Strange

One night while cruising various watch sites I came across the Jörg Schauer Kleine Schauer limited edition. Something about it entranced me. Part of it was the cleanness of the design, part was a certain gracefulness, and part was some other, inscrutable quality that piqued my interest. Over the course of a week or so I kept coming back to look at it. I debated endlessly with myself over whether or not to bite, and eventually the watch's appeal overcame my resolve. I ordered one, and was told it would take 4-6 weeks for delivery. That was like being told I could breathe again in 4-6 weeks. Waiting makes me crackers like few things in life. In this regard I have the forbearance of a 6 year old.

Somehow though I soldiered on. When the anticipation really started to eat at me I'd go back to look at the pictures. This, of course, only made my anticipation even more acute. When I got an email that production had been held up and that delivery of my watch would be delayed for some unspecified period of time it really set my hair on fire. Dealing with disappointment is not my strong suit, to put it mildly. However, there was nothing I could do except to continue waiting. I subsequently received another email apologizing for the delay and offering me a complimentary knife/case opener as small compensation for the wait. They asked me what I'd like engraved on the knife blade. The morning I'd received that email I'd had a dream in which for some reason I appended random nouns with 'mit Eichenlaub' as in 'could you hand me that spanner...mit Eichenlaub?' So I told them I wanted the blade engraved with Messer...mit Eichenlaub. Not sure what they made of that.

Finally, as I was at the very brink of insanity, the watch arrived. As I took my first looks at it I was completely underwhelmed. In the flesh it seemed much smaller than it did in the photos. Of course they'd listed the case dimensions, so there was no disputing it. When I tried it on it had absolutely zero wrist presence. None. All the charisma of Velveeta. Boy was I disappointed. I'd anticipated it looking subtly elegant and graceful on my wrist, but instead it got completely lost to the point that it felt as if I wasn't wearing a watch at all. Certainly part of that is that my daily wear for the last eon or so has been a Sinn U1, which is a bigass hunka metal -- no way you're forgetting you've got that monster on your arm. By comparison the Kleine Schauer felt insignificant to the point of ridiculousness.

My first thought was to not wear it at all so that I could flip it and at least break even. I've never flipped a watch before, even ones that get only the rarest use. For some reason I've never felt the inclination, and so it was strange indeed to be considering flipping a watch I'd just received after having waited an eternity for it. What I ended up doing was putting it back in the box, stacking it up with my other watches, and more or less forgetting about it.

A few months later and out of the blue I remembered that I'd actually ordered, waited for, and eventually received the watch. It seemed ridiculous at that point that I hadn't even given the watch some wrist time to see if we bonded. So the next morning I set it, strapped it on, and went about my day. There were no great revelations, no sudden epiphanies, no trumpets blaring. Slowly, however, I began to warm to the thing. It still felt small and underwhelming, but I was beginning to see the charm in it. After about a week's wear I began to appreciate the size of the piece and how it was quite in proportion to my splindly wrist. I doubt anyone else (probably not even a serious WIS) would even notice the watch. The important thing is that I began to notice it.

It's not a daily wearer to be sure. But it now has a secure place in my quiver among my other keepers.