My uncle Kenny (the Shark) owns a pawn shop in Hastings. I like to visit once in awhile to seek whatever treasure I may find and to see my favorite uncle. Went today with Sam, cousin Jake, and his girlfriend, Chelsea.
There used to be a company that made ammunition by the name of Peters, so I like to keep my eye out for advertising signs and the like. Uncle Kenny had one in his shop today, and if I wasn't so lazy, I'd take a picture of it. I brought it home and it now resides in the cave.
That was cool enough, but my other discovery was better. I even took a picture of it:
It's an Elgin watch. From what I've been able to find, it's from the 50's. I found a restored one on eBay for $325 and another one in a little better condition than this and with a strap for $139. I didn't know it was worth that much. I just knew it was cool. The Shark wound it up and it's been keeping perfect time since this morning. He gave it to me for $10 with the promise that if I ever sold it, he would get half of the money.
I don't think that's going to happen.
If you look at the full sized picture, you can see it's beat to crap. It has a lot of character, I suppose. I dig it. I want to find a band for it and wear the crap out of it. I wonder what this watch has seen. Maybe it's the poet inside of me, but I feel like there are a million stories that this watch needs to tell.
Another option is to get it restored. That would cost anywhere from $150 to $200, but it would be in new condition and have another 50 year lease on life.
This is the kind of watch I could pass down. If I have a son, he will get the watch that Shay gave me on our wedding day. If I have a second son, he would get this watch. Our family doesn't pass things down, at least not that I know of, but I would like to do so. That's why I'm leaning towards restoring the watch at some point down the road.
What do you think?
I think you, my poet friend, have found inspiration for a poem...either in the watch itself or in the passing down of the watches.
ReplyDeleteSit on it for a while. Think about what you'd like to do. Whatever idea keeps coming back to mind (restoring it or not) is what you should do. It sort of already sounds like you know what you're going to do, though. :)
Good gut instinct, mr. PoetMan.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE the passing-down thing. I'm like you that there's not much of that already going on in my family, but that's not going to keep us from starting.
You're cool.