It’s Seiko Time
Seiko began in Japan, at K. Hattori, the eponymously named clock and jewelry shop of Mr. Kintar? Hattori. In 1892, the “Seikosha” clock was born. Thirty-two years later, the first Seiko watches, were on the market. The watch world was innovated with the Seiko Astron, the first quartz watch, in 1969. Just for trivia’s sake, it is said that the word “seiko” means “minute,” “exquisite,” or “success.” Very apt for the brand that has been the official timekeeper at many Olympic games since 1964.
I found a few Seiko Watches on Bluedial.com. One or two bring to mind the Gold Grand Seikos that were made with real gold in the 60s and the 70s. This one has the full 35mm dial. Today, with the price of gold, of course, you will get a gold plated or stainless steel one, but admirers won’t know. There are slight differences in design nuance, of course, from period pieces. However, if you are looking for a masculine (read: BIG dial), gold tone watch to make your 1960s or 1970s (leisure suits!) ensemble a little more authentic looking, it may be the watch for you. Only time piece historians, and not your admirers, will probably point it out to you.
It started out as a bottle of beer…
Did you know that if you were scuba diving in the Pacific you could take home a WWII souvenir? No, I am not talking about looking for buried vessels. While you are walking along the beach in your flip flops, or whether you are snorkeling, it is possible you could find black sea glass. Normally, you would find translucent whites and ambers and pastels. Why black and what does this have to do with World War II.
You see, the composition of glass bear bottles was different than today. When the glass broke and was smoothed by the natural erosion of the sand and sea over the course of time, the glass remained black. The composition was only used for a short time, due to different materials made scarce by the War. The material decomposed a lot more rapidly.
So, therefore, a World War II private could have made his choice of light versus dark while on his shore time. He could have told a few tales, and tossed it into the sea for good luck. Then, on the way down, it could have broken on the rocks. Then, about 28 years later, a member of the first club devoted to collecting, The Eastern Coast Breweriana Association (ECBA), could have scooped up the treasure in the club’s 1970 charter year. In fact, they were the first such club ever.
Twenty years after that, perhaps one of the members lost their interest and sold part of their collection at a yard sale. During that time, it was the height of the era of filling glass bowls with seed balls, sea glass, and potpourri, and displaying them on your coffee table. Fully 28 years later than that fateful yard sale, you read this blog post. You think nothing of it until Sunday dinner at Grandma’s house. You spy the sea glass in a glass beaker on her coffee table and suddenly remember this blog post. You ask Grandma if you can have a piece. After telling this tale, you all have a toast to the person who threw the bottle into the sea in the first place.
Which reminds me…
There is a contest that I hear about. It is actually a mobile survey on beer. It is limited to 1500 participants, so you have a 1 in 1500 chance in winning. The winner receives a $300 Amazon gift card. To enter and take the survey, just text the word “beer” to 247365. For contest rules CLICK HERE. You only have until midnight, March 14th, to enter.
What will you do with your gift card (Hint: They sell everything discussed in this posting, except a World War II private. You can always buy a book about them, however.)