I know that we are currently in a phase of hashtag menswear where we are not supposed to have holy grails any longer, but I still have a few. I bet a few of you do too. This is a short story about one of my grails. This grail is watch. A jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso to be exact.
Now I am not really a watch guy. I like them well enough, but they are expensive. So expensive that it puts a damper on my interest in them, but I still occasionally dream and even less occasionally I window shop online. This typically right after purchasing a lottery ticket assured of my new found wealth. No dice just yet.
A few weeks ago I was doing some watch maintenance. By maintenance I mean I took my watches (see above) to get new batteries which I am painfully slow to do. So I took them to a jewelry store near me. One that I knew had a nice selection of vintage watches. Which I knew from online window shopping.
While they were putting batteries in my watches I browsed. That’s a lie. I didn’t browse I made a beeline for the JLC Reverso. This quirky watch with a storied past and a touch of utilitarianism has been calling my name for a long long time. They got it out of the case for me. I tried it on and I didn’t love it. It was just too big.
I know that I can’t be alone in feeling this deflating feeling. We’ve spent countless hours thinking about how good we will look in our grail whether that’s a pair Alden cordovan loafers, a Ralph Lauren Polo coat, or in my case the Reverso. Only to find out later that the fit doesn’t work or we just don’t like it as much as we thought we would. There’s a lesson in there somewhere about managing expectations or appreciating what we have or some combination of the two. Don’t worry about me though. I’ll find another watch to dream about.
