Summer is a time to forget about time. We get more of it, it seems, in the longer hours of sunlight, so we can afford to creatively “waste” it by reading, playing with pets, lingering at garage sales. But keeping time is on my mind this summer, because I have started making a series of wristwatches with secondhand watches paired with vintage findings such as shoe buckles.
Part of what fascinates me about watches is that they are a concrete representation of something that is abstract and mysterious. We have all experienced the elasticity of time; 10 years go by in a flash, yet an embarrassing moment seems to last hours. And we all have our personal relationship to time, particularly in whether we tend to be on time or late for appointments.
When I think about time I think about my father. Our heritage is German, and I live up to the stereotype of being overly insistent on promptness, organization, and following rules. Whatever the reason, Dad was a sort of time master. He worked in radio, a profession that runs on exact schedules and time periods. When he spoke he could simultaneously count backwards silently so his words ended right when a song or commercial started.
OK, gotta run–I am 6 minutes late for an estate sale!
You will thrill to moment when someone asks you this question. Because you will consult your Hexagon Vintage Timepiece for the answer! And these antique items still keep time. Here are the first two in the series.
On the left we have a mash-up between a Brunello Cucinelli bracelet in leather, cashmere, and skinny chainlettes and a pre-WWII Gruen Precision wristwatch. The Gruen has “17 Jewels” written on its face, a reference to the rubies inside the movement. Gruen is close to my heart for two reasons. It was founded by Germans and based in Cincinnati, Ohio. My hometown! In fact their HQ on “Time Hill” was located on the same street where I lived as a student at the University of Cincinnati.
Gruen was also a trailblazer in clever marketing. It helped pioneer wristwatches, which were initially a tough sell on people used to pocket watches. New styles were touted as futuristic breakthroughs: The ”Veri-Thin,” the “Curvex” (the first watch whose movement was curved) and the “Pentagon,” a watch that intended to put round and square shapes to pasture. I’d like to think that old Dietrich Grün would appreciate my new iteration of his invention.