Watches, Pens, and the Craft of Analog Living
Ellen Ashford · July 10, 2026
The first time I picked up a scratchy fountain pen, I assumed something was broken. I’d just started collecting seriously, and my new Pilot Metropolitan was catching on every upstroke like sandpaper on silk. I almost returned it. What I didn’t know yet is that tuning and smoothing a scratchy nib is one of the … Read more
Ellen Ashford · July 9, 2026
A few years ago, I nearly paid $1,400 for a Rolex Datejust that turned out to be a patchwork nightmare. The dial was genuine. The case was not. The movement had been swapped for a cheaper ETA caliber, and the bracelet was a mismatched aftermarket piece worth maybe $40. Knowing how to spot the fake … Read more
Ellen Ashford · July 9, 2026
The first time I saw a moonphase watch complication in person, I was at a small estate sale in Portland. A Patek Philippe Calatrava sat inside a scratched display case, its little crescent moon peeking out from the dial like it had somewhere important to be. I didn’t buy it — the price was firmly … Read more
Ellen Ashford · July 8, 2026
If you’ve ever held a journal page up to the light and seen a ghostly shadow of yesterday’s entry bleeding through, you already know the frustration. Ghosting and show-through are two of the most common complaints I hear from fellow journalers — and honestly, they tripped me up for years before I understood what was … Read more
Ellen Ashford · July 8, 2026
The most common question I get from new fountain pen owners isn’t about nibs or inks — it’s about clogs. Specifically, why their pen stopped writing after sitting for two weeks. I’ve been there. Learning how to clean a fountain pen and prevent clogs properly changed everything about how I interact with my collection. Before … Read more
Ellen Ashford · July 7, 2026
The first time I crossed four time zones in a single week, I was wearing a beautiful dress watch with exactly one hand problem: it only told one time. I kept doing mental arithmetic in hotel lobbies, miscalculating call times, and showing up mentally twelve hours off from everyone I was supposed to meet. That … Read more
Ellen Ashford · July 6, 2026
I used to stuff pens into my jacket pocket like a disorganized grad student. Clips tangled. Caps fell off inside my bag. One morning I pulled out my Pilot Custom 74 to find the nib had caught on a notebook spiral and bent clean sideways. That was a $120 mistake I will never make again. … Read more
Ellen Ashford · July 6, 2026
The first time someone handed me a chronograph and said “just press the button,” I pressed the wrong one. The hands flew in the wrong direction, the seconds reset unexpectedly, and I stood there genuinely confused in front of a very patient watchmaker. That memory still makes me cringe. If you’ve ever stared at a … Read more
Ellen Ashford · July 5, 2026
The first watch I ever bought with intention cost me $47 at a flea market in Cincinnati. It was a beat-up Seiko 5 with a scratched crystal and a bracelet that pinched arm hair. I wore it every single day for two years. That watch taught me more about building a beginner watch collection on … Read more
Ellen Ashford · July 5, 2026
The automatic-versus-hand-wind debate has followed me for a decade. I hear it at every watch meet, read it in every forum thread, and honestly? Most of the answers I’ve seen miss the point entirely. People treat it like a binary — like one is objectively better — when the real answer depends entirely on how … Read more