Watches: My Seiko LM (circa 1977)

I visited my parent's home today and went to my old room.  While looking around, I found my old Seiko LM watch in my bedside table.  This was given to me by my parents as a graduation gift from grade school in 1977.

There it was lying at the bottom of the drawer after all these years where I had placed it the last time I must have worn it.  This must have been in 1993 when I bought my Tag Heuer with the first salary I had earned working.  At that point, I had alternated wearing the Tag with my prized Omega Geneve.

While this watch doesn't look much compared to my other watches, it continues to have a special place in my life.  If only this watch could talk, it would have many tales to tell - some memorable, some I would rather forget.   

I remember wearing it for the first time in a long trip in 1978 when I saw Mayon volcano spewing lava at night at a roadside in Albay.  

This watch was on my wrist during the highs and lows of high school and college life. It was what I would look at unconsciously when the school bell would ring to signal the start of classes in high school.  It was what I would stare at, trying to will it to move faster when sitting in a boring class or duirng my math classes where I was academically challenged.  It was the silent witness when I would cut class and spend the time playing video games (space invaders, pinball, pacman) at a nearby shopping center (they weren't called malls yet at that time).  

It was the item I hated to look at during parties especially when it signalled my "curfew time" to go home.  It was the one thing I constantly looked at to keep a date with girls that I courted.  It was the companion on my wrist when my first girlfriend said "yes" underneath a pine tree in the garden of their resthouse in Baguio. This watch was with me to complement my looks while wearing a suit during my high school grad ball, with my girlfriend clinging on to my arm.

And yes, it was also on my wrist on 22 May when we broke up that relationship and said "I love you" to each other for the last time as boyfriend and girlfriend.  After that, it was my silent partner that would seem to whisper to my beer sodden brain for me to go home in the early hours of the morning in the aftermath of my breakup.

This was the unforgiving reminder on my wrist when I struggled through my final exams in college, reminding me that time was almost up while my test booklet was hardly filled up.  It was present during those great times that I shared with my college buddies.  It was on my wrist when I went up the stage to receive my hard earned diploma from the University President

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This was my faithful companion that kept me on track with my appointments for job interviews and was on my wrist when I signed up for my first job. 

This faithful companion unfortunately was not working when I picked it up today.  Tomorrow, I'm bringing it over to the Seiko service center and have it completely serviced.  It's the least I could do for something that has been a witness to my personal passage of time...

Watches: My 1958 Omega Geneve Calendar Auto

This watch has been with my family since 1959 when it was given to my Grandfather when he retired from the Manila Electric Company - the forerunner of Meralco.  He was an electrician who serviced the streetcars of Manila when these were still around. My grandpa passed this on to my Dad after having worn it for a few days. Being a simple man and coming from a blue collar background, he felt that it was pretentious for him to be wearing a watch. He told my Dad (who was the eldest son) that it would be right for him to wear a watch since he would be the first to be able to finish college. My Dad in turn passed this watch to me when I landed my first job.

The company operated a 52 mile tram transport from 1903 up to World War 2 with a fleet of around 170 streetcars (which were called tranvias then). The equipment and tracks of the system were severely damaged during the war and were eventually removed. Here are some pics of these tranvias which my grandpa serviced. The surviving examples of these tranvias are now on display at the Eugenio Lopez Center museum in Antipolo. It was a moving moment for me when I first saw these in the museum knowing that my grandpa's hands probably worked on these.

Tranvia operating in the streets of Manila

Tranvia in the Lopez Museum, Antipolo

In the late 1950's and early 1960's the Geneve range were part of Omega's top of the range watches. Later in the 1970's they started using the Geneve name for their entry level watches. 1970's watches are common, but the earlier Geneve models are quite scarce, especially with the original rice bead stainless steel bracelet. I came across this post in the net which provided some interesting information regarding the early Geneve range: 

(http://www.thewatchforum.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=265)

 

"When Omega took first ,second and third place in the chronometer competition held at the Geneva observatory in 1952 they decided to build a line of watches to commerorate the victory and named Geneve after the city where the competition took place.

They share some features with the Constellation line by having a pie pan shaped dial with cross hairs and an applied Omega name although surprisingly not chronometer spec'd.

In Omegas pecking order they came above the Seamaster line and just below the Constellation.

The way to tell one Geneve from the other as I recently posted is that the later cheaper line has Geneve in small lower case letters whereas the early desireable model has Geneve in fancy script."

This particular watch's movement and case serial number dates its manufacture date to 1958 per the official Omega database.  It is a caliber 503 automatic with 17 jewels

The watch was opened up and serviced for the first time after 37 year in 1995.  Truly a testament to Omega's quality in producing timepieces that not just track time but also try to outlast time! Here it is over half a century since it left the factory in Switzerland and still happy ticking away.

The technicians at the Omega center advised that I have this cleaned and serviced every 10 years but I haven't really strictly followed this since the watch has been keeping accurate time.  I finally had it serviced a few months ago and the technicians pronounced it good to go for another decade or so.  The only thing that worries me is that parts for this particular caliber are starting to become very scarce.  In particular, they identified the setting lever spring and winding gear as showing signs of extensive wear.

Fortunately, after a lengthy search across the net plus several email inquiries later, I was finally able to find a site that specializes in the sale of vintage omega watches.  The owner was kind enough to sell me the parts that I needed even if these were primarily reserved for buyers of his watches. 

It is my hope that I will be able to pass on this great timepiece in full working condition to the next generation.  While this is a gent's watch, I presently have one daughter.  She will get this watch if I will not be blessed with a son.

 

  

 

The Urge

Every once in a while, I get this urge to write and put my thoughts down.  Not that I'm particularly good at it.  I realize that time is fleeting and I recognize the unique opportunity that blogging provides.

Way back in my early high school days, I remember maintaining a diary.  Come to think of it, I wonder where this is right now.  I remember writing a lot of stuff in this little spiral notebook.  I remember drafting all of my love letters in this notebook before finalizing the letter on stationary that I had on hand.  And yes,  I recall putting down my feelings of pain, anger and emptiness when I broke up with her.

Unfortunately, I've never been able to recover that diary.  It would have been great to read these things again and perhaps be able to smile this time around.

And so I've decided to take up blogging in order to preserve my thoughts.  I figured the electronic/digital version of what was once my spiral notebook, would be a better way to store and recover those moments in the past.

True to my being a gemini, I do have a wide range of interests - some of them seemingly contradicting each other.  For instance, I used to collect stuffed toys.  I also like collecting knives.  This blog will be an opportunity to draft my thoughts on these different interests and hopefully be able to get responses from the readers out there.

This entry is the first step that I'm taking to answer "the urge." Perhaps, down the road, you and I will look back at these preserved thoughts, and smile.