Latest Review
In December of last year, I wrote my first ever watch review: The Twelve from Christopher Ward. I remember sitting at a diner with a friend in Estes Park with the watch on my wrist. I was nervous. Nervous I’d drop it, or scratch it – maybe even lose it. I was nervous I’d have nothing to say. Nervous that even if I did have something to say (and I often do), maybe people wanted to hear it from someone else.
Figuring out how to write wasn’t difficult as I’d written a handful of lengthy historical essays over the years but this style of writing was different. The answers I was seeking weren’t found in an archive. I was good at dealing with relative objectivity. Instead, writing about watches was rooted in subjectivity – and that was tough to navigate. I had to become comfortable with having an opinion. And possibly an opinion that some would disagree with. I had to figure out in this new style of writing what I felt about a topic and couldn’t rely on only what the facts and figures say. I had to ask myself, what do I say?
The ease with which I was able to express my thoughts about watches came with a little bit of practice. Throughout the course of this year, I even got into the field with a couple of the watches I was writing about, which made me expand my comfort zone in more ways than one.
In April, I drove the western portion of Route 66 with a bronze Oris Divers Sixty-Five Cotton Candy. I found some of my narrative voice while exploring the travelogue style of writing which felt like the only way to effectively capture some of my experiences on that trip – feeling like one of the many who came before and felt the call to make the pilgrimage west. The watch felt like a symbol, with the bronze changing as it reacted to the sand and the sunlight.
In June, I attended a press trip with Hamilton Watch Company and had a three day adventure riding dirt bikes in the desert and flying over the Sonoran at dawn in a hot air balloon.
September and October saw a break from industry writing as I traveled throughout the better part of the Southwest (and a quick KC and Pittsburgh stop for good measure) for my day job. I’ve solo traveled before. I backpacked alone around Ireland with one pair of boots and a handful of bus passes. But this was the year of the road. And it felt very different to me.
I’ve never been so convinced that watches have the power of providing practicality as well as sentimental comfort. I slept with my Hamilton Khaki Aviation Pilot Day Date on the nightstand of eleven hotels in eight weeks and five states. It reminded me of home.
The best part of reviewing watches this year has been connecting with curious acquaintances at watch meetups, who ask me, hesitantly, if it’s okay to “talk shop.” I love these conversations and always share what I know, and I’m honest about what I don’t. The favorite part of my year in watches has been connecting with all the great people who share my same passion. I have near-daily conversations on Instagram with folks scattered throughout the country and across the pond.
