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To me the appeal of a fine wrist or pocket watch is the fact that it’s a crafted mechanism. A little, hand made machine that does one thing and does it well. As such it has a heart and soul that quartz movements simply don’t have. A battery watch, as beautiful as the case, hands and dial may be, simply isn’t alive with the human spirit in the way that a mechanical watch is. There’s an allure to the idea that someone designed each wheel, each pivot, each plate and so forth. They’re individual in a way that mass produced electronic watches aren’t. You can hear them beating out the time. They seem alive and vital. Add to this the rich history of mechanical watch making generally, company history, model history and individual watch history and you have an incredibly compelling device that’s far more nuanced than a piece of electronics.

And furthermore, one of the best things about a wind up watch movement is that you put the power into it yourself. When you wind it you give it the motive force. Each tick releases energy that you inserted. It can’t run without your power, yet it’s independent from the impersonal chemistry of a battery. A mechanical watch in good working order will beat out the time in any situation as long as you wind it up and set it, but a battery watch is a paperweight if the cell goes dead and you have no source for a new one, regardless of the condition of the movement itself. Imagine, for example, trying to find just the right battery for a 60s era electronic watch a hundred years from now. Not an issue with a mechanical watch, many of which are well over a hundred years old and work perfectly by simply winding up the mainspring. A mechanical watch enthusiast has a kind of symbiotic relationship with the device.

This is the exact reason that I collect vintage cameras too. Though I love my modern Nikon DSLRs, they don’t have the spirit of a fully mechanical Leica or Rolleiflex. A printed circuit doesn’t compare to the wheels and gears of a mechanical camera’s works.

Tom spent about 12 hours working on the watch. It broke over twenty years ago and had spent the intervening years sitting in a drawer. As a result it needed a lot of delicate work to get it back in shape. Interestingly, one of the ruby jewels had broken and had to be replaced, something Tom was very surprised to see.

The watch is now in excellent working condition. It’s got a strong, even beat to it and it’s been keeping very accurate time for the last week, losing only about 30 seconds every two or three days. What makes that even more impressive is that the watch is 137 years old.

After some research, here’s the history of the watch as far as I can determine:

In the mid 19th century the Hughes family resided in Wales where they were coal miners. They lived in the heart of the region that produced nearly 2/3 of the world’s coal at the time. Around 1870 my great, great grandfather Joseph J. Hughes met his future wife Jane Baxter. Jane and her family were from a small Welsh town called Llanidloes and when the two got married I believe this watch was given to JJ. Hughes as a wedding gift by Jane’s father Lewis Baxter. The movement in the watch is engraved with the name of the watch maker (William Williams) and the town the watch was made in.

The watch was made to order, the movement manufactured in Llanidloes and the case made in London. The silver assayer’s marks indicate that the case was finished in 1873 and show that the silversmith was John William Hannon who had his studio at 11 Sekforde Street, Clerkenwell, London.

The watch is a type of machine known as a “fusee movement.” All mechanical watches are powered by a wound up main spring that provides the motive force to move the gears around. When the main spring is freshly wound it releases more energy than when it’s run down toward the end. That means that without compensation the watch would run faster when the spring is wound tight and slower when the spring is wound out. To account for this variability the fusee movement uses a very small chain (like a bicycle chain) that wraps around a cone shaped barrel. When the watch is tightly wound the chain releases less energy to the watch and as the watch winds down the chain releases incrementally more power, making for a very even power distribution across the entire wind range.

The gears or wheels in this movement are jeweled for smooth motion. I believe this watch has 15 – 17 jewels.

Fusee movements were very popular in 19th century England and it’s a testament to the craftsmen behind this watch that 137 years after it left the watchmaker it’s still running strong and keeping excellent time.

A watch of this type was an expensive purchase back in 1873. Here’s a quote from a helpful watch historian who helped me figure out some of the watch’s history:

In Priestley’s seminal book on watch cases, he refers to some archives (dated about 1870) of Benson Bros in which they quote the cost of making a hunter case (excluding case metal) at 12 shillings. Priestley says the gold cost of a 2 ounce 18K case at that time would have been 6 pounds 7 shillings, so I’ll guess that Sterling silver would have cost at least 1 pound. Allowing for the cost of the movement, and the profit margin, my wild guess at what it would have cost to buy this watch is at least … FIVE POUNDS. I do know that a particular top of the range movement in a heavy 18K gold case in 1898 did cost £30.

The average miner’s wage in 1873 was 1 pound 13 shillings which had reduced to 1 pound by 1879. So this watch probably cost anywhere between three and five weeks gross earnings !!!!! That would be the equivalent of £1500-2500 today.

The current exchange rate for Pounds to Dollars is about 2:1, so the contemporary cost for a watch like this one would be in the range of $3,000.o0 to $5,000.00. That’s more than I spent on my latest computer, and the chances that it’ll still be in service by 2143 are absolutely nil.

