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hacha-
Thanks! So pleased with it.
If I'm honest, it's just something I'd like to keep to myself as it means so much. I know it's only an engraving, but it's what makes this watch uniquely my Grandad's.
It says 'For Dunlop Service' and my grandfather's initials T J and then his surname.
It's only been a few days but I am truly in love with this watch, for the last 2 nights I've watched it tick over to the next number on the date ever so slowly, and I've been tracking my watch vs an online watch. It's keeping absolutely perfect time :)
JamesNQ
Here is my recent acquisition of a Garrard automatic.
The story behind the watch...
It was given to my Grandfather by Dunlop for his long service at the company when he retired, he worked at the company from his first job to his last.
My Grandad was a Polish refugee who escaped the Nazis, most of his family were killed and when he came to the UK he was 5 years old, he fell off a train on the way here and was expected to die. Miraculously, he managed to survive.
He got his first job at Dunlop when he was 14 cleaning the machines and worked his way up to developing technologies for vulcanization and consumer products from rubber.
When he passed away, I knew I wanted his watch as in every single memory I have of him, he was wearing this watch.
Sadly, the watch was nowhere to be found (this was 2011) and since then I have spent a couple of hours a week speaking to jewelers, watch restorers, Facebook groups and anyone I can speak to who may one day come across this watch, as it has his name inscribed on the underside of the watch. I had absolutely nothing left of my Grandad, someone I spent the majority of my childhood with.
We were in the process of selling my grandma's house a few months ago. In between the radiator, the watch had fallen off the window sill...
The watch was a lot more damaged than I remember it, years and years of heavy use, it no longer worked. I took it to a jeweler and they told me "yeah don't bother restoring this, not worth it" - I knew I wasn't in the right place when they said that.
I took it to a passionate restorer, who said "We must get this working again, the watch deserves it" - I knew I was in the right place.
To say I am pleased with it would be an understatement, they have not over-restored it. I love it.
I keep putting my ear to the watch as I can hear it gently ticking, I can't stop doing it. It makes me smile every single time.