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Editors' Picks HODINKEE Staffers Share Their Fathers' Watches

Now that we're all grown up, we – the men and women of HODINKEE – live and breathe watches. Here are the pieces we saw our dads wearing when we were impressionable little kids. It's a reminder to all you dads out there: Teach the children well!

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This is not a story about the best watches out there. Or the most important ones. This is simply a story about the watches our fathers wore (or still wear, in some cases). The ones we remember seeing on their wrists as they helped us with our homework or taught us how to flip a pancake or hustled us into the car so we could get to the airport three hours before our flight.

Chelsea Beeler, Operations Manager
A man at a table

Dan Beeler before becoming a "watch guy."

In 2000, my dad became a State Farm agent and was well on his way to becoming a "watch guy." Getting to this point in his career was no easy feat, so to celebrate the achievement of going into business for himself, he purchased a Rolex Sea-Dweller. A few years later, every watch person's worst nightmare became a reality for him, and his Sea-Dweller was looted from a gym locker. In this case, the idea that you never really own a watch was a very difficult pill to swallow.

These kinds of stories are always heart-wrenching, and this was a gutting loss, no doubt, but being in the insurance biz and having the smarts paid off – his watch was covered, and through filing a claim he was able to get it replaced with the model he wears to this day.

Rolex Sea Dweller

The Sea-Dweller, free from Chelsea's mother's clutches ... for now.

To say my dad is a "one-watch" guy, however, is far from the truth. Fast-forward to 2018: I started working at HODINKEE, which was directly inspired by his love for watches. Over the course of the past four years, a modest collection has blossomed into a full-blown zoo, and the Beelers have really leaned into the mindset that watches are meant to be shared. My mom wears the Sea-Dweller on a leather strap in the colder months, and the last time my dad visited me in Brooklyn he picked up my John Mayer G-Shock and said, "I'm taking this." Sure, having your watch stolen is different when it's lifted by a sticky-fingered family member, but through my dad, I've learned it's true – you never really own a watch.

Kaan Oguz, Video Editor
A man in front of a watch stall

Ramazan Karatay, Kaan's grandfather

My story isn't about one watch, but many. My grandfather, Ramazan Karatay, earned his bread and butter by selling watches and clocks out of his shop in the historic Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. After finishing elementary school in his rural community in southern Turkey, he moved to the big city where he first found a humble living by selling miscellaneous items such as razors and lighters in open-air markets, and slowly was able to accumulate enough capital for his shop and watch collection. I'm very grateful for the sacrifices he took to set my family up with more opportunities than he had. 

Matt Elrod, Pricing Specialist
Two people on a playing card

There isn't a watch in this photo of Matt's parents, but it is simply too good not to include. 

I can't say my dad was ever a "watch guy." I do remember him wearing one when I was child, but not so much as I got older.  However, being on-time has always been very important to him. He is also very generous with his time, as well. A couple years ago he turned 60 years old and I thought a watch would make a pretty good gift for such a significant birthday but had to keep it reasonable as far as cost is concerned. Most people reading this know that you can always spend more on a watch. After giving it a lot of thought, I decided on a Hamilton Khaki King on bracelet. Not only is it a good-looking, well-made watch, it also has the same name as his oldest grandson. He said that he's had to get used to wearing a watch again, but almost always has it on when I see him. Happy Father's Day!

Hamilton Khaki watch

Behold, the Hamilton Matt gifted his dad! 

Ashley Kinder, Site Merchandising Director
A man wearing a watch feeds a baby

When I think back, I don't remember my dad ever wearing a watch – it was only when I started working at HODINKEE that I noticed a few different watches on his wrist in old photos from my childhood. This watch had caught my eye before, and I recently came across the above image that allowed me to finally identify it as a Swatch Coconut Grove GB120. I've loved finding out that my dad used to wear watches, especially one with extremely '80s pink and teal hands. Apparently, he stopped wearing a watch when cell phones became ubiquitous – now I have a goal to get one back onto his wrist soon.

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Mark Hackman, Watch Buyer
A family of four in front of a fence

Mark's family in the 1970s. Watch unknown. 

My dad is more of a practical man than I am when it comes to watches. The luxury pieces that I lust after are just not his jam. However, he has always worn a watch, and it has almost always been a G-shock. Growing up, I wanted to be just like my dad and wear a watch just like he did. During a trip up the Florida coast, we went into a Ron-Jon Surf Shop where I begged him to buy me my first watch, a Green Tea Shark Freestyle. This was the first of what was to be a very long list of watches for me. As for my dad, he kept to one watch at a time. For nearly 20 years he has been wearing the same G-shock, an MTG-930. With its timing updates over multiband 6, water resistance and shock resistance, the MTG G-shock is perfect for a man who chooses pragmatism over extravagance, efficiency over luxury. Because of my dad's loyalty to the brand, I have always made sure to have a G-Shock or two in my watch collection.

A couple at the beach

John and Susie Hackman at the beach, with John's G-Shock on his wrist. 

Elana Kay, VP Of Brand Partnerships
A woman and her father embrace

My father doesn't have an expensive or significant watch. When it comes to telling time he is all about clarity, reliability, and utility.  He is currently wearing a Casio that meets all those requirements perfectly. The time, day, and date are very visible and he gets all that information in one quick glance. 

My father was born in 1939 in what is now Belarus. He survived the Holocaust and then spent two years in a DP camp. He came to America in 1948 on a ship called the Marine Flasher. His family is the most important thing to him. He would never buy himself something expensive or fancy, but it was very important to him that my mother and all six of us children had beautiful things. I guess if I had to say what makes my father's watch significant to me is that it exemplifies who he is. Reliable, hardworking with a clarity of purpose, always: To take care of his family and give us everything and every opportunity he didn't have.

A Casio watch on a wrist
Jonathan McWhorter, Video Producer
A couple in a living room

My dad never wore a watch. He doesn't even wear his wedding ring. But his Rolex, which I've never once seen him wear, changed how I think about watches. Shortly after my folks were married, my mom bought my dad a Datejust 16220 with a gray tapestry dial, engine-turned bezel, Jubilee bracelet. No bull, just like Dad. I didn't know this watch even existed until I was well into my 20s and already developing my own enthusiasm for watches. I barely understood what a Rolex was when I learned that there was one in the house! Still, to me, watches were nothing more than an interesting thing to put on your wrist and maybe collect if one was so lucky.

Then I saw this photo and something happened. (You can't even fully see the watch, but that Jubilee can be recognized a mile away.) I realized that a watch has the ability to connect you to someone or someplace well beyond the present moment – whether that be Albert Santos Dumont flying his cloth airplanes or my parents at Fulton County Stadium watching the Atlanta Braves, years before they even knew my name. 

And here, now, a watch that I never would have been interested in myself is now the most precious that I've been privileged to wear, no matter how my collection grows or where my professional life takes me. I realized that, eventually, my own watch could extend beyond myself to reach people and places I can't even imagine yet, which has in turn caused me to be just a bit more thoughtful about my own choices, and not just in watches.

So this is kind of a thank you letter, Dad. I've learned so much already, and still more to learn. I've learned so much from you, both indirectly and by example; the way you treat other people, the way you treat Mom, the way you go about your work, and to think ahead to the consequences of my actions. All of which have made me who I am. This watch is a symbol of our relationship as a whole. I am definitely my father's son. Happy Father's Day.

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The HODINKEE Shop is an authorized retailer of Casio, G-Shock, and Hamilton watches.