The Gold Watch

I stumbled upon a little black notebook in the attic while I was rummaging through my great-grandma’s belongings, in the summer of 2020. The little black book had little significance to me, but I’m sure it was at least as old as my grandma had been when she died at the ripe age of 99.

My great-grandmother had just passed away in her sleep earlier that week, and I was helping my parents separate her treasures from the trash. I was never expecting to find a mysterious old pocket watch within a little wooden box, embedded with little diamonds. On the back of the rusted old watch, somehow still shimmering with new possibilities, her initials lay carved right in the middle, in big cursive letters “R.S.” Rebecca was my great grandmothers first name, and she had claimed my great grandfathers last name which was Stein, after they were married.

Anyway, back to the watch. As I plucked it out of the box and studied its unusual beauty, I paused. ‘I wonder how much this little guy is worth, and what kind of journey it has been on.’

I ran down the stairs of my great-grandmother’s house with the watch in hand, ready to share my discovery with my parents. I was especially excited to show this artifact to my mom considering Rebecca was my mom’s grandmother. When I got down to the kitchen at the bottom of the stairs I quickly grabbed a glass of water, and chugged it without taking a breath. The attic was pretty hot and stuffy, and I was parched.

“Mom!” I shouted enthusiastically.

“Yes Zoe?” My mother thoughtfully replied.

“Look at what I found in great granny’s attic.”

My mother gazed over at the watch, putting her glasses on to really appreciate it.

“Wow, this watch must’ve made it through WWII, you know your great-grandma was one of the few survivors in our family” my mother said holding back a tear or two.

“I wonder if it is worth anything now, considering it’s survived this long” I replied.

So the next day, after making a few calls and doing some research, we brought my great-grandmother’s watch to a specialist, who told us that the diamonds within the watch were rare enough that the watch was easily worth $20,000.

Me and my parents could not believe how expensive this watch was, and also how priceless. After discovering the watch, me and my parents kept looking through the dark dingy attic, hoping to find some answers. As I was tiptoeing around in the dim light I rediscovered the little black notebook that I had seen the week before, only this time my curiosity won, and I peaked inside.

Within the book there were records my great-grandma had kept, of every valuable thing she owned. It started with her beautiful hand crafted hair clips, and moved onto things like vintage dresses and jewelry. The book stated various little details about each item, who had given them to her, what they would be worth in twenty or even fifty years, and what she planned to do with them.

Finally I came upon the page about the timeless old watch. ‘This watch was given to me by my father, and I put it away for safe keeping before I was taken away to the camp. I had always wished that my father could have his watch back, but he passed long before I was able to give it to him.’ As I was reading this I began to tear up, how sad it must have been for my great-grandmother to have nothing left but a watch and a memory. She continued ‘I hope that since it can not be given to my father that this watch finds a way to take care of my children, and their children.’

After reading my great-grandmother’s statement I decided it would be in my family’s best interest to hold onto the watch for now, because some things are absolutely timeless, and they cannot be given a price.