Despite my many years of collecting watches, this one is still untouchable to me, but I do like looking at it and knowing that it is now in my hands for safekeeping. Waltham pocket watch originally owned by my great-grandfather John JacobsĪfter the holidays, I carefully transported the watch thousands of miles by car to my house, and it now lives on a shelf in my bedroom, where I look at it every night and am reminded of family, growing up, and crossing boundaries. That’s where the watch lived then, in its little glass case, and here it is now many years later under my care:
It was not a room where unruly kids were encouraged to play. Our living room was one of those perfect rooms, with elegant drapes, gilt framed Impressionist paintings, and myriad collections of delicate babbles, all kept pristine for visitors and formal occasions.
My favorite memories of that room are sitting on the French Provincial sofa with my mother, admiring the neighborhood Avon Lady’s irresistible trinkets and promises of instant beauty. It was one of those untouchable objects that sat on the upper shelf of the ornate roll-top desk in the corner of the formal living room of our family home, off limits to the likes of me. This pocket watch has been in my family for a very long time-as long as I can remember. Though not a Bulova product, my dad thought I might like to have it given my general love of watches.
However, while I was visiting my folks for the holidays last year, my father presented me with a pocket watch that belonged to his grandfather-my great-grandfather-who died while my father was still a child. Women can wear wristwatches, pendant watches, ring watches, bracelet watches, and lapel watches, but Heaven forbid they pull a watch out of their pocket!
Although women did carry beautiful little pocket watches at one time, in my lifetime such watches have strictly been a man’s accessory. As a woman, pocket watches have always been off-limits, like smoking a pipe -it’s just not done. As many of you will have noticed, pocket watches have not been a focus of my watch collection.
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