price with a very realistic minimum order (100 pieces), but I still wasn't 100% sure it was worth pursuing.  

And then a few Oberlin Facebook groups got wind of the possible project and suddenly I had 10 pre-orders. 

And then this article from the local regional newspaper triggered another 50 pre-orders:

https://chroniclet.com/news/256866/about-time-oberlin-high-school-alumnus-crafts-timepiece-as-tribute-to-his-hometown/

And like that, we had at least the possibility for a fun one-off limited watch -

40 mm, stainless steel with screw back case back.  The movement is quartz, and the price is $97.97 US plus shipping.

But then there were more requests -

Could you make one in a more basic white & black? A few retail stores wanted to carry it. Different groups, clubs and teams asked for special versions...

Long story short? We're going to move forward!

So if it is in your wheelhouse, please visit my little venture at -

www.oberlinwatch.com

You Don't Choose Your Watch, Your Watch Chooses You

If there are two very solid constants I remember from my coming up as a Northern Youth, they are these -

1.  My father was a country club manager.  Meaning he oversaw the Elyria Country Club, in Elyria, Ohio back in the 70s and early 80s.  For those of you unfamiliar, a country club typically has a golf course, some tennis courts, a swimming pool and depending on the inclinations of the founding members (and in the case of the Elyria Country Club), a fairly massive amount of dining options for the members and their families and guests.  ECC had a main dining room, a "mixed grill" (essentially a slightly more casual dining space that could accommodate about 100 or so, and the "men's girl" which was a bar with about 15 tables in a private room that abutted the men's locker room (remember the golf thing).  And inside that men's locker room was where I got my introduction to the world of work.  I worked in the shoeshine room, where I polished the footwear of some of Northern Ohio's captains of industry, including one George Steinbrenner, the owner of the New York Yankees immortalized in Seinfeld some 15 years later.

And in that job, as well as other interactions I got to know many of the members' kids.  Some were quite nice, some were little caricatures of their fathers and mothers (often exhibiting some of the less favorable characteristics).  They all had nice clothes, they all played golf, ate at the restaurant, swam at the pool, and partook of the tennis courts when their moms weren't either having tennis lessons or (in some instances) machinating over how to lure the tennis pro into a dark corner of the club where nobody could see.  As a side note - one year the tennis pro bore a downright striking resemblance to Tom Selleck circa 1983.

A fair number of those kids went to the nearby private school - Lake Ridge Academy in North Ridgeville, Ohio.  Curious to relate, there was more than a small rivalry between my alma matter - Oberlin High School, and Lake Ridge Academy in matters of Soccer (that's football to many of you).

2.  I was a soccer player.  I played A LOT.  I was not particularly intrigued by school, but managed to keep my grades in check so that I could play for the middle school and high school.  After practice, I would go to the (Oberlin) college fields and watch the team practice and sometimes one of the goal keepers would invite me to take practice penalty kicks with the team.  After they cleared out I would practice my corner kicks.  I had one ball, so it was a pretty tedious process of taking the kick, jogging to the other side of the field to gather it, then take another kick from that corner.  I would do this about 25 or 30 times before the autumn skies would get too dark to keep going.

