This Month's Story
(Originally published in 2004)
“I can’t find it!”
It was Stella. She was standing in the door to the living room looking at me with tears of exasperation.
“Can’t find what?”
“The catalogue with that stupid watch you wanted for your birthday. I’ve looked everywhere.”
We get about a dozen glossy catalogues a week offering beautiful things at exurbanite prices for which we have no use. Leafing through one, just as I was about to throw it away, I had noticed a watch that was actually a tiny radio receiver. Twice daily, it was said to receive a time calibration signal from Fort Collins, Colorado. Each time it received this signal, it corrected the watch’s time.
I couldn’t believe it. A watch that you wore on your wrist that was accurate within a thousand of a second!! For years at sea, we used elaborate electronic devices to get a Greenwich time hack. The time would then go to all the various instruments we were using to make sure they were all both synchronous and accurate. It didn’t matter that we weren’t sure where we were within several nautical miles, we wanted to be on time within at least one second.
With the instruments available today, we can know where we are almost anywhere within feet even in a canoe and if I had this wristwatch I would know the time for lunch in that same canoe within thousands of a second.
I had to have that watch!
But there was more!! It was also solar powered and had a digital display. Never having to worry about having to change the watch battery every three years seemed sort of nice but the fact that it was a digital display was to me far more important.
I have to confess that I have a somewhat delicate problem. It’s not that I can’t tell time using a dial display. Of course, I can. It’s just that I occasionally get a little confused and get it wrong. Sort of an odd dyslexia that I have had trouble living with.
It has caused difficulties. During my youth in the service, there were several unpleasant incidents of my waking people up for watch earlier than they should have been (none complained about being woke up late). When digital watches came into being, it was a godsend. All my problems vanished. I even had a car once with a digital speedometer! But lately, fashions have changed and wristwatches with digital displays are getting to be the exception. Here in this wonderful catalogue was a watch with all kinds of niceties and it had a digital display!!
The price of this astonishing wristwatch was nice as well, $29. 95. I circled the ad and gave the catalogue to Stella with the heavy suggestion that I had a birthday coming up and sat back and waited.
Now, with only three days from my birthday, Stella was telling me she couldn’t find the catalogue.
I looked at her standing there in the doorway, completely unsympathetic.
“Did you try looking wristwatches up on the internet.”
“I did! Your watch wasn’t there!” Now she was glaring.
We went back to my office and went on line. On impulse rather than any deep thought, I told her to write ‘atomic watches’ in the Google search box. In seconds, the company carrying the watch I wanted appeared as the first line item. I tried not to appear too smug while she pulled the order display on the screen.
Stella started to order, when I stopped her.
Beneath the $29. 95 watch was another watch. It had all the same wonderful characteristics. However, this other watch cost $139.95. It was described as being ‘rugged’, to having a handsome metal case and band, and came with a guarantee that I could take it to depths of 300 meters. I didn’t know what ‘rugged’ meant and didn’t anticipate going down to 300 meters (why would anyone do such a thing?) , but heck it looked good, had a real nifty looking steel band and it was my birthday.
More importantly, it was Stella who was paying. I told Stella that rather than the cheapo, plastic band watch, this was the watch I wanted.
It came on my birthday and I spent most of the day reading the instruction book that came with it.
When you see me, ask me what time it is. I’ll be glad to tell you.
