Watches, Pens, and the Craft of Analog Living
Ellen Ashford Ellen Ashford · July 30, 2026
The search itself was for something else entirely — a backup bottle of Diamine Oxblood I could have sworn I’d tucked behind the row of notebooks on my top shelf. My fingers found spiral binding and softened corners instead. Going back through old entries had genuinely never been part of my routine before; I only … Read more
Ellen Ashford · July 29, 2026
What Happens Before the Caseback Ever Comes Off Almost every new collector assumes a watch’s ticking is just ambient noise — something you eventually stop hearing altogether. That assumption is backwards. The very first thing I do with any watch I don’t already know is bring it to my ear and shut my eyes. It’s … Read more
Ellen Ashford · July 28, 2026
My eyes go straight to the shoebox before I’ve even scanned the rest of a garage sale table. Taped shut, marker-scrawled, wedged under some card table between a dead clock and a stack of paperback thrillers — that’s the box I want. Last June I handed over three dollars for one labeled “PENS + STUFF” … Read more
Ellen Ashford · July 27, 2026
The Watch That Started This Habit Don’t touch a hazy acrylic crystal with anything you grabbed from under the sink — that’s the warning, and here’s why it matters. Seven years back, a 1974 Seiko 5 came home with me from an estate sale for twenty-two dollars. Inside, everything was right: a 21-jewel caliber 7009 … Read more
Ellen Ashford · July 26, 2026
Right now, on the desk in front of me, sits a Parker 51 I handed over $340 for at an estate sale — the seller’s word was “bargain,” my husband’s word for it was considerably less flattering. Uncap it, ink it, and set the hooded nib against a sheet of Rhodia, and you’ll feel exactly … Read more
Ellen Ashford · July 26, 2026
A Locked Drawer Came Down From the Attic With Everything Else The desk itself I was ready for — three pieces wrapped in moving blankets that reeked of cedar and old wool, exactly what you’d expect from an attic in November. What caught me off guard was the shallow center drawer, still locked, with a … Read more
Ellen Ashford · July 25, 2026
Two Metropolitans, one Safari, and a stranger’s pen sitting on my kitchen table — that’s how this whole mess started. A woman across a coffee shop table once picked up my Pilot Metropolitan, scratched out three words, and made a face. “This feels rough,” she said. “Mine’s way smoother.” Hers was a Lamy Safari, medium … Read more
Ellen Ashford · July 25, 2026
The Drawer Where My Grandfather’s Watch Waited Here’s a piece of conventional wisdom I no longer buy: that locking a sentimental heirloom away in a drawer counts as “taking care of it.” It doesn’t. It’s closer to slow neglect dressed up as caution, and my grandfather’s watch is the proof. It showed up with zero … Read more
Ellen Ashford · July 24, 2026
Sixty-two dollars changed hands at a flea market table for a pen that, frankly, I could’ve bought new for less — and that transaction is what got me thinking about this whole tier of collecting in the first place. By the time you’ve filled a stack of notebooks with entries from my under-$50 picks, you … Read more
Ellen Ashford · July 24, 2026
So you’ve got a Lamy 2000 sitting on the desk, or maybe a Pelikan M400 someone gave as a graduation present — and the question nagging at you is what pencil could possibly sit next to it without looking wrong. The fountain pen itself isn’t the problem. Metal barrel, weighted just right, the sort of … Read more