In terms of how we matched up against Lake Ridge, at least in my time it was fairly level.  In middle school we won the tournament the first year, they won the second.  In high school we won my sophomore year (that game immortalized by the "Oberlin fake" corner kick play).  A brief bit about that -I always took the corner kicks, and the first kick that comes up in that game, my team mate David Sonner starts running towards the corner shouting - 
"I'll take it, I'll take it".  
Me, being me, was having none of it and a verbal altercation the likes of which polite, Town & Country Lake Ridge parents only heard when watching Cinemax After Dark flowed forth as we both now sprinted for the ball.  For the record, David Sonner was (and by all accounts still is) a phenomenal athlete and had he really been trying would have made it to the ball, knocked it into play, and returned to the center circle before I even got to the corner.  I would like to think it was anger that moved my less than swift frame, but it would become clear that his plan was for both of us to arrive at the ball at the same time.  We both, effectively shielded the ball from view, backs to goal as we continued to argue.  Just as the referee was about to put the whistle to his mouth, David took a quick step away and whispered -
"Here I'm going to pass you the ball."
And at that moment, the 20 watt bulb above my head went off, I understood how this would unfold.  All of our teammates were crowded around the penalty area, as were ALL of the Lake Ridge Royals (another reason to hate them - the Royals?  Why not just call the team the Lake Ridge Money?  But I digress).  Long story short, ball rolled to me, David ran into space as nobody was marking him, I slotted him the ball, he took three touches (his only weakness as a player, he liked to have at least 3 touches before passing or shooting), and parked it in the back of the net.  The Lake Ridge players protested, but there was no rule against exploiting a team's inattention.
Curious to relate?  Later in the second half we did EXACTLY the same thing, this time with me scoring.  That game taught me something, your parents can have a lot of money, you might have nice clothes and be a straight A student heading for Princeton, but if you are used to things in your life following a certain pro forma?  Sooner or later, you are going to get played.  

I guess they smartened up in our junior year as I seem to recall that we drew.  Our senior year I missed the game for romantic reasons probably best left vague in case surviving family members might be reading and be scandalized by what I was up to with a female a wee-bit older than me.  And we lost.

But let's get back to watches, and choice.  First things first, it was fair to say that by the time I hit 16 and 17 I had a fairly healthy aversion to people who were flashy with money, and more certain that money wouldn't necessarily reflect taste, or judgment.  Now, my own judgement was not exactly state of the art at that point, and my taste ran towards modern day Salvation Army.  Following high school I drifted a bit for a year, looked after my Mee-Maw (grandmother) who was in her final year fighting cancer, and finally landed a few thousand miles away at the University of Oregon.  And then my grandmother passed and part of my inheritance was her Omega.

Now let's reflect back on judgement, etc.  In fairness, the Omega was a woman's model.  A bit bigger than some, a fair bit smaller than others.  Even in the smaller sizes favored in the late 80s and early 90s this was more than a bit small for me.  I was also not much of a watch guy.  Oh, one other thing - I WAS POOR.  Following my graduation from the U, I absolutely struggled for the first 2 years or so.  To quote Bud Fox (played by Charlie Sheen in Wall Street) - 
"I'm tapped out Marv. American Express' got a hit man lookin' for me."  
Out of options, I replied to a newspaper ad (remember life before Indeed?) to teach English in Japan.  It was really more of a whim, a way of telling myself that I hadn't completely given up.  I went to the interview, got invited to a second one - asked to bring a copy of my university diploma with me (seemed odd) and was offered a job there on the spot!

Now while this would seem like all of my problems were solved, it opened up a slew of others!  Remember, gentle reader, I had no money!  So in fairly short order I had to:
1.  Sell off everything that would not fit into 2 suitcases.
2.  Buy another suit (A friend had loaned me an in store credit at a used clothing store where I lucked into a Polo suit that fit perfectly and had low mileage that I wore to my 2 interviews), a pair of black leather shoes, several dress shirts and ties.
3.  Come up with $1,200 for a one-way flight from Portland, Oregon to Tokyo, Japan.
4.  Sell my car (at a loss of $2,500).
5.  Save $2,500 for my first month of living expenses in Japan.

So after everything else was offloaded, it was down to a few items of resale value left, and truth be told that while my Mee-Maw's Omega didn't bring in a lot of cash, it put me over the top, and I was able to get on that plane.

And to be honest?  I would probably do it again.  My grandfather bought the Omega for his wife not because it was glamorous, expensive, etc.  Because it wasn't.  There were no celebrity endorsements, nobody was putting out press pieces about a model, model's family, model's troubled model children wearing an Omega.  The Omega he bought for his wife was what my grandfather called - "A very fine watch".  Very fine not being defined by how much it cost, but that it looked good and worked very well.  Remember, this was Omega pre Jean-Claude Biver revival.  Moreover, the Omega landed with me because my grandmother left a lot of jewelry, that all went to my sisters.  Fair enough, of course.  She was not particularly enamored of the watch as an heirloom, and it was viewed more as a means of "balancing the scales" for the purposes of inheritance.

