Time and Memory-Keepers

It all started with a watch.

No, wait, let me back up.

I guess it really started with my love for sun, moon, and star motifs. I was a 90s teen, it was unavoidable – and I never really grew out of it. Over the years, and especially in the last four as my nostalgia kicked into high gear, I’ve bought all kinds of things – home décor, clothing, accessories – because they featured some combination of celestial bodies. One thing I coveted for a long time was a vintage sun & moon phase watch. There was a Timex one I had my eye on for a while, but the stars never quite aligned (pun intended!) to put it in my path. Or, rather, the stars had something different, better in mind for me. Earlier this year, I finally found the perfect thing:

I paid $25 at Goodwill for this 1988 vintage Guess watch and it’s everything I wanted and more, patina and all. I love the face so, so much. Not only the sun/moon design, but the style of Roman numerals is *chef’s kiss*. I have no idea if it actually works, because I have not replaced its battery; nor do I plan to. Sometimes I manually wind the hands so I can change the moon for the sun, and vice versa, but I don’t need it to actually tell time – I wear it purely as an accessory, like a bracelet.

This watch was the spark that slowly reignited my interest in watches. I used to wear them every day, back in the days when I was obsessed with my Skagen “Anita” watch collection, but this habit was another victim of the pandemic. The difference, now, is that I wear watches without using them – which makes it cheaper and more convenient to collect vintage ones. Of course. You knew that was coming, right? Because I wear them as accessories, I am guided purely by aesthetics, not quality or brand. There are lots of vintage watches at the thrift stores; most of them are overpriced and/or not my style, but I’ve been having fun looking for pieces that suit me. And I’ve found a couple!

The sun & moon phase watch is marked “Hong Kong” but otherwise a mystery; I could not resist its oversized face – probably a men’s watch. It cost $4. The Boy London is also a men’s watch but its 90s vibes appealed to me. It cost $6. At this point, it’s impossible to have cheaper fun at the thrifts.

What happened next is a series of lateral jumps in the creative process (if we can call putting myself together a “creative process”) that can sometimes feel like magic. Wearing watches again made start thinking about arm stacks. Remember arm stacks? I used to love those. Put a pin in this, we will come back to it. First, let’s side step to what will seem like a tangent, but which I promise is very relevant.

Another thing I thrifted earlier this year was a 5-stone eternity band; it was a $3 ring with cheap CZs and a mostly tarnished finish, but I fell in love with the design. More importantly, it looked wonderful stacked on top of my mom’s wedding band, which I had started wearing on the ring finger of my right hand. After testing it for a few weeks, I decided to “upgrade” to a better-quality version – a sterling silver and moissanite ring I found on Amazon:

I am obsessed with this ring stack, to the point that I rarely wear anything else on this finger (slightly inconvenient as I have a lot of other rings I love that only fit on this finger, oh well). Sometimes I swap out the blue topaz ring – an early gift from my husband – for my own wedding band, which also makes for a beautiful stack.

I was probably admiring said stack when the idea came to me. What if I got something similar for a sleek and classic arm stack? What if I got a diamond tennis bracelet? It would look very nice with my vintage watches and other slim bracelets I have, no? Yes. Now, of course, I am not going to jump into actual diamond territory on a whim. TBH, having tried moissanites, I may never jump into actual diamond territory ever again. My first thought was to look for a sterling silver and moissanite tennis bracelet on Amazon, having been impressed with the quality (relative to price) of my ring. I’ve had it for a few months now, wear it daily (and rarely bother to take it off even when I shower), and it still looks great. I wanted the same sort of thing for my bracelet, but it turns out that the price point is quite a bit different when you move from a ring to a bracelet. Again, I was still at the “testing out a new idea” stage, and did not want to spend a couple hundred dollars yet.

I looked around some more and found a much cheaper (under $40) option with CZs instead of moissanite and “gold-plated silver” whatever that means. (I’m pretty sure it’s not sterling.) I put it in my cart to save while I pondered the purchase, and in the meantime decided to have a look at Poshmark as well. Ten minutes of scrolling didn’t lead me to any promising silver-and-moissanite bracelet options … but it did lead me to something promising. I saw a listing for a Swarovski tennis bracelet and went “hmm”. I have always been very happy with Swarovski quality; I’ve had pieces for years and they never tarnished, or lost stones, etc. This bracelet was listed for $60, which was within the budget I was willing to spend. But there was more. Something about it triggered a memory.

It reminded me of a Swarovski necklace that my mom used to have – a gift, I believe, from her friends for her 60^th birthday. I had borrowed it from her a few times, before she died, for special occasions. After she died, I sorted through her jewelry and put away most of the fancier pieces, this necklace included. I hadn’t thought of it in years, until the style of stone setting on the Poshmark bracelet reminded me of it. And I thought … what if?

I dug out the blue Swarovski box from storage and looked inside. And sure enough, next to the necklace, there it also was:

This may sound strange, but it felt like I was getting a sign from my mom, all these years later. It has happened before. Seeing the bluejay (my mom’s favourite bird) hop around in the garden right outside the window where I was sitting down for lunch. Finding the red Coach bag I thought I’d sold and missed terrible, but which my mom had kept for years, in one of her closets. Little gifts. Just like this one. Just in time for Mother’s Day.

Love you always, mama!