Higgins' watch

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SouthEastAsiaTX
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Re: Higgins' watch

#16 Post by SouthEastAsiaTX »

Maybe Higgin's Seiko digital watch was a nod to the Seikos worn by James Bond in "The Spy Who Loved Me" (1977), "Moonraker" (1979), "For Your Eyes Only" (1981), "Octopussy" (1983), and "A View to a Kill" (1985). Google "james bond seikos" and you'll see plenty of Seiko digital watches of the type Higgins wore. Seiko was an early quartz movement innovator and most of the Bond watches were not cheap in their first iterations. It strikes me as the perfect watch for Higgins as a master of spycraft formerly in service to the Queen, especially in that era (1980-88).

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Luther's nephew Dobie
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#17 Post by Luther's nephew Dobie »

MaximRecoil wrote:
Bondtoys.de wrote:I don't think that I'll have to explain in which context the mentioned line was used by you.
Yes, I think you will have to, if you are under the impression that there is some context which alters the plain English meaning of my sentence. I knew no one in the '80s in Higgins' age range with a digital watch, and that is a fact, period.
So, people in Higgins age had this kind of watches back then - hope that we can finally agree on this ;)
Say what? I never claimed, suggested, nor even hinted otherwise. Of course there were people in the '80s in Higgins' age range with a digital watch. I said that I didn't know any of them. This suggests that it was uncommon. It does not suggest, nor even hint, that it never happened anywhere in the world.

Hi Maxim,
You were correct about not many men of Higgin's years wearing a digital watch back in the 80's.
It would have been a sign, at least in certain older, elite eastern circles you were not a serious person, spurning the classic lines and solid reliability of a time piece for a shiny metallic toy showing mere numbers, "kid stuff". People think like that, or they used to, businessmen educated in the 1930's and who by the time of Higgin's watch were on top of the heap.
I don't give a hoot about fashion either way, but in my humble opinion one doesnt see many digital watches anymore. Watches may be on their way out anyway what with the new Apple gizmo attached to one's wrist.

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Re: Higgins' watch

#18 Post by Mad Kudu Buck »

This is an old thread, but I'd like to give my opinion on this...

You have to consider the time period. When Higgins bought his watch, it was the 70's, not the 80's. At this time, quartz watches were not the cheap junk watches they became in the 80's (and throwaway plastic trash of the 90's). They were more expensive, better made and still a novel technology. Yes, Higgins was a classical-type guy and you'd expect such a guy to have a classical mechanical watch, but he was also an exacting, precise ex-military guy. Quartz was (and is) far more accurate and reliable.

Also, Higgins' digital watch apparently had dual time zones - handy for when he needed to know the time in London. :wink:

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Re: Higgins' watch

#19 Post by rgholmes »

Mad Kudu Buck wrote:This is an old thread, but I'd like to give my opinion on this...

:wink:
Quite.

I remember Christmas '78 or '79 when my father (35 years old and a British Army Reserves vet) and my great-uncle (60 year old WWII British Army vet) both received digital watches. I was so jealous!

These watches were seen as status symbols as well as being precise-the same reason a Rolex or other classic analog watch was worn during the war.

Don't forget, these watches also had an alarm and a light so they could be seen at night-another big deal at the time.

My uncle has since passed, but my dad (now 72) now wears an Apple Watch, but he still has a nice analog watch for formal occasions.
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Re: Higgins' watch

#20 Post by 308GUY »

rgholmes wrote:
Mad Kudu Buck wrote:This is an old thread, but I'd like to give my opinion on this...

:wink:
Quite.

I remember Christmas '78 or '79 when my father (35 years old and a British Army Reserves vet) and my great-uncle (60 year old WWII British Army vet) both received digital watches. I was so jealous!

These watches were seen as status symbols as well as being precise-the same reason a Rolex or other classic analog watch was worn during the war.

Don't forget, these watches also had an alarm and a light so they could be seen at night-another big deal at the time.

My uncle has since passed, but my dad (now 72) now wears an Apple Watch, but he still has a nice analog watch for formal occasions.
Very pertinent input and sheds new light on an older topic. Maybe you have some stories from your unlcle and/or father of their service experience you might share?

Oh, and BTW, welcome to the forum! Always glad to see new names/faces and I haven't been here all that long myself compared to some.

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Re: Higgins' watch

#21 Post by waverly2211 »

Mad Kudu Buck wrote:This is an old thread, but I'd like to give my opinion on this...

You have to consider the time period. When Higgins bought his watch, it was the 70's, not the 80's. At this time, quartz watches were not the cheap junk watches they became in the 80's (and throwaway plastic trash of the 90's). They were more expensive, better made and still a novel technology. Yes, Higgins was a classical-type guy and you'd expect such a guy to have a classical mechanical watch, but he was also an exacting, precise ex-military guy. Quartz was (and is) far more accurate and reliable.

Also, Higgins' digital watch apparently had dual time zones - handy for when he needed to know the time in London. :wink:
I would bet Higgins used the watch so he could know what time it was in Hawaii and set the other time to the time zone of where Robin was.

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Re: Higgins' watch

#22 Post by Styles Bitchley »

waverly2211 wrote:
I would bet Higgins used the watch so he could know what time it was in Hawaii and set the other time to the time zone of where Robin was.
Astute observation! You must have Majordomo experience.
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Re: Higgins' watch

#23 Post by rgholmes »

Maybe you have some stories from your unlcle and/or father of their service experience you might share?
Uncle Sam was a mortuary assistant during the war. He helped with recovery and processing of bodies in London. He had great finish carpentry skills from building coffins.