JJ. Hughes, his wife Jane and Jane’s parents all came to America in the late 1880s. They moved here because the coal mines in Wales were drying up. Some of their relatives had moved to America earlier and found work in the coal mines of Kentucky, and that’s where JJ. Hughes and his family ended up. They settled in a little town called Pittsburgh in Laurel County, Kentucky. JJ. Hughes probably passed this watch on to his son JL. Hughes but it’s unlikely that JL used it much. JL Hughes was a railroad conductor and he carried a 1911 Hamilton 992 watch, which was a “railroad standard” time keeping device accurate to 30 seconds per week. The old Welsh fusee watch simply wasn’t accurate enough (or approved for use by his employer) to do duty as a railroad watch. So it probably sat in his drawer, maybe only coming out for special occasions. When JL Hughes died the watch became my father Harold E. Hughes’s, but by that time (the mid 1960s) men were wearing wrist watches almost exclusively. My dad put it in a drawer and there it sat until he gave it to me all those years ago.

Long story short, this watch has seen the inside of a lot of drawers, but now it’s back to life and clicking along happily.

If you’re an astute reader, you’re probably wondering why I refer to this as my great, great grandfather’s watch when the story above indicates that it’s actually my great grandfather’s. As some of you know, I was raised by my grandparents, so the man I refer to as my dad is actually my grandfather. My biological father has been “out of the picture” since I was only a few months old.

Though the watch is strong and keeping good time, I’m going to place it in a glass dome display case and keep it in my office. It’s just a little too delicate for day to day use, but it’ll be a fantastic desk clock with a rich family history.

These Ray-Ban Wayfarers are awesome! My new suns for summer ‘09.

The problem is that beyond the obvious candidates, there are many signs I forget about because I don’t see them very often or that I’m not aware even exist. That’s where YOU come in! I need your help in locating the best examples of vintage (and modern) neon signs so that I can add them to my list. If your suggestion makes it into the project, I’ll give you credit in the book!

Here’s the signs I’m already planning on shooting followed by examples of shots I’ve already taken.

The List So Far:

1. The Capitol Hill Motel

2. The 6th Avenue Motel

3. The Palms Motel

4. Portland Outdoor Store

5. Renner’s Bar and Grill

6. The Baghdad Theater

7. The Laurelhurst Theater

8. The Moreland Theater

9. The Academy Theater

10. The “Made in Oregon” sign (before and after the renovation?)

Examples:

The newly restored Hollywood Theater sign.

A detail view of the neon sign on the Capitol Hill Motel.

The sign at Renner's Bar & Grill in Multnomah Village.

An elaborate neon at Chin's Chinese in Portland.

Sort of an 'inverse neon' treatment at the FARM restaurant in Portland.

Broken but still beautiful - a detail of the neon sign on the Cameo Theater in Newberg.

Black Mountain – In the Future

These guys fall into the Stoner Rock category. Though they exhibit the usual Black Sabbath influences, they also draw pretty heavily from more progressive sources like Pink Floyd, The Beach Boys, Yes and others. This is their most accomplished disc to date and I think it goes a long way toward transcending the Stoner Rock genre.

Girl Talk – Feed the Animals

When it comes to mash-ups, Girl Talk is really pushing the boundaries. This whole album is composed of pieces of dozens of other songs. The individual tracks are very listenable and there’s an element of detective work as you pick out the riffs and break beats that you know.

The Gutter Twins – Saturnalia

Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan teamed up for this project and the results are far better than I expected it to be. You know how some albums end with an epoch song that sends the whole thing out on an apocalyptic high note? Every song on this album sounds like that.

Madvillain – Madvillainy 2: The Madlib Remix

MF Doom is easily my favorite “underground” hip-hop artist. His flows are unreal. He’s such a master of wordplay that I have to really devote all my attention to his songs when I listen to them. This is Madlib’s remix of the Madvillainy album and it’s fantastic. Madlib’s breakbeats and samples give the songs an entirely different, but equally excellent feel from the originals.

Wynton Marsalis – Standards & Ballads

Wynton takes a lot more shit than he deserves. It’s mainly because Miles Davis dissed him as being too unimaginative, but I think that had more to do with Miles’ ego than it did with Marsalis’ playing. Personally, I love what Marsalis does with his horn and his style is really showcased on this collection of Jazz standards.

Steinski - What Does It All Mean?

If you know anything about the history of hip-hop you know about Steinsky. This guy single handedly pioneered the art of sampling and break beat mixing. For decades his recordings have been available as bootlegs only because of rights issues over the samples. Now the “lessons” are available on a semi-official CD release. Awesome stuff.

