I’ve always had a thing for watches.

Sport watches, smart watches, technical watches, pocket watches with cartoon pin-up girls on them that my wife has given me as a gift …all of them.

In fact, one of the first fights I had with my wife after we got married was about this collection of broken watches that I kept. My wife couldn’t imagine why I needed a big box of broken watches taking up space in our tiny home. A big box of broken watches sitting and waiting, as if someday I’d become a watchmaker and fix them all. My wife thought this to be as likely as me letting my three-year-old drive the car again.

That is why when I got the chance to work with JORD I took it. It was like doubling down on two of my three fetishes: trees and watches. Many moons ago, I was a canoe guide

and needed a dependable timepiece to schedule out my day and the JORD collection of watches makes me nostalgic for that romantic time in my life. I spent a lot of time in the woods reading when I was guiding, and coincidentally, there is a poem by Delmore Schwartz that has come up more than once in my life. Here is the final stanza:

Time is the school in which we learn,   

Time is the fire in which we burn.

There is an enduring esthetic to their watches that embodies the construct of time in which we eternally burn. They herald back to the days when timepieces were a symbol of generational longevity and connectivity. There was something magical about giving a family member a watch to mark important milestones: coming of age, graduation, anniversaries, and significant birthdays.  Does that translate into today’s world? Sure it does.

We are wanting to quiet our lives, detach from the chaotic pace of our day and celebrate

family together. The simplistic beauty of a watch like this canonizes this celebration as a return to pure functionality. Shut off your phone, turn off the TV, and spend time together.

PS.  There are many more watches in their collection.  It will soon be Christmas/New Years/Valentine’s/Easter/National Day of Yelling Enya Lyrics at Your Plants…all of which are which are watch gift-friendly occasions. Interested in a contest? HERE BE CONTEST!

PPS. They offer an engraving option. I mulled several swear words but thought I’d insult the integrity of the craftspersonship of the watch (they probably wouldn’t let me anyway), and just got my name.

PPS I’ll be giving one of my kids this glorious thing someday. That is if I don’t wear it out. Or have to start a fire with it in a survival emergency (third fetish).