Time Capsule
Vintage Personalized Wristwatches & the Stories They Tell
"You never actually own a watch...You merely look after it for the next generation" *
New Stories -- April 2021:
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Please click this photo to read the story of a decorated WW1 Marine Hero and his 1941 Hamilton Wilshire presentation watch. It was given to Col. Frank Whitehead as Commandant of the Army Industrial College.
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The watch was just returned to Col. Whitehead’s cousin, Gale Heslop. Gale – his family’s historian -- had recently completed a 500-page biography of Whitehead, and knew nothing about the Hamilton until I contacted him.
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As you will read, Brigadier General Whitehead died in 1950; this watch was given to Russ McCaig, a fellow Marine who served as his medic at the Bethesda Naval Hospital. When Russ died in 2000, he passed it on to Jeff Stephan, his friend and Marine veteran. I purchased the watch from Jeff in January 2021.
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Semper Fi.
* Thank you, Patek Philippe....
Click this photo (or <Presentation / Personal> menu above) for the story of Alaska Gold Rush Pioneer Arthur Lutro and his 1947 Lord Elgin presentation watch.
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I just returned the watch to Arthur’s grandsons David & Mark Young.
WW1 Trench Watches
WW2/Cold War Military Watches
Athletes Watches
Presentation/Personal Watches
The Time Capsule Collection of Vintage Watches
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Bob Stokes
I have spent my entire life collecting something. It naturally started out with 1950s baseball cards (yup, I had all the Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays cards...) -- and of course my Mom threw them all out when I went to college. Over the next fifty years, that morphed into Victorian Furniture, Victor Talking Machines / Nipper collectibles, 19th Century Advertising; Opera memorabilia – and finally, vintage personalized wristwatches.
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I'm still building my Time Capsule website -- I will be continuing to add new stories from my 40+ watch collection....so please keep coming back!
