Once Upon a Time in the West

Photo courtesy of Haltom's

My watch odyssey started four decades before I was born, in Fort Worth, Texas. My grandfather, newly emigrated from Sicily, was working as a cinema projectionist. He came to America in 1910 at the age of 15. By 1912, he had found work, was getting ready to find the girl he first saw when they were kids in Sicily, to marry her, now in  Texas, and start a new life. But before he did that, he walked into Haltom’s Fine Jewelers and bought a pocket watch. The watch, a Howard, had 17 jewels and cost (in 1912 dollars) $50. That’s about $1,500 is today’s money, no small sum then for a 17-year-old. He had his (and mine) initials engraved on the back, and used it for many years, moving from Fort Worth to Dallas to start his own shop (leather and shoe repair). He eventually settled his young family in southern California, where he lived until he died at the age of 97.

After he passed, my mom gave me a little box and said my grandfather wanted me to have it. It looked like rosewood and was ancient but in pristine condition. Inside the box was the watch. It was gorgeous. It wasn’t working at the time; a gear had broken. I took it eventually to the original shop where my grandfather bought it, in Fort Worth and asked about a repair. They quoted me $150, which at the time, seemed like more discretionary money than I could afford at the time. So, I put it in my home safe and let it rest there. Last year I sent it out to be repaired (now a lot more than $150!) and got it back just like new. It was my first real watch. But it wouldn’t be my last. I’d caught the watch bug.

This website, or blog site, will be devoted to watches and the stories that interest me, a budding (and new) watch enthusiast. I entered into this mania late in life. I will acquire watches that will out live me, just like my grandfather did. I will also make some mistakes. But at this point in life, it wouldn’t have been the first time.

Please feel free to check in from time to time if you’d like. I’m doing this for myself, first and foremost. But I also have found that too many pieces written about watches are following trends, new releases and some leader way out in front who first posted the story. I’m probably not going to be doing that. I’m looking for little, interesting stories that resonate with me. And if they do with you as well, all the better.

Thank you.

 The watch:

My grandparents and their son (my father) and daughter (my aunt)

written by Alfonso Cevola limited rights reserved