As most of us these days we discover neat and cool things first on the Internet, specifically Instagram.
I, or rather a great many, recently discovered a book named, “A Man and His Watch” by Matthew Hranek. Given I have a watch, or two, and a man the book ticked all the boxes as we say.
The book arrived right around Thanksgiving and has been an evening fixture when taking breaks between preparing to launch our Model C, future watch related projects, and online Christmas shopping.
A Man and His Watch
The book's contents contain a collection of wonderful short stories from popular folks in the watch community, race car driving, music, business, etc. who as the book states, believe watches have a deeper meaning beyond just telling time.
In addition, there are some truly lovely shots of archived, historical watches from Omega, Cartier, Zenith, and more. Beautiful references which no longer see the light of day because they are stored behind lock and key for safekeeping.
A favorite story of mine is from Nas, one the first rap artists whose CDs I bought as a kid. In case you're curious, Craig Mack and OutKast were the first cassettes.
Nasir Jones
Nas references his Rose Gold Patek Philippe Nautilus 5712 (I think), which by the way is awesome, and tells of his rationale for acquiring it within the book. You'll have to read the book to find out.
Part of why his story is my favorite is the last paragraph, it reads...
They say time is an illusion, but even so, you need it. A good watch represents someone who;s punctual, responsible, who has a lot on his plate. Someone who knows how to manage his time and takes life seriously, because life doesn't wait for anybody. Before you know it, your're running out of time.
This Man and His Watch
Transformers were life in the mid-1980s, never had every character but enough to live in a small part of that world for much of my waking hours. Between that and the weekend cartoons, a young boy had all he needed to fuel an imagination.
It was Summer I recall and the days were long. Street lights popped on long after we were supposed to be home. Our town had a single large clock on the end of the green pier located in the center of town. As it turned out, not even that could help me return to the stable.
Knowing their audience, my parents gifted to me probably the coolest watch a kid could desire at the time. A gold 1984, Takara Decepticon jet plane with dual-action release system capable of transforming between watch, Transformer, and jet. 
An incredible little time telling, action figure sitting in wait right on the wrist. Even if it was a Decepticon.
I will say it did help get me home on time, just more often than before ;)
From this point on wearing a watch was normal for me, felt "naked" in a sense leaving home without one. Not just any watch would do though, they always had to be something, for lack of a better word, different or let's say special. Something relatively unique, this desire for the unusual came forth in the first watch I designed, The Model A.
