Time Capsule
Vintage Personalized Wristwatches & the Stories They Tell
"You never actually own a watch...You merely look after it for the next generation"
Click any Photo above to read their Time Capsule stories....
New Stories –- April 2022
Time Capsule: Lt. George Hatch– British WW1 Pilot Killed in Action Good Friday 1917
Lt. George John Hatch (1896–1917) was a WW1 Royal Flying Corps aerial reconnaissance pilot who was killed in action over France by German war ace Lieutenant Wilhelm Frankl on Good Friday (April 6) 1917. George’s death was part of the “Bloody April 1917” offensive; the British lost 250 aircraft, and some 400 airmen had become casualties.
His name is memorialized as part of a 1922 monument built by his Stockwell neighborhood in London; 574 men from Stockwell were killed in WW1.
(You can also find his story on the <WW1> menu above…)
New Stories –- March 2022
Time Capsule: Lt. John P. Sigman – WW2 Guadalcanal Marine Pilot & His 1942 Elgin
Lt. John Phillip Sigman (1918-2004) was a WW2 Marine pilot in the famed VMF-212 “Hell Hounds” squadron, who fought as part of the Guadalcanal Cactus Air Force in the Fall of 1942.
His squadron, flying Grumman F4F Wildcats, shot down over 60 Japanese planes; Sigman was credited with at least four kills. Lt. Sigman was awarded five Distinguished Flying Crosses (DFCs) and 11 Air Medals for participating in more than 70 flights against the Japanese while serving in Guadalcanal, Guam, Manilla & China.
(You can also find his story on the <WW2 / Cold War> menu above…)
WW1 Trench Watches
WW2/Cold War Military Watches
Athletes Watches
Presentation/Personal Watches
The Time Capsule Collection of Vintage Watches
Bob Stokes
I have spent my entire life collecting something. 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.
Why? First, through the miracle of the Internet, the lives of the original owners have have been documented and preserved -- military heroes; athletes; community leaders. Second, each watch is unique -- it is the only one in the world. If you don't buy it, no amount of money can get it for you. And third, when I research the owner's family, I can return it to them for posterity.
"You never actually own a watch....you merely look after it for the next generation"
A small Marine Corps Eagle, Globe, & Anchor insignia was a welded to his band