As soon as Gabe noticed the intrigue starting to marinate, he handed alongside an affordable meca-quartz chronograph. “I can’t promote this,” he stated, “would you like it?” Years later, I’m nonetheless the prepared recipient of his castoffs: a Casio F91W (“too small”), extra straps than I can rely, and a Submariner homage with a temperamental crown and really stunning lume. New watches have additionally made it into my assortment for holidays or milestones, together with a white G-Shock GA2100 he gifted to me after the completion of my grasp’s diploma in 2022. That watch continues to be essentially the most regularly worn in my rotation, actually for its versatility, however primarily as a result of it serves as a reminder of an expensive good friend and our shared interest.
Final yr, my mother and father stunned me with the Mission to Venus MoonSwatch that had launched a month earlier than my twenty sixth birthday. There have been two issues that made this present particular:
1. I had talked about the watch as soon as to them in passing, and commented on how a lot I liked the colour, in addition to the collaboration between Swatch and Omega.2. They needed to go to unimaginable lengths to seek out this watch mere weeks after its launch – all of us keep in mind the MoonSwatch craze of ‘22 (and ‘23, and many others…)
After all, I liked the watch itself however, much more, I like how I’m reminded each time I put on it of the trouble my mother and father made to make sure I felt particular on my birthday. Later within the yr, I additionally obtained a hand-me-down women Seiko day/date from my mom and an early 2000s Timex Expedition from my father. Inside a span of simply three months, my small assortment had doubled in measurement.
Although I’ll say I really feel an equal stage of connection to the watches I’ve bought for myself, it’s a special sort of relationship. My private additions usually signify achievements I need to commemorate, similar to the beginning of a brand new job. Or they match an aesthetic I’m already a fan of, like legible area watches. I discover pleasure within the analysis, and sometimes know based mostly on specs the watch will match properly on my wrist. Gifted watches exist in a separate psychological aircraft in my watchbox. As different members of my technology can possible attest, breaking right into a interest with luxurious roots as a younger skilled is a problem. Inflation, rising prices of upper schooling, and the opposite components that include establishing an grownup life are troublesome to handle when your financial savings account has but to have a good time its tenth birthday.
If it wasn’t for presented watches, I could not have turn into an fanatic. The inspiration of my early assortment was solely bolstered by presents from family members who noticed my budding ardour and saved that little flame ignited for a younger, broke graduate scholar. These gifted items let me expertise a rising assortment and take part within the interest in methods I in any other case wouldn’t have been capable of. I nonetheless put on all of them, whilst my aesthetic preferences develop with extra publicity to completely different kinds, as a result of they remind me of the individuals who gave them to me.
I feel it’s price mentioning that two situations existed earlier than receiving that first hand-me-down piece, and each are necessary elements to think about earlier than ushering somebody into the interest by gifting them a watch. The primary is that I had an curiosity in gear generally. Watches segued properly right into a love of sensible instruments I might use whereas doing issues I cared about, like tenting and mountain climbing. The second is that I had been constantly sporting an Apple Look ahead to a few yr, so I wasn’t a stranger to the sensation of a timepiece on my wrist. I had expressed an curiosity in watches after studying extra concerning the historical past, however entry into that world appeared value prohibitive throughout that season of my life. Receiving hand-me-down and gifted watches buoyed my curiosity on this house throughout a interval the place engagement within the interest would have been difficult in any other case. I’m not saying that each particular person could be a superb candidate for a gifted watch; however, there could also be one or two ready to leap into this world!