Supergrass – Diamond Hoo Ha

Admittedly, this is far from Supergrass’ best album, but it is better than the last one and has a lot of tracks that I really love. In a better music year this probably wouldn’t have made my list, but don’t let that color your opinion. It’s well worth checking out.

The Sword – Gods of the Earth

On the one hand The Sword is kind of a joke, which is to say that they’re joking around when they go into the histrionics that typify their sound. On the other hand they’re incredibly accomplished musicians and the tracks on this album are some of the best modern metal you can hear. It’s their second album and I think their sound is really starting to come together. I like this one even more than their debut.

Venetian Snares – Detrimentalist

More crazy, CRAZY electronica from Venetian Snares. It’s kind of an acquired taste and most people probably won’t be able to make it through the album in one sitting because it’s so frantic and difficult to take at times, but if you can get with the approach and absorb the plethora of musical ideas he presents on this (and his other) disc(s) you’ll find a lot of rewarding stuff.

I was a Dean supporter when he ran for president. He’s an amazing individual who would have made a great chief executive… if the “liberal media” hadn’t skewered him over “the scream.” But Dean didn’t fade into the background after that incident. He went on to develop the strategy that won Obama the election. 

First of all, Dean pioneered Internet fundraising. Before Dean, every campaign was primarily funded by large donors and federal matching funds. Dean blazed the trail to funding campaigns on small individual donations. Dean and Joe Trippi were the first people to fully grasp the power of direct social networking over the Internet. Obama just refined the technique. 

Second, Dean’s so-called 50 state strategy was conceived of before he became the chair of the DNC and implemented after. If there’s any single factor that lead to Obama and the Democratic party’s success, it’s the 50 state strategy. Before Dean came along, the Democratic party had offices in red and purple states that were empty for years. They paid the rent but never staffed them. Dean hired the staff for all these offices and created the infrastructure that allowed Obama to be competitive in states where the pundits said he had no chance. If Dean hadn’t done the ground work, Obama would never have been able to ramp up his ground game as quickly and effectively as he did. 

So, why is Obama ignoring Dr. Dean? In my opinion, Dean should have been named to head HHS. It seems as if Obama appointed Daschle because he needs a point man in the Congress to get his national health care plan through, and I can understand the move as a practical matter given Dean’s lack of experience on the Hill. But what about other jobs? Dean should have been the front runner for Surgeon General, but Obama gave the job to Sanjay Gupta. One could argue that this was also a move to solidify his plans for national health care, making Gupta a high profile spokesman for the plan. Gupta is TV friendly and known to many people with an interest in health care, but Dean is no slouch when it comes to communicating over the idiot box. Additionally, Dean is far better known than Gupta and would have made a solid and authoritative advocate for national health care. 

I’m pretty supportive of the picks Obama has made for his cabinet so far but I’m upset that Dean isn’t among them. All the choice high profile slots are filled at this point and Dean is out in the cold. Unless Obama turns to Dean in the near future I think it’s becoming increasingly obvious that he intends to turn his back on the man who paved the way to his ultimate victory. That’s a very shabby way to treat Dean IMO.

For what it’s worth, here’s the email I was trying to send:

I am deeply concerned about the violent and potentially dangerous atmosphere that Senator McCain seems to be encouraging amongst his supporters. The continued insinuation that Senator Obama consorts with terrorists, that his name brands him an outsider and that he places his personal ambitions above the good of the nation create an environment in which the risk of violence becomes very real.

My father, Harold Hughes, was an associate editor at the Portland Oregonian for many years. Previous to becoming an editor, my father covered national politics for the paper. While working in that capacity, he covered the assassinations of both John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy. In fact, he was standing just a few feet away from Robert Kennedy when he was shot. I have a deep awareness of the events that led up to these two heinous killings and I see disturbing similarities between what happened then and what’s happening at Senator McCain and Governor Palin’s campaign rallies. It is my reasoned opinion that the creation of a mob mentality in order to curry favor with radical elements is reckless and that silence from the McCain campaign on this issue represents tacit approval of this behavior.

I’m calling on you and on my Congressman David Wu to join with your Republican counterparts and publicly denounce this escalation of harmful rhetoric. We must demand that the McCain campaign address this issue by telling their supporters that shouting “terrorist,” “traitor,” and “kill him” at rallies is unacceptable and does not represent the kind of values that the candidate and this nation stand for. The threat posed by fomenting this level of anger impacts not just Senator Obama but every man and woman who seeks public office. It is of vital importance that our public officials understand that they have a fundemental moral responsibility to speak out against this and do everything in their power to defuse the situation. The last thing this nation needs, particularly in this time of world economic crisis, is a repeat of the disasters of the JFK and RFK assassinations. If we as a community fail to make our opposition to violent rhetoric heard, we will have blood on our collective hands should the unthinkable come to pass.

Thank you for taking the time to read my letter.

-Christopher G. Hughes