One of the great things about about watch collecting is meeting people and talking about the watch they received on a special occasion or chatting about the watches their parents, grandparents and even great grandparents had. The expression and emotion they show when they tell a story about a family watch can't help but make me smile. While their stories always make me feel good, I couldn't help but be a little jealous. Until recently, I thought such watches in our family didn't exist.
I was chatting with one of my brothers recently on the phone and he described going through a box he had of things from our grandmother; the box had been sitting unopened for a some time. Inside he found two of our grandfather's watches!
I'm not sure our grandfather would have bought the watches himself so I suspect that they could have been gifts. In the bottom picture below (my grandparents with us grandchildren; I'm the one on my grandmother's lap) my grandfather is wearing a watch, although you can't make out if it was one of these two (I'm just gonna say he's wearing one of them). The top photo I had to include as it's such a great photo of my grandparents and mother.
Like the stories I hear from others about their families and their watches, my brother recalled, and I too remember, my grandfather and his Air Lord watch. Our grandfather had the Air Lord on a metal bracelet that was never attached on one end so he kept it in his pocket. I recall sitting on his lap as he drove a tractor plowing a field and he'd occasionally pull the watch out to check the time. I love that memory.
The Lusina was surely his "town" watch. Likely worn when he went into town for supplies; during a social occasion; perhaps for a community gathering; or the rare time when he traveled to visit the grand-kids like in the photo above.
Both watches are humble, just like my grandfather was. A man dedicated to his family and generous to his friends. He was funny, he loved us grand-kids and boy did we love summers on the farm with him!
My brother even found the original watch box for the Air Lord; an added bonus.
My brother sent the watches out to me and I intend to service them and cherish them. I'm smiling.
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