Needless to say, a lot of years have passed since 1992.  And while I certainly appreciate a beautiful, expensive watch I find myself turned off by them more and more.  I think a part of it is wrapped up childhood memories of faux & nouveau riche and the crazy lengths they would go to pass themselves off as something more.  One last memory of that time - 
There was a minor scandal at ECC that involved the parents of a Lake Ridge student back in the early 80s.  I will state here quite clearly, how much truth there is to this remains unclear to this day, and I don't know how much of it was fact, and how much was locker room gossip.  The married couple were like so many of that era - husband worked "late".  Things apparently had come to a head when the couple split up after the husband announced he was running off with his secretary/ receptionist/ dental hygienist/ medical assistant (who knows or cares nearly 40 years later).  The wife, in a fit of pique, raided the husband's dresser while he was at "work" and grabbed his Rolex.  The Rolex had been a gift to him from a grateful patient/client (again, 40 years on it doesn't really matter).  Well, while the ultimate fate of the wayward husband and his romantic accomplice have been lost to history, the word around the back rooms of the club was that a few years later, the watch had found its way to a jeweler in Cleveland, and was revealed to be (a very good) fake.

Which brings us to now.  I have some watches made by friends who have their own brands, and I truly do appreciate them.  But about 5 years ago when I was raising money to put towards a charity, I sold several pieces.  One was, shall we say, a bit esoteric so you could not really leverage it for what it might sell for new.  But someone came in with some cash and traded this Omega into the bargain -

My original plan was to sell it as well.  But something twigged in my memory, and I have held onto it ever since.  I appreciate it because it is pretty simple in design - hours, minutes, seconds and date.  It is large enough to be quite readable to my 51 year old eyes, and like my Mee-Maw's Omega - it is a very fine watch.  

It does not dive down to the briny deep, it did not "go to the moon", and it is not crafted of Un-Obtainium.  Moreover, I do not lay awake nights hoping that George Clooney (who I do admire for his humanitarian work) will be spotted wearing the same model, therefore validating "My Choice".  Truth be told, nobody should really give two tosses what his "Choice" is.  

I am not an Omega fanboy, and truthfully find a lot of what they offer of little to no interest.  I think they have not recently treated several of their retail partners so well, their after service wait times have been, at times, pretty poor.  Sorry, but calling this one honestly.  I could not really care any less who else wears one, I think that they are currently grossly over-priced, and I feel that this is borne out over the abundance found in previously owned stock.  But deep down, there was a longing for something that tied together the past with the present, and my Omega in many ways reminds me of my Mee-Maw, albeit it in a convoluted, round about way.  

Life is, inevitably, seldom a straight line.  Just ask the Lake Ridge Varsity soccer team of 1983.  There are twists, turns and unexpected events.  It's a lovely idea to think that your watch will validate everything that you have achieved, and all of the choices that you made.  But ultimately, it is an object.  And we have a lot of objects in our lives, some stay with us, some some are passed on, and others are simply lost along the wayside.  For me, every time I have tried to choose that one watch, that super-duper-special piece?  It has really been anti-climatic and never really "taken".   Don't get me wrong, I love watches, I love wearing the pieces in my (very) modest collection.  But sometimes, if you are open to it, that one watch will choose you.  It happened to me, so anything's possible ; )

The Man Who Corrupted Watch Town - Part One

Author's note - this is a work of fiction that is heavily inspired by, and modeled after Mark Twain's story The Man Who Corrupted Hadleyburg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_That_Corrupted_Hadleyburg and adapted to the modern world of watch making and watch media.   I felt that Mark Twain was a great basis as he had once dabbled (albeit unsuccessfully) in the watch business - https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/mark-twains-quest-bring-affordable-watches-masses-180972813/ as covered by Stephen J. Mexal in Smithsonian Magazine.  And further for me personally as it has been theorized that Mr. Twain's original work (The Man Who Corrupted Hadleyburg) which this little horological farce is somewhat based on, might in fact be based on Mr. Twain's experiences in my hometown, Oberlin, Ohio when he lectured/gave a reading at Oberlin College.   This is intended as farce, based and adapted from Mr. Twain's original work and not based on any individuals living or dead.  

