About

In December 2021, I bought this 100+ year old watch.

Originally, it was a pocket watch created by the South Bend Watch Company. But at some point someone converted to a large-ish wrist watch.

South Bend is the largest city near me (and where I say I'm from if non-locals ask).

So I had to get it.

I found it on eBay in Ukraine and brought it back home — a few miles from where it was born.

A century old and it traveled half-way around the world and back in that time.

And I can't stop thinking about its history.

Off to War

I imagine some native South Bender bought it. Then, a decade later they shipped off to Europe for World War 1. And they brought the watch with them.

My hope is they traded it for something cool. They survived the war and came back to South Bend with some Ukrainian treasure or a great story.

Or maybe even better, they saw the horror of war and left it for some family in hopes that it could jumpstart the rebuilding of their lives.

But maybe (and likely) it's worse than that. Perhaps they lost it in battle, or it was stolen or...

Maybe they didn't come home.

The fact that I didn't (and can't) know any history of this century old item in my possession is what inspired this site.

What if the history of a watch didn't start over with each new owner.

What if there was a way to pass the history on to the next person.

July 24, 2004: Married my high school sweetheart. <pic of the young and in love>
December 5, 2011: Sold my first company. <link to article>
March 10, 2015: Held my son for the first time. <crying baby>

You get the idea.

The Birth

I'm a programmer, so my first thought was to make some app where you can track your collection of watches. That's what this site is.

I (and my friends) have many ideas for this thing. But to start, I've made it easy to keep a collection of your watches and their history (pictures, moments, etc.).

Then, over time I'll add more things around passing that information to the next owner and community features (following, commenting, etc.).

I'm not entirely sure, but I'd love to hear what you wish existed for watch people.

Please reach out if you have any thoughts or add your watches now.

P.S. If you want to see it in action, check out my profile.