When I was in 8 years old, I was gifted my first mechanical watch. For the most part, it was a toy. It had a bubble half dome acrylic crystal which housed a tiny airplane second hand. That airplane would fly over a cartoonish map of the United States printed on the dial below it. It came complete with a red metallic band that I could stretch over my tiny wrists. It brought me hours of joy.

From that watch, I graduated into many others: the Casio Calculator for my nerdy and awkward junior high years; the Two-Tone Tag Heuer for the “too-cool for school” preppy fraternity president college years; the first of many G-Shocks for my sporty and West Coast rap early 20s; and my first Baume & Mercier stainless steel dress watch on a stainless-steel bracelet for my first day as an attorney.