There are some things in life we often take for granted, like how clean our streets are, how there will always be cheap prices at that store that’s always hanging a “Closing Down Sale” banner but never does, or even something as mundane as the durability of that trusty timepiece you wear every day. You see, I’ve never imagined that last point to ever make much of a difference in my life; after all, the odds of striking that $8m Toto prize must surely be more than something untoward happening to my watch, no?

Let’s just say that I started seeing things in a different light last week on my daily commute to the office (i.e. being squeezed on the MRT while having all sorts of bodily scents outrage my modesty). As I was about to get off, the train jerked and, despite my refined balancing skills honed from years of carrying mum’s shopping bags, some poor chap managed to bump into me, with his wrist hitting mine. Unfortunately (for him), the watches we were wearing also clashed like lightsabres, and the force wasn’t with him; the Gauntlet 902 I was wearing looked none the worse, but his wristwatch bore the scars of battle as two distinct scratch marks lined the glass.

Being a helpful person by nature (or so I tell myself), I sheepishly told him to visit the nearest H2 Hub outlet as I had gotten my Aries Gold watch from there. For good measure, I even threw in a golden tip: make sure that he goes for sapphire glass if he ever decides to purchase a new watch. It was then that I realised just how scratch-proof my sapphire glass-encased watch was – apparently tough and hard enough to do damage to other watches. It may not be diamond, but then again, if I could afford diamond crystal on my watch, I’d probably be riding in a chauffeured limo to work.

For now, I’m just thankful to have potentially saved money on watch repairs, and thinking that since homeowners place “Beware of dog” signs, whether I should place a “Beware of sapphire glass” sign to forewarn those with more fragile watches. Well, it’s worth a thought anyway.

-The Watchman