The story of a heroic wristwatch

I am a man that rarely wears a wristwatch. I depend on asking someone or checking my smartphones for the current time. I do not know why but the last time I remember wearing a watch was almost 25 years ago.

Almost two years ago, a friend of mine, came from abroad to settle here in Greece. In return for helping him with some matters here, he bought and gave me a wristwatch. It was the most beautiful watch I have ever seen! Leather band, faux gold plated, classic style. So cute that I have not tempted to wear it, so I left it on my desk to see it. I only photographed it with different cameras, just to have a lovely photo (this one is taken with an iPhone 6s and a macro lens attached, and it is my favourite). It looked astonishing on my desk.

After a while, my 4-year-old daughter asked me to go walking. For the first time, something inside me (others name it "intuition", others "fate") I mechanically took the watch and wore it. I am pretty sure that I didn't know how and why I did it... But thank God I did it.

We were walking and talking and laughing that day. But things changed as we were passing a road full of buildings. While we were talking, I heard suddenly a voice from above shouting "My God"! My eyes glanced a large ceramic flower pot falling from a 5th-floor balcony. Instantly I kneeled in front of my daughter and covered her face with my hand.

Excessive noise and a rain full of ceramic blades succeeded the breaking of the pot on the pavement. I felt a lot of pieces hitting me violently, and my only thought was my child. When everything calmed down, I opened my eyes. What I saw was beyond my imagination: a blade-style ceramic has hit my watch, shattered the glass and nailed on the panel. The wristwatch was precisely in front of the right eye of my little daughter! I needed almost a minute to take my eyes off of my wrist, realising how close we were to have a severe accident!

People came near to see if we were all right, as the pot fell less than 2 meters away from us. Car windows that were near the point of impact where broken. Pieces were stuck on trees and walls. I left with a lot of scratches and bruises on my neck and arms, but, most important, nothing touched my little girl.

I never fixed the watch. I still have it on my desk to remind me that day. Without glass, without the shard, along with my gratitude to keep that incident in my mind.