Share
The other day I reached a little bit deeper into the safe than I usually do. I ended up with the cheapest blue plastic digital watch you can imagine in my grasp. Rolling it around in my hand, every single bit of it still felt familiar despite not having seen it for about three years (and 20 years before that). It was my first watch ever and it holds a special place in my heart.
That was the very moment that sparked the idea for this article: a write-up in which each of the Fratello editors could share their earliest memories of their first watches. I pitched the idea to Rob and RJ. They loved it and instantly sent me back their stories. It didn’t even take a full week for me to collect the first-watch memories from each editor on the Fratello team. Enjoy reading, and make sure to share your first-watch story in the comments below!
Getty Images
Earlier this year, I strolled into a Tourneau to try on some watches (because that’s my idea of fun these days) and asked about the Cartier Tank Française model. The salesperson very enthusiastically pitched the largest model to me. “Oh, women today are
allll about the big watches,” he explained. “Don’t even bother trying on the small.” For context, this particular watch comes in two sizes small and medium and with the medium’s case size coming in at 30 millimeters by 25 millimeters. It’s not even considered a “big” timepiece by today’s standards. But nevertheless, I tried on the medium, and my heart sank. This watch felt oversized and bulky on my wrist, and I couldn’t even see the gorgeous chain-link bracelet that sets the Française apart from the other Cartier Tanks. I took a photo of the watch for good measure and slept on it. But the more I thought about it, the more distraught I became. Why shouldn t I give a second thought to the small