It was, in all honesty, only a few weeks ago when the stranger walked down Main Street and through the gold burnished doors of #itmustbetrue.  At first blush, to look at him, resplendent in his Saville Row suit, and bespoke custom shoes, he looked no different than most of the higher flying members of Watch Town society, perhaps a brand owner, or newly recruited CEO.  Watch Town was home to the most talented, most creative, and most skilled horological artisans in the WORLD.  This was known far and wide, because as fortune would have it, Watch Town was populated by the most tenacious, well-informed and forthright journalists who (if their advertising revenues were anything to go by) were renowned by one and all for their fair and honest coverage... of the denizens of Watch Town.  Watch Town's reputation was beyond repute, and had remained so for some two generations, and the populous took great pride in their regular (and to be honest, guaranteed) selection in the annual award giving event that recognized the best and the brightest of the Watch World - the "Whoopies".  Of this singular distinction, they were the proudest of all.  And while some of the not so-well-to-do inhabitants of Watch Town had yet to experience the joy and unbridled fame and renown that came with being awarded the  trophy, they felt confident that this was merely a formality, and it was only a matter of time until they too were recognized.  For they had followed the code of behavior set forth by the founders of Watch Town not unlike that of an organized religion.  They were, indeed, true believers and defenders of the faith. 

Now it is also important to note, there were neighboring communities to Watch Town.  And while the denizens of these burgs did try their hands at making watches, none could truly be called timepieces.  These were, to be fair, clearly lesser communities, populated by lesser people.  At least, that was what the denizens of Watch Town believed in unwavering fervor.  It had happened only twice in the preceding twenty years that an outsider had usurped the coveted Whoopie, and the press corps of Watch Town made sure that their displeasure and disagreement was known far and wide.  

And so it was that the stranger made his way to the offices of the public relations firm #itmustbetrue, one Friday afternoon in late spring and presented himself at the reception desk.  A well coiffed young woman was stationed at the desk, scrolling through her instagram feed, glancing over at the stranger who had stationed himself at the reception desk.  When she felt that she had ignored him for a sufficient amount of time, she sighed heavily, pushed her glasses up and scowled at him - 
"Can I help you?"
The tone was more of a statement than a question. The stranger focused his gaze directly at her eyes as he placed a package on the reception counter.  The receptionist looked at it with all the enthusiasm of a new father examining the loaded diaper of his first born while he's on baby duty.  
"What's this?"  
Again, more of a statement than a question as she stared down at the package, which was square, and wrapped in a brightly colored scarf (not Hermès or Chanel, she mentally noted, but quite elegant) and elegantly knotted at the top.

"I apologize, where are my manners?"  He slipped his hand into his suit jacket and produced a card.  The stamp gold leaf informed that he was, in fact, the newly appointed Grand Commissioner for the "Whooptie-Do" award.  Curious, his title, and an email address were the only two items on it.  He went on to explain that the "Whooptie-Do" was the culmination of several years of work to create an award that would recognize the absolute, bar none, best of the absolute best.  The winning watchmaker who won the Whooptie-do would be ensured eternal fame and fortune, no doubt that an investor from some mineral rich republic would be ready to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in the winning brand.  Most importantly, the Whooptie-Do was different than any other award out there, because no watch maker could nominate themselves, all nominations would have to come from the press, ensuring that this would be the most honest, sincere, unbiased award possible!

"So, Mr. Grand Commissioner, what is in the box?"

The stranger smiled at her, placing his well-manicured hand on the silken rainbow knot that secured the package.  

"This, dear madame, is a singularly superlative chronometric creation that somehow found its way to our office, but without a name or contact.  The dial has no name, but a symbol or trademark - but alas one we could not recognize.  Our assumption is that it is a new brand, or perhaps a special creation from an established brand.  But what my colleagues and I agreed on unanimously?  We agreed that this magnificent timepiece could only have been created in the rarified atmosphere of Watch Town."

