My father passed away peacefully in July 2024. He slept one night and never woke up. One of the most memorable things about him is his absolute love for watches!
My father wasn't poor, but he wasn't exactly well-off enough either to justify expensive branded watches. Like, why spend $30 on a real Casio watch for himself when he could buy a meal for the whole family? That was his line of thinking, I'm guessing, we never really talked about it.
Whenever we visited a mall, he never failed to see some official watch dealers, just to look around and try them out. He'd stay there, chatting with the staff about watches, while my mom and sisters did some shopping. But he never bought one himself. He would rather spend the money on the family, as I mentioned, but I'm sure that he really enjoyed the time he spent looking at those watches.
And instead, he would go to some sketchy roadside watch repair shops, which also sell knock-offs and off-brand Chinese watches. He ended up having like 6 of them. A comically terrible knock-off Edifice and a "Tissot" (which I couldn't bear to show in this post) are among the collection.
This off-brand watch, Kademan (KDM), some Chinese make, is the one that he wore the most and the only one in his collection that still works.
It suited him because he had a large hand. It is still in somewhat good condition, as far as low-quality watches go, and it somehow still ticks 2 years after his passing. I found out later that it had a solar panel. If it slowed down or stopped ticking, I'd just shine light on it, and it'd be ready to go again just like that.
I'm pretty sure it's supposed to have a digital display, but I don't remember if it ever worked. The chrono is probably not real.
Thinking back, I'm also pretty sure he did have a fancy Casio dress watch that he lost when I was still a kid. Not sure if it was real, though, but I remembered how bummed he was when he lost that one.
And when I was still in kindergarten, he bought me a Casper the Friendly Ghost watch (it had Casper floating around as the center second hand), which had lost to time a long time ago.
Unfortunately, growing up, I didn't care for watches and never owned one.
He would sometimes talk about how he liked a Seiko or some other brands with certain complications, or how he disliked some models, and I'd just nod along.
Whenever I missed him, I'd take his watch to my ear and listen to the ticks. Still, I didn't care to own one myself.
Then, around October 2025, Wristwatch Revival randomly appeared on my YouTube feed.
His videos restoring sentimental watches got me thinking about my dad, and it made me want a mechanical watch. Also, I happened to achieve a personal milestone, so it was perhaps the perfect moment to get one for myself.
So, I was researching intently which first watch I should buy, and got into the watch wormhole for a while. I was thinking about getting a Seiko 5, but I don't want to spend more than $100 for something that I was still not entirely sure I'd enjoy wearing.
So I end up with this Alba, specifically AL4213X1 automatic, which I got for less than $50 brand-new. This watch has rarely left my wrist since I got it six months ago.
I just had it serviced last week because it didn't run correctly after I bumped it badly on a railing. Decided to put a brand new leather strap on it.
I'm definitely into watches now! I like this style of field watches and probably will get a Seiko for my next watch.
As for my father's watch, I still keep it, but I never wear it because it's too big for me. And now that I have my own watch, have income, and more responsibilities, I understand a little bit more about his line of thinking.
I wish I had gotten into it a little sooner and could have shown it off to him. We could have bonded more tightly over watches.