Watches, Pens, and the Craft of Analog Living
Ellen Ashford · August 5, 2026
The Routine That Keeps Ten Watches Running Without a Single Tool Purchase I own ten watches. At any given moment, three of them are being worn regularly, two are rotating through the weekly tray, and five are sitting in the box doing absolutely nothing. For years, that was fine — until it wasn’t. Building a … 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 18, 2026
Never wrap a watch in a sock and call it packed — that’s the short version of a $60 lesson I learned the hard way. At twenty-six, cocky and completely clueless about what a rolling suitcase does to an exposed case back, I flew into Portland only to find a hairline scratch cut across the … Read more
Ellen Ashford · July 11, 2026
The week between Christmas and New Year’s is when calls like this start coming in: a neighbor presses his late grandfather’s Omega Seamaster into my hands, convinced it just needs a fresh battery. It takes a minute to explain — as gently as I can manage — that a mechanical watch has never run on … Read more
Ellen Ashford · July 9, 2026
Nearly every new collector assumes that if a watch’s most visible parts check out — a correct-looking dial, a case that seems right — everything underneath follows along honestly. That assumption is exactly how I came within a signature of handing over $1,400 for a Rolex Datejust built from spare parts pretending to be a … Read more
Ellen Ashford · June 30, 2026
Don’t get leather wet. That’s the blunt version of a lesson that cost me an entire strap and a fair amount of pride. I had a gorgeous cognac leather band strapped to a dive watch, wore it kayaking on the Chesapeake, and by the time I dragged the boat back onto the sand the leather … Read more
Ellen Ashford · June 24, 2026
My case backs used to carry the scars of my own impatience. Nothing about a spring bar tool is complicated in theory, but in practice I’d end up hunched at my desk for the better part of ten frustrated minutes, loupe pressed to one eye, gouging a fresh scratch into the metal with every third … Read more