The receptionist excused herself, and returned with the Commercial Director of #itmustbetrue himself, Mr. I. Deux Grasp.

"And what does that have to do with us here at #itmustbetrue?" asked Mr. Grasp.

The stranger smiled again.

"Well, after reviewing all of the previous entries for the Whooptie-do, my colleagues and I agreed that whoever created this watch is the winner this year, hands down.  But we have no way of identifying the creator."

"So no winner this year?"  

The stranger shook his head.
"We also feel quite certain that the creator of this watch will know who they are, and come forward.  The problems is..."

"Yes?"

"Oh, these damn silly rules!  You see, ironically enough, we know which watch is the winner, and identifying the creator of the winning watch shouldn't be so difficult, but we sort of painted ourselves into a corner with our rules."

"The rules?"

"Yes, the rules.  They are fairly, shall we say, loose?  But there is one that is rather inflexible.  The winner must be nominated by the press.  It's really just a formality at this point as we already know the winning watch, but rules are rules..."

The commercial director felt a strange, rather pleasant tingling growing in his stomach, and he did his best to suppress the smile that was creeping across his face.  Could it be, that in his first year in charge of #itmustbetrue that he, I. Deux Grasp would snare the retainer to become the primary PR firm for the Woopti-Doos?  He made a mental note to try on his tuxedo when he got home to make sure it still fit.

"Mr. ....  I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."

The stranger smiled once more.
"I didn't pitch it.  You see, at the Whoopti-Doos we insist on the utmost discretion and secrecy.  Does the Michelin reviewer identify herself when visiting a Parisian restaurant?  Of course not!  Our sole guiding principle is to be fair, and unbiased.  Therefore, we must also remain anonymous."

Mr. Grasp could contain himself no longer -
"May I propose a solution?"

The stranger nodded enthusiastically.

"May I suggest that you retain #itmustbetrue as the official PR agency of the Whoopti-Doo award?  We could then send out a release to the press, and to every brand and watch maker in Watch Town.  The release would announce the pending awarding of the Whoopti-Doo, and also share the need for the winning brand to be nominated by the press?  We would also mention that the winning watch had already been selected as it had been delivered to the Whoopti-Doo offices, but as it had not included a name or the nominating watch journalist it cannot be awarded until a journalist puts forward the nomination?"

The stranger frowned.   
"Well, we have not retained a PR firm yet as we fear it might be seen to influence the press."

I. Deux Grasp let the smile he'd been stifling spread fully across his face.  The fish was nearly in the boat...
"Dear sir, fear not.  Once again I have a solution!  May I propose that in addition to becoming the official press agent of the Whoopti-Doo award, that #itmustbetrue become an official sponsoring partner?  There would, of course, be no question of a fee.  We would be acting for the betterment of the watch making community!  By partnering with us as an official commercial partner, there could absolutely no question of impropriety!"

The stranger beamed with delighted surprise.
"I'm speechless, and honored that such a famous and reputable firm such as #itmustbetrue would be willing to partner with us!"

Mr. Grasp waved away the gushing thanks of the stranger -
"Well we all have to help each other in this small, wonderful world of watches, don't we?  We all work together!  And may I suggest that we hold the presentation of the Whoopti-Doo award here in Watch Town in two weeks' time?  #itmustbetrue will arrange for a grand banquet, orchestra and gala to make this year's Whoopti-Doo something that Watch Town will never forget!"

It was agreed that #itmustbetrue would handle all of the promotion and logistics, and make sure that the whole of Watch Town were in attendance in two weeks' time.  The stranger would return on the second Friday of the month for the gala and award presentation.  As I. Deux Grasp saw the stranger to the door, he could not help from letting his mind race.  Not only would the future retainer as the official firm representing the world famous Whoopti-Doo award be his, but #itmustbetrue could count on every single brand nominated to turn to them for representation!   

Yes, #itmustbetrue would be handling this first award season pro bono, but compared to the flood of business they would pull in, it was a tiny investment to make.  

Christmas had come early for Grasp and #itmustbetrue!