Haunted Watch

I can’t believe that I never told you the story of my haunted watch.

It was an Omega Ladymatic. I got it at an antique store in Leslieville that no longer exists. It was a cute little cocktail watch notable for having what was the smallest automatic movement ever made.

I can’t remember all the details about it and I can’t find a picture of it. I do recall that it was white gold plated and that it had an inscription on the back. One of those “to Jane Doe for 50 years of service at Bell Canada.”

I don’t remember these details because I sold the watch a long time ago because it was haunted.

It worked just fine. It fit just fine. I have no metal sensitivities. And as I mentioned before, it was teeny tiny so it wasn’t a weight issue. Yet every time I wore the watch, my wrist would start to ache. If I wore it for more than a few hours, the pain would radiate up my arm and my veins would darken.

It actually felt like poison was running through my veins.

It always took a few hours for the feeling to disappear after I took the watch off my wrist. But it would return every time I wore it. Every single time.

So I sold it on eBay. I did not mention the eerie sensation and I felt kind of bad. I thought about following up with the buyer to see if they too felt what I felt. But I did not because I felt both guilty and slightly ridiculous for believing that an inanimate object could be possessed by a malevolent spirit.

I had my theories about who’s spirit was inhabiting the watch. I know that in the old days, employers frequently fired pregnant women. When I worked in a factory, there were a few women there who told me that women used to get fired just for getting married. At that time, the only ladies who reached the 50 year club were women who never married.

So I imagined that Jane Doe was a woman who never has kids. And without heirs, when she died, her treasured belongings were unceremoniously dispersed. And by haunting that timepiece, she would not be so easily forgotten.

Probably an overly dramatic theory. The explanation could also be as simple as the design of the watch applied pressure to the wrist in just the wrong spot so that it made my arm feel achey. We will never know.

As mentioned, I don’t have a picture of the watch, but here’s a photo of another Omega that I sold and am still haunted by the memory of it.