Growing up with a father who owned an auto service & repair garage, I developed an early interest in learning how things worked. Hanging out at the shop, and spending summer days watching cars being taken apart and put back together imbued a curiosity about how the various systems operated as well as the service, maintenance, and repair needs. In his/our free time, we would go for rides on one of his motorcycles or go fishing and later SCUBA diving off one of the boats he owned over the years. No matter where we went, he always had a nice watch on his wrist. The problem was his “nice” watch was a victim of the quartz crisis and the battery-operated circuits did not hold any interest for me. I didn’t feel any visceral connection to “modern” electronic watches and style-alone was not nearly enough to overcome the noise, power, and speed that so often surrounded me. It was not until the return to popularity of mechanical watches that I became intrigued, and later enthralled by the tiny engines that tracked time (and other functions) using only springs, levers, gears, pinions et al. Initial curiosity turned into a passion, and my passion turned into a profession as I bought, sold, and wrote about watches for the last 25+ years. I’ve witnessed the mechanical watch’s evolution and have written numerous features for magazines, newspapers, and more recently blogs and websites under several pseudonyms. When I’m not reading or writing about watches, you might find me hiking, biking, golfing, shooting, or enjoying the outdoors in one way or another – always wearing a watch that fits the style and performance needs of the activity.
