Open Writing

So this family were in London, on a birthday trip for one of the children, when they strolled past Sotheby’s, the world-famous auction house, and decided to pop in the get Dad’s watch valued.

Just the sort of thing you would do.

The watch was a Patek Philippe platinum moon phase calendar type. Made in 1935. Only two others like it.

Now you can safely bet that Sotheby’s staff are carefully trained not to yell “Yippee! Eureka! Bingo! Jackpot!’’

The chap who saw the family, , would probably have said in an all-too-polite voice: “Hm, yes. Very nice, sir. I’m sure we could sell this for you without too much trouble.’’

Sell it they did.

For £308,000.

A Sotheby’s specialist said: “The Patek Philippe is a less precise timekeeper than a modern quartz watch, but that’s electronics, not horology.’’

Me, I would welcome the £308,000, but I’d choose to wear electronics every time.

I’m a digital watch fan. Perhaps even a fanatic.

All right, so they are ugly. Those chunky black Casios.

But they are accurate.

Decades as a daily journalist have encouraged an enthusiasm for good time-keeping. Meeting all those daily deadlines. You need to know the exact time - not thereabouts.

My Casio is as dependable as the Moon in its orbit. In fact the watch cleverly charts and displays the transit of the Moon.

Right now it is 2.24 pm and 31, 32, 33...seconds.

And I’d bet a week’s income that that is the right time.

This Casio is at the opposite pole to my first watch, owned when I was a schoolboy.

It was utterly, absolutely, totally, dependably inaccurate.

The wretched thing spent more of its time in a cardboard box, travelling back and forth between my home and the factory where it was made, than ever it did on my wrist.

Digital watches can be more than timekeepers. They can be used as the modern equivalent of worry beads.

You’re waiting for someone. They’re late. You glance at your watch. You glance at it again.

Then you start fiddling with the buttons.

You set the stop watch going. You stop it. You start it again.

“If I close my eyes and count to 10, can I stop my watch on exactly 10 seconds?’’

Great game this.

Soon you have forgotten who you were waiting for.

No worries.

If you get really bored, you can always start to read the user’s guide to the watch.

“The countdown can be set from one minute to 11 hours and 59 minutes, and times with an accuracy of one second. Start/stop operation is possible by pressing the A button and is confirmed by a signal. A signal sounds at 10-minute intervals. When the display reaches zero, the buzzer will sound for 20 seconds unless the L button is pressed…’’

Understand this, and you are well on the way to a science degree.

You don’t get instructions such as these with your Patek Philippe.

Mind you, £308,000 would buy more Casios than even I would ever have time to play with.