Dad gave it to me around the time I graduated from college. I wore it almost every day, early in my career. It always amused me seeing people in a meeting glance at the big dial to check the time, then glance again because the 24-hour dial didn't make any sense.
Sadly, the old watch was put aside when electronic watches offered not just time, but alarms and stopwatches and other bells and whistles. And then the first iPhone put those in a drawer as well.
Recently my old friend Paul Roysdon was sitting in my office chatting about many things. We've know each other since his early days at CEi (Kratos), when I was helping with the BQM-167 and other projects. Paul mentioned his side hobby - watch restoration. Apparently he has become one of the nation's leading expert in this, and is one of the few people to design and build his own self-winding watches.
I mentioned Dad's old watch and Paul's eyes lit up! He volunteered - almost begged - to be allowed to do a full restoration. I sent him the watch and after some months, he sent it back in better-than-new condition. He told me, to my surprise, that Dad's fancy snap-on metal watch band was not the original. Paul made a new leather one from scratch, exactly like the original.
Paul also prepared a presentation of the restoration which, as an engineer, I found fascinating. Wow, what tiny parts! What amazing specialized tools are needed! And how could anybody take it apart, and put it back together in working order?
Thanks, Paul - Dad's watch is now truly amazing and will stay in the family forever!
Paul's watch website is RoysdonWatchCo. Here is a video of the creation of the new watch band .