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My current everyday wristwatch is a nice one, but now it's summer. Not that it's hot; we've only had two or three hot days, and that's even by _our_ modest standards. But we have had our usual summertime 3800% relative humidity, and Alarming Things were happening under my watchband. I figured it was time to wear something that was lighter and that breathed a little better.
Unlike my usual practice, though, I didn't go out and buy new. I remembered I had a cheapo plastic watch in the parts box somewhere. I dug it out. It needed a new battery and a new cloth band- $13 and change at Wal-Mart- and it was going as good as new.
Of course, me being me, it's not just any cheap plastic watch. It's something I bought mail order a few years ago, advertised as an "Army Watch," and it turned out to be very close to the real thing.
It is a Stocker and Yale, or S and Y, or just Sandy, Model 590. It rates as fake military surplus because the REAL military surplus wouldn't have the little US flag decal near the center of the dial. Otherwise, it is identical, including the Radioactivity warning symbol the watch bears for the odd reason that it is, in fact, radioactive. The dial glows in the dark. Brightly.
(Some youngsters today wander around wearing biohazard and radioactivity symbols as a fashion statement, but we old farts have the REAL THING, dagnappit.)
I was feeling a bit bad at spending $13 to put this watch back into use, since I don't think I spent much more than that for it in the first place. But the military doesn't issue many watches any more, very few of the ones they issue are ordinary general purpose watches, and the ones they DO issue are now made by a different company and bear different markings. These things add up to the fact that the cheapo plastic Sandy 590 is now considered a Rare Military Collectable and is priced at $150 online. A nice trick if they can get anybody to pay that much for it. I guess I will never understand collectors, although I think I understand the people who sell to collectors all too well.
It does make me feel better about paying the $13, though.
Unlike my usual practice, though, I didn't go out and buy new. I remembered I had a cheapo plastic watch in the parts box somewhere. I dug it out. It needed a new battery and a new cloth band- $13 and change at Wal-Mart- and it was going as good as new.
Of course, me being me, it's not just any cheap plastic watch. It's something I bought mail order a few years ago, advertised as an "Army Watch," and it turned out to be very close to the real thing.
It is a Stocker and Yale, or S and Y, or just Sandy, Model 590. It rates as fake military surplus because the REAL military surplus wouldn't have the little US flag decal near the center of the dial. Otherwise, it is identical, including the Radioactivity warning symbol the watch bears for the odd reason that it is, in fact, radioactive. The dial glows in the dark. Brightly.
(Some youngsters today wander around wearing biohazard and radioactivity symbols as a fashion statement, but we old farts have the REAL THING, dagnappit.)
I was feeling a bit bad at spending $13 to put this watch back into use, since I don't think I spent much more than that for it in the first place. But the military doesn't issue many watches any more, very few of the ones they issue are ordinary general purpose watches, and the ones they DO issue are now made by a different company and bear different markings. These things add up to the fact that the cheapo plastic Sandy 590 is now considered a Rare Military Collectable and is priced at $150 online. A nice trick if they can get anybody to pay that much for it. I guess I will never understand collectors, although I think I understand the people who sell to collectors all too well.
It does make me feel better about paying the $13, though.
