Recovered Artifacts

These are my two favorite pieces of jewelery. And each one has a story, both related to the other one. In order to understand why I call these "recovered artifacts", let me elaborate:

Twenty years ago for Christmas, my sister gave me the watch on the left. To me it wasn't an ordinary gift. You see, I know that Jen hated my guts when we were growing up. So for her to give me such a nice gift really showed that she appreciated me (even if she did beat me up). I loved that watch. Well, a few months later the watch was stolen. One night I forgot to take off my watch before going to bed. As I went to set it on my dresser, John (my father) caught me out of bed and stole the watch later while I was sleeping. I was heartbroken when I woke up the next morning and found it gone. It wasn't until years later when I knew he took it (that's just the kind of person he was) and I honestly thought he pawned it to get money for weed or something. Either way, I didn't think I would see it again.

Years later when Jen joined the Navy, she bought me the watch on the right. I loved that watch too for the same reasons. I took extra good care of it and it has seen its share of repairs: a new watchband here, a new battery there.... But I've had it all these years. I didn't start to panic until recently when it accidentally took a ride through the washer and stopped working.

Just this past Christmas while visiting my mom, she hands me something and says, "This belongs to either you or your sister." It was the first watch. I freaked out (to say the least!) because I didn't think I'd ever see it again. My mom said she found it while cleaning out the basement. It was in a drawer in the workbench (okay, he didn't pawn it but he still stole it from me nonetheless). I found a watch repair place and the jeweler popped a battery in it and it still worked! It needed some other repairs--such as a new face cover (the old one was cracked), new gears on the inside, and a new watch band but otherwise it wasn't in bad shape for having sat in a drawer the past 20 years. My other watch needed to be dried out and the winder thingy was stripped and needed to be replaced as well. Both watches are in working order and back with me where they belong.

One more thing: As it turns out, these watches are made by Lorus. When Lorus stopped making the Mickey Mouse watches, another company took over and manufactured a cheaper version. So the ones by Lorus are collector's items. Not sure about their monetary value but their sentimental value is through the roof.