Hunt For The Perfect Watch

For 13 years there's not been a single day when I've ventured out without wearing my Seiko watch. Unbelivable isnt it? But its the truth. Here's a story of how I got to have it.

When I came to 10th standard, my dad and mom bought me a brand new watch. It was a Titan. That year - it was 1993 - my friends dragged me down to play Holi. I didnt realize that I was wearing the Titan watch. After playing with friends, smearing colours all over everyone, getting drenched in water, I got bored and was ready to go home and suddenly I realized I was wearing the watch and whats more, it was not working. I was afraid to tell my mom and dad about the debacle. So, I trashed the watch and went home bare handed.

I kept mum and went about cleaning myself and then in a couple of days everything was forgotten. Couple of days prior to my exams, mom asked me to keep my study belongings and other stuff for a pooja. I kept all the stuff except for the watch. She realized that and asked me about it. I said s0mebody stole it when I was playing down. She started scolding me and shouting at me and said she will not buy me a new one. Dad was also upset and angry. I kept mum through the imbroglio.

Then finally dad pulled me close and gave me the watch he was wearing. It was the Seiko. He said, take this watch, you will need to keep track of time during your 10th standard board exams. I insisted that I didnt want it, but dad forced me to take it. From that day onwards, the Seiko has always been with me. My dad then started wearing another watch a brand called Rhythm.

The Seiko had amazing looks. It had a sparkling stainless steel strap and a round head. The internal dial was white in colour. The hour markings were in Roman Numerals. Just below the marking of "XII" (twelve), there was an arched display slot which showed the FULL day and just above the marking of "VI" (six) there was a circular display slot which showed the date.

Seeing this lovely time-piece, I resolved to take care of this watch as if my life depended on it.

-- now back to present --

A couple of weeks back, on my way to work, I checked my watch and suddenly realized the day and the date were not getting displayed properly in their display slots. I adjusted the nob but it was of no avail. Each time I turned the nob, the new day/date always was shown misaligned. I was puzzled. On gazing at the dial more closely, I realized that the dial inside had gotten rotated slightly to the right.

So began my search for another watch having similar characteristics as my Seiko. I searched about 10-15 shops. Its interesting to note that most well branded watches are available only in a Jewelery store. Anyways, I went to this store and explained the store salesman that I wanted a watch with a white dial, a stainless steel strap, roman numerals and also having a day and a date display. So he started off his search and showed me one and said to me, this one's the closest to what you need and I said it does not have a day and a date. He replied that its the only one with a white dial, stainless steel strap and roman numerals.

Disappointed, I went to another store. The saleswoman there showed me two watches. One with a golden dial, golden strap with roman numerals, date & day and another one with a white dial, steel strap, Arabic numerals and only the date. I showed her my watch and told her that I wanted another watch exactly the same as this. She said she did not have it. I told her the story that I'm writing here and she only said - "You've got your money's worth".

The same story repeated itself over and over and over and over again in each store. One saleswoman told me that you can get that kind of features only in a Rolex and honestly, what she said is true. I saw a Rolex with exact same features that I had in my Seiko. Of course I couldnt afford it because it was close to 4000 USD.

Anyways, finally after having gone to all the jewelery stores, I realized that whatever I needed was absolutely not available in my budget. After some contemplation, I decided if I had to compromise on the features I shouldn't be spending a whole lot of money on it since it didn't have the features I wanted in the first place. So, I did away with white dial and roman numerals and decided not to spend more than 50 USD for whatever I buy.

The end result, I bought myself a watch which cost 44 (incl taxes) and had a shiny silver dial, silvery strap, Arabic numbers, day and date.

So thats what I gifted myself on my birthday. A new watch!