Newly Minted

I’ve been a collector all of my life. Miniatures, dolls, rocks, coins, records, stamps… you name it, at some point I had a tiny museum dedicated to it. Even my watch collection has a sub genre dedicated to my other interests.

Meet my newest watch, a coin watch with a 1964 American half dollar! Numanistics is still a bit of a hobby of mine (though I no longer make my parents drive me to flea markets in search of pennies from every year that Canada has been a country) and I have been in search of an affordable coin watch for a couple of years now.

The history of coin watches goes way back. People have used currency in jewelry since the first coins were minted. What better way to flaunt an object’s value than to wear a ring made of a sovereign or a necklaces festooned with doubloons? In horology, the well-to-do used to fashion pocket watch cases out of gold coins. In 1955, Corum famously introduced a wristwatch made from a $20 gold coin. My new, no name watch was no doubt inspired by that watch.

I believe this dial is a real coin—you can make out a bit of engraving and the coin edge on the back. I lucked out because even though it has a base metal case and acrylic crystal, it still in very good cosmetic condition. And it keeps good time. It now joins my Tissot Rock Watch and Bill Blass stamp watch as examples of my hobby within a hobby.