Finding time warp shop with NOS watches from the 70's story.
I was parking up on a side street in a Market Town yesterday which is fairly local to me and one I have been going to all my life.
It was dark outside, about 4.30pm and I noticed across the road, a lit window with a watch display and old Seiko signs outside, it looked like a cool old shop or a house that I have never noticed or even remember seeing before, so I went had a quick look in the window.
There was a lot of watches in the window on display, mainly of the cheap budget type that most places do these days, but they also had all sorts of stuff lying in the window in different places that looked like watches of the 1970’s and 1980”s mainly Seiko and Citizen quartz of the gents gold plated style, but in the back something with a silver retro dial caught my eye.
Just at this moment I was suddenly aware of a lady who stood next to me and who then said “Please do come in the shop if you would like to”.
So I followed her through the door in to a hall way, one side was a electrical shop with Modern TV’s and the other side through a door was like stepping back in time to Clock and Watch shop of the 1970’s, a proper time warp place.
The lady said she would summon the owner and then a minute later in popped the coolest and friendliest chap, I assume her father who said how can i help you.
I said I had spotted a watch in the back of his window that I like to have a closer look at please, he said lets have a look together and you pick up what you like the look of.
The watch that caught my eye, was a Orient Crystal Day Date with a silver dial, Automatic with 27 jewels. The shop keeper said that will be some of my old stock left over, I have been selling watches and clocks here for 45 years, got a few old ones about the place still.
New Old Stock?, I asked, yes you could say that he replied.
He asked me if I knew about watches, I said a bit and I really love the watches from japan from the era.
Any way to cut a long story shot he had all kinds of amazing stuff dotted all around place amoung , his now main stock of cheap chinese watches of today, as that is what sell’s now best to his customers.
I asked if he was selling the Orient, yes he said it was a expensive watch in its day, but it has a tiny mark on the side and on the glass so I will knock some off for that. I bought it at a very cheap price that he was happy with and I was very happy with.
He was a great guy, I had a look at a few other pieces he had, I said that I liked the Seiko Chronographs of the era, he said he did as well, but none of those left.
He told me he kept a loverly Bulova accutron with a blue dial from the 70’s he liked, that was not for sale but he had a few other bits tucked away from the era that he could dig out if i wanted to call in again. I said I would, but mainly because he was a fantastic chap and it was seriously like stepping back in time with him, the experience was amazing.
I know this is not a like Rolex or Patek and don’t get me wrong I really love looking at them too, but this is the type of watch that I used to stare through the windows at when i was a kid.
To find a shop like this that I must have passed hundreds of times over the years and never noticed quite by accident, with its hidden gems was amazing, so as it is Christmas I thought post the story if anyone was interested, as this is the kind of story I like reading on the forum.
The watch it self in my eyes is retro cool, still has the sticker on the back and the time keeping in the 24 hours since I bought it, looks spot on when compared to G-Shock Frogman atomic I set it from.
https://c5.staticflickr.com/1/683/31...d46299b1_b.jpg
My kid’s both think it is cool, but my wife has now seen it and claimed it as hers as it is her opinion to small on my wrist, so will join her collection of my watches she likes to wear, so she is very happy too.
Anyway Merry Christmas to all you all, hope you have a great one.