Every Christmas I would get him to tell the story of how he and a brand new partner were collecting a soldier who dies in his sleep from the upper floor of a horel when the partner leading the way back down the stairs bumped the stretcher into a wall and the body burped because of the gases being released.

His partner dropped front of the stretcher and ran! Uncle Sam would sit back in his chair and smile and add, "I never saw him again...as far as I know, he's still running."
"Because it's HOW you make the transitions that's as important as making them."
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Re: Higgins' watch

#24 Post by Styles Bitchley »

rgholmes wrote:
Uncle Sam was a mortuary assistant during the war. He helped with recovery and processing of bodies in London. He had great finish carpentry skills from building coffins.

Every Christmas I would get him to tell the story of how he and a brand new partner were collecting a soldier who dies in his sleep from the upper floor of a horel when the partner leading the way back down the stairs bumped the stretcher into a wall and the body burped because of the gases being released.

His partner dropped front of the stretcher and ran! Uncle Sam would sit back in his chair and smile and add, "I never saw him again...as far as I know, he's still running."
I just cracked up and snorted my morning coffee through my nose. Thanks! :lol:
"How fiendishly deceptive of you Magnum. I could have sworn I was hearing the emasculation of a large rodent."

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308GUY
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Re: Higgins' watch

#25 Post by 308GUY »

Great story RG! Thanks for sharing.

Would welcome any others you have you'd care to share in the future.

Looking at your log-in, shows you're in Rockville MD....just wondering if you know/know of, a Jim Sutter, also of Rockville, MD. He was the founder-owner/operator of IRM, a specialty car company that centered around the Pontiac Fiero. Last I knew, he was operating out of a converted indoor horse arena that he turned into his business. He had a stroke some years ago and sold off just about everything he had, that's how I know him. We bought all of his fiberglass molds for the Fiero's. Just curious, I know Rockville's not exactly a "small" town, but at one time he was fairly high profile. Before and during his tenure as Fiero expert, he ran a large electrical contracting business. They did a lot of work in D.C. from what I remember.

Anyway....either way....thanks for sharing your unc's story with us! :magnum:
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Re: Higgins' watch

#26 Post by rgholmes »

Sorry, I haven't been here that long. We PCS'd here July of last year from Camp Lejeune.

Wow, I haven't thought about a Fiero in a while!
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Re: Higgins' watch

#27 Post by K Hale »

waverly2211 wrote:
Mad Kudu Buck wrote:This is an old thread, but I'd like to give my opinion on this...

You have to consider the time period. When Higgins bought his watch, it was the 70's, not the 80's. At this time, quartz watches were not the cheap junk watches they became in the 80's (and throwaway plastic trash of the 90's). They were more expensive, better made and still a novel technology. Yes, Higgins was a classical-type guy and you'd expect such a guy to have a classical mechanical watch, but he was also an exacting, precise ex-military guy. Quartz was (and is) far more accurate and reliable.

Also, Higgins' digital watch apparently had dual time zones - handy for when he needed to know the time in London. :wink:
I would bet Higgins used the watch so he could know what time it was in Hawaii and set the other time to the time zone of where Robin was.
^ No doubt.

Also, Higgins used the alarm on his watch (seen in "Photo Play") and there were several instances where he looked at it and pressed a button that was probably the light display to make it light up so he could see it easier without his glasses.

Higgins wears no jewelry, not even a ring, so I can see why he would want a practical and (at that time) rather pricey and technologically advanced watch instead of something fancier or more attractive. That sort of thing apparently did not matter to him. Also, someone asked earlier about a pocket watch. He wears one in "Deja Vu" for sure, but I can't recall offhand seeing it in other episodes. Although that's not to say it didn't appear.

As an aside, Hillerman in real life was quite a "gadget guru" as far as electronics so that might explain why someone his age in the 1980s would wear a digital watch. In Manetti's book he says JH was the first person he knew who owned a cell phone.
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Re: Higgins' watch

#28 Post by Mad Kudu Buck »

K Hale wrote: Also, Higgins used the alarm on his watch (seen in "Photo Play") [...]
Well that's odd... considering that his watch doesn't have an alarm. It only has a light and dual time zone. Possibly, by that time (6th season) he had a different model.

That would have been one of the advantages of having a digital watch though. Mechanical watches rarely have alarms and the ones that do are usually extremely expensive.

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Re: Higgins' watch

#29 Post by K Hale »

Mad Kudu Buck wrote:
K Hale wrote: Also, Higgins used the alarm on his watch (seen in "Photo Play") [...]
Well that's odd... considering that his watch doesn't have an alarm. It only has a light and dual time zone. Possibly, by that time (6th season) he had a different model.

That would have been one of the advantages of having a digital watch though. Mechanical watches rarely have alarms and the ones that do are usually extremely expensive.
I just checked the scene and can't tell if it's the same watch as that one. But it definitely beeps right after they get done talking about Owen Kirk. Higgins presses a button on it and says it's time for the 32nd frame to start in his snooker game.

Also, the button he presses is not the stem one in that photo. It's further towards the band.
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Re: Higgins' watch

#30 Post by Mad Kudu Buck »

K Hale wrote:Higgins presses a button on it and says it's time for the 32nd frame to start in his snooker game.
That reminds me - that's another thing I have in common with Higgins: I've always been a "snooker snob" and looked down on people that preferred to play the simpler 8-ball. :higgins:

(Even worse is the annoying 9-ball or pathetically simple "straight pool". I never actually played "straight pool" in my life and always thought that term meant 8-ball.)

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