Waltham Triangular Masonic Wrist Watch

I haven't made a blog post in a while, and I don't have very much time right now, however, when a few weeks go by and I don't post anything I get a feeling I will regret it in years to come.

Today I came to appreciate yet once again what a truly special piece of Masonic history I own. The photograph above is of a Waltham Masonic triangular wrist watch I bought off of ebay about a year ago. Today I took my watch in to be cleaned and the master watchmaker who has been in business for 40 years had never seen one before and couldn't find it in any of his books.

Apparently this was a posh gift to give to newly raised Masons back in the 20's, 30's and 40's. They seem to be fairly rare.

For example, here is the link to a recent Ebay auction for one just like mine. Notice a couple of things. The watch received 48 bids, with a final bid of $1,403 dollars....and this was not enough to meet the reserve!!

I bought mine from an Ebay auction as well. It had a starting bid of only $1. I use sniping software so I don't fool around with bidding until the last ten seconds of an auction. The reason the auction started so low is because the watch was advertised, honestly, as being broken. How much would *you* pay for a broken watch? When I put in my snipe bid at the last minute I ended up stealing the item for the low, low, price of $405. What the heck was I thinking? I just paid $405 for a broken watch that I had no idea if it could even be fixed!?

The email I received five minutes after the auction closed set my mind at ease. The guy I sniped it from was a watch collector and repairman and offered to buy it from me immediately if I had second thoughts.

I took the watch to Clockmasters in Clayton. They did an excellent job of repairing it but it took them over a month and half to return it! They are a huge and successful shop and are always backed way up. Once I got it back I was thrilled to wear it. I was amazed that after wearing it for three weeks it had not lost so much as a second of time. Apparently even a 60 year old watch can keep good time if it is a 17 jewel Waltham! The total cost of repair was about $200, so for roughly $600 I managed to obtain one of these rare and wonderful pieces.

I spoke by phone to the gentleman I bought the watch from. His story is that he had been a Mason all of his adult life as well as a very active Shriner. He was given the watch on the day he was raised by his father. Now, at 80 years old and in a retirement center, he had finally decided that the money was worth more than the memory and let it go. He said he was also always worried that someone might steal it. It makes me feel better knowing this bit of the Masonic history behind the watch.

A lot of people told me I should put the watch away and only wear it a couple of times a year on very special occasions. As one of the few people in the world to have ever put 20,000 miles on a Ferrari in just one year, you can be sure I was going to do no such thing. When I have something nice I like to enjoy it. I wear the watch every single day and derive great pleasure from it. Now that I am no longer wearing it while it is being repaired I feel naked. The broad white stripe around my wrist from my summer convertible tan makes it obvious something important is missing.

I get a lot of comments about it everywhere I go, and all of my Masonic brethren think it is just amazing. When I first got it I put a leather strap on it and it really did not look good. Later I bought a strong solid looking gold colored band and it sets it off perfectly.

As you can see the watch has all of the working tools and a small inscription that says "Love your fellow man, lend him a helping hand"

Well, I wanted to talk about some other things going on but I don't have time right now. I am heading out for the evening to attend a BBQ and concert. Tomorrow I am taking Troy DeMolay chapter to the Pirate's Festival in Wentzville. I'm sure I will have some fun photographs from that. And, oh year, I was Junior Deacon this morning when we conferred *two* Master Mason degrees. We started at 8am and finished at 12pm. It was great ceremony.

One final note, I did actually 'find an audience'. I will be doing a movie showing for a community wide event in a couple of weeks. Here's the link.