Old father Timex

As it’s Hogmanay, I decided to blip about time as shown by my three Timex watches. 

The one on the left is my wonderful Peanuts watch which Martin got me for Christmas this year. It’s a fully automatic one and keeps wound up by arm movements. The middle one Martin got me a few Christmases ago, which I love, and it’s a mechanical one, which I wind up daily. Both these watches are part of their Marlin range.

The final one, on the left is my first ever watch which, I got it probably fifty years plus ago and it still works. Again, it’s mechanical and was made at the Timex factory (long gone now) in Dundee. I have many memories associated with this watch and I’m amazed how it still goes, which I put down to it being produced by skilled hardworking Scottish workers! 

Worth noting that this factory went through a bitter industrial dispute in 1993, considered by historians to be the last of the large industrial disputes of late 20th century Britain. The dispute primarily centred around the decline of mechanical to digital watches and the requirement for workers to adapt to new ways of working. Added to this that it became cheaper to made digital watches in the far east was final death knell for the factory. It closed in 1993 after a bitter six month dispute. 

The General Secretary of the AEEU Union who represented the workers, described the factory closure as: "a great tragedy for Dundee and for Scotland, and indeed for the UK".

Just what you want to hear about on Hogmanay…an industrial dispute. 

Anyway, the watches and clocks continue to tick away to the new year, and I wish you and you family all the best for 2025 when